As an e-commerce website begins to grow traffic, subscribers and customers, their brand also begins to grow. And when the brand of a growing business begins to develop, first impressions are very important for customers. A growing e-commerce business cannot afford to be branded as insecure and unsafe. Everyday, there are hackers looking to attack e-commerce websites that lack proper security. Once a customer’s credit card information becomes compromised, the entire brand of an e-commerce business is also compromised. Therefore, it should be unacceptable for business to have their website become vulnerable to hackers. That is why an investment in e-commerce website security is a must.
The first step for an e-commerce website to make that it can be secure is to achieve PCI compliance. PCI stands for Payment Card Industry and this is an important data security standard to have. In order to be a reputable e-commerce website, PCI compliance should be sought. This security standard was set by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council, which monitors the industry. In order to achieve PCI compliance, there are several requirements that a website must ensure, including making sure the network is secure, strong access control measures are in place and the network must be regularly monitored and tested. There are also PCI scans that can be achieved through an Approved Scanning Vendor (ASV), which examines the website for defaults.
Consumers will feel secure by making sure all orders have track-able numbers and there are multiple payment options. Businesses that have merchant accounts will be able to accept online payments. That is why it is vital to have a merchant account website that accepted credit cards, debit cards and bank accounts. For security purposes, the e-commerce business should use credit card processing services. Essentially, an e-commerce website can document online payments and transmit the funds through credit card processing.
E-Commerce websites will be secure if there is an SSL (Security Sockets Layer) Certificate. This ensures that there is a secure connection. Consumers will notice there is an HTTPS in the website address. There are also different types of SSL certificates. Another helpful way to block hackers is by using a firewall and by having security questions for consumers who forget passwords.