These days, a good number of entrepreneurs use WordPress E-commerce sites to sell products online. Online business has now become multi-billion-dollar industry. Both, big and small E-commerce giants try to sell more products on a daily basis and generate high revenues.
Since long, E-commerce has been attracting professional cyber thugs and criminals, they use different methods to hack online shopping portals, steal important information, and damage a particular E-commerce company. Most E-commerce companies are vulnerable and unprotected in terms of repelling and tracking attacks. new unaccounted threats and system vulnerabilities appear from time-to-time, which gives sleepless nights to online entrepreneurs. If you run an E-commerce website powered by WordPress and are worried about its security, then you use to use the following recommendations to ensure the Website security in all circumstances.
1. Use Updated CMS, Themes and Plugins
When you are busy promoting your E-commerce business on the web or selling products, you ignore notifications calling you to update the CMS, themes, and plugins. Many individuals consider those notifications as unimportant and ignore them completely if the current website is performing as per their expectations.
Ignoring notifications for CMS updates can threaten your website. Website hackers and cybercriminals take advantage of the security holes in the older version of the CMS, themes, and plugins to hack your site. Therefore, update the CMS, themes, and plugins from time-to-time. Always keep in mind that newer versions of the WordPress CMS, themes, and plugins have better protection against different types of online security vulnerabilities.
2. A Reliable Hosting
Terms such as 24*7 availability of websites, less downtime, better security features, enough bandwidth, etc, are the salient characteristics of a good hosting server. It keeps your website live at all times, allowing users from all over the world to visit the site at any time. Most website owners initially choose shared hosting services in order to save some bucks. This makes their sites vulnerable to different types of online security threats. If a hacker somehow manages to hack the website (which is hosted on a shared hosting server), he/she can easily compromise the security of other websites also. Choose a reliable hosting to protect your website from online hackers.
3. Add an SSL Certificate to Your Website
With a sharp rise in cyber-crimes, it is crucial for website owners to provide their customers with a secure connection. In 2018, Google promised to mark all sites that use the HTTP protocol as “Unprotected”. To join the ranks of reliable websites, you need to install an SSL certificate on your website or online store. SSL certificates allow you to provide a secure connection between the site and users.
The HTTPS connection protects sensitive data (such as transaction data, plastic card numbers, or authorization data) that users exchange during each session on a website. An SSL certificate allows you to use the https protocol, which ensures that information remains confidential and online transactions are protected. Always keep in mind that an SSL certificate uses public-key and cryptographic cryptography. Keys are long sequences of random numbers. The public key is known to your server and is used to encrypt any message.
4. Password Management
Almost every Internet user has at least one or more accounts. They have accounts on mail services, social networks, cloud storage, online games, E-commerce websites, etc. In order to avoid the hassle of remembering different passwords, they simply and easily predictable passwords for all E-accounts including the website. If hackers somehow manage to hack one account, he/she can easily compromise all other E-accounts. Therefore, you need to use a random password for your account. Keep changing your password from time-to-time to protect your website. Be careful about the privacy of your site’s login details.
5. Use Two-step Verification
In simple words, two-factor authentication is a method of identifying a user when he/she tries to access an e-account protected by the two-step verification. It prevents E-accounts from unauthorized entry. The first frontier is the login and password, the second is a special code that arrives at the user via SMS or email. Always keep in mind that two-factor protection is not a panacea for account hijacking. It is a fairly reliable barrier that complicates the website hacking process up-to-a a great extent. Two-factor authentication can be considered as one of the most reliable protection mechanisms for websites. It discourages hacking attempts and keeps your website safe.
6. Conduct Website Security Audit Regularly
The website security audit is an independent analysis of the security level of a website. Always keep in mind that new security challenges keep appearing in the market. So, partner with an expert WordPress Development Company to find vulnerabilities in your website and fix them as soon as possible.
Final Words
Website security is an important issue for all entrepreneurs who are engaged in the E-commerce business. Online shopping portals powered by WordPress CMS are in the hit list of cybercriminals. So, use these tips to protect your E-commerce website from different types of online security challenges.
Marie Thomas is Senior WordPress developer with 5+ years of experience in WordPress web development field. Currently, she is associated with WordSuccor – WordPress web development services provider company in the USA. She loves to keep abreast of the latest technologies and tools in the corporate market. As a technical writer, Marie believes in sharing knowledge gained through experience. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
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