With the fast-growing rate of eCommerce and the bulk of financial transitions involved, online scammers are not resting on their oars. Employing sophisticated tactics, these cyber-criminals continually use illegal or unethical ways of hacking outright theft of sensitive data.
A recent report by Norton company, placed the global cost of data breach recovery at USD 3.86 million. Further reports by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners also states that about 50% of small eCommerce businesses are victims of an online scam at some point in their business lifecycle. This can cost them an average of $114,000 per occurrence.
Thus the shocking statistic means that online business, employes and remote workers are at the risk of fraudulent online activities. Below are some best practices to help protect your online business from the fatal consequences of cyber scammers.
When hackers easily have a password at their disposal, they can do more damage as opposed to when they don't. Therefore, a simple password makes it easy for hackers to break into an account.
Sometimes by merely looking at a customer’s details, they can guess the password correctly. For example, if the password is the name of a loved one or pet, birthdates, etc. So, it helps if both employees and customers are encouraged to create more complex passwords. Instead of a short password with a few letters, use password generators that request for longer characters consisting of lower and upper case letters, numbers, and symbols.
You can also provide two-factor authentication, which means having a password alone isn’t sufficient. The two-factor authentication requires password users to know the correct string of characters. Before access to log in is granted, it generates a temporary one-time passcode (OTP). For example, when a bank website notices that a user is trying to make a payment or access an account from an unfamiliar device. A code is sent to the account holder’s email or text. This means only the user has access to the code that can enable login along with the password, making the account more secure.
Online businesses often request sensitive and private data that comes through their systems. And one of the best ways to protect entire company online is to use a VPN. These VPNs provide online privacy and confidentiality by creating an encrypted network that is secured from any Internet connection you may access.
It has become more important for VPNs to protect your privacy since your ISP can now legally record your website activities. It can likewise sell your history to advertisers and other organizations that want information about your business.
Trusted VPN software like TrustZone secures your data via an encrypted connection between your devices and a remote server. Thus, it blocks all prying eyes like third-parties spying on the data you send and receive. So anyone who does not have authorized access to the data cannot view it without the encryption key. This means all attempts made by unauthorized companies or hackers are blocked. The identity of your location, online activities, and other private data is largely protected from prying eyes.
Cybercriminals are aware that humans are often the weakest link when it comes to your online business’s security. So, they are always on the prowl to exploit potential vulnerabilities using a phishing (scam) email. This means that all hands need to be on deck to fight online business fraud. It involves a team effort that should ideally take a top-down approach.
The management prioritizes it and then encourages other employees to do the same. It will require training of all employees so they are educated on how online frauds occur. A few of these standard phishing techniques used by scammers include requests for specific information about your business via email. These emails are often riddled with errors, have an urgent subject line, or designed to drive immediate action.
Other possible scenarios can be created to show employees what to look out for in a phishing email. When employees are aware of some of the warning signs of online scams, it becomes easier to avoid them or report for appropriate actions to be taken.
The use of a CAPTCHA (completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart) for your online business can protect it from cyber scammers. It can likewise stop almost all bot attacks from causing harm. If your eCommerce platform requires visitors to fill forms, login, or make online payments, CAPTCHA makes the authentication process more secure. The visitor is asked to click specific items they see on the screen from a field box. What this does is to ensure your customer is a human being on the other end of the connection.
However, it might be difficult to view some images and as such, you may opt to use the Google ReCAPTCHA for your business. It is a zero interface solution that provides a CAPTCHA widget designed to verify a human user without them having to interact with a UI. For example, if a visitor is on essay writing services Top Writers' website while using Google's ReCAPTCHA, the visitor only needs to click on the submit form button. And then CAPTCHA automatically authenticates the user behind the scenes.
Relying on old software to protect your online business’s platform does more harm than good. It can serve as an easy channel for hackers to attack your business. To protect your business and data you should frequently take a look at the software running all your business devices to ensure they’ve been appropriately updated. If you do not have the time or internal capacity to perform regular checks, it would help to hire an expert firm to carry out required updates.
Having up to date operating systems and online business-related software prevents hackers from exploiting any weaknesses. Running anti-virus software and installing new patches will likewise reveal multiple flaws in your system.
The susceptibility of online businesses to eCommerce scams is an unfortunate part of running the business. As new technology emerges on how to protect your business, so does the technology used by scammers. Hence, it helps to stay vigilant, educate your staff, and be on top of new trends and software updates.
The use of tools like VPN and ReCAPTCHA can also help to secure user privacy and log in. Stay conversant with cyber hacking best practices and do all you can to prevent it from happening and minimizing the impact in case it does.
