5 Tips to Improve Your eCommerce Site Security in 2022

Needless to say, digital progress does not stand still. You can see its bright influence everywhere! Modern gadgets become more and more user-friendly, website building becomes super affordable, and so on. To make a long story short, today’s technologies improved multiple business niches. They have become more comfortable for both prospects and service providers.

Sales-related business is not an exception! To say more, when it comes to digital progress, sales might be the key factor! All in all, in 2022, eCommerce is still the most popular business model. It allows shoppers to save their time, avoid such annoying things as waiting and get all the needed info at once. And, what’s even more critical, eCommerce helps customers to find exactly what they are looking for. Everyone likes it, so you can find numerous WordPress eCommerce templates.

When it comes to shop owners, there are even more advantages! You can double your audience, find new clients abroad, and enter the global market. And all of these are possible without overruling your budgets. Plus, there’s no need to pay rent which saves you money. And here is another vital aspect! Thanks to the properly featured eCommerce project you can create trustworthy relations with customers. Needless to say, it’s the most important step for any business but especially for sales.

So, how can you do it? Well, everything starts with website security. Your site, whatever it is about, should be 100% secure and customer-friendly if you want it to become popular. Luckily, in 2022, you don’t have to be a coding guru to secure your online shop. With the help of modern technologies, any beginner can do it. For example, today’s premium WooCommerce themes already contain the needed security features.

As the name of the post promises, today, I’ll share with you my tips on how to secure an eCommerce website. Stay tuned!

eCommerce Security Tip #1: Choosing CMS

These days, there are lots of platforms to set up a trendy and well-featured website. However, not all of them are as cool as you may think. When choosing your perfect CMS, you should pay special attention to security. And only if you are sure that the platform you choose is secure, you can start searching for voguish features.

According to WebsiteSetUp, these are the platforms and content management systems that were extremely popular in 2021:

• WordPress (free) 52%
• Wix (paid) 7%
• Joomla (free) 4%
• Progress Sitefinity (free) 4%
• Squarespace (paid) 4%
• Weebly (paid) 2%

And here are 5 top eCommerce platforms in 2022 according to cpcstrategy.com:

• Shopify,
• Shopify Plus,
• BigCommerce,
• Magento,
• and, obviously, WooCommerce.

Talking about WooCommerce, WordPress has very high-security standards. They provide different plugins, addons, and other security things that were made according to the latest security requirements. Visit this page to read about 10 free WP security plugins for maximum website security.

eCommerce Security Tip #2: Securing Your Admin Panel

Once you choose the CMS to work with, it’s time to secure your admin panel. Before everything else, keep in mind that there should be no weak passwords at all. The pass you use should be secure and complicated. To say more, I recommend you change it at least every 6 months. A week pass may and will influence the security of your site. Although it sounds simple there are still many website owners who don’t take the situation seriously.

All in all, a poorly created pass is all a hacker needs to steal your webshop and all its info. Needless to say, with it, you may lose your audience but not only! You can drop the whole business too.

As has already been mentioned, WP has its own security tools. Still, what should you do in case you prefer another CMS? There is nothing complicated. Just check out my small step-by-step guides below.

To secure your OpenCart admin panel, follow these steps:

• open your ‘admin’ folder which is usually located in ‘public_html’,
• Click on the right button of your mouse on the ‘admin’ folder and choose the ‘rename’ option in the dropdown menu,
• make a new name for your ‘admin’ folder and enter it into the corresponding field,
• double-check your new name as it should be 100% unique and make sure that it’s not related to your business,
• then, edit your admin/config.php with the new name,
• replace all instances that have the old name with the new one.

To secure your Magento admin panel, follow these steps:

• navigate to the ‘system’ tab which is located in your admin panel,
• find the ‘my account’ section in the dropdown menu and click on it,
• change the ‘username’ value,
• and make sure you saved the changes.

As you can see, the process is quite simple. When choosing a new pass, don’t forget that it should contain at least 8 characters. I recommend you start with 12 characters or more. Besides, there should be special characters and alphanumeric ones as well.

In case you have no idea which passes to choose, you can search for such tools as:

• LastPass,
• Dashlane,
• RoboForm,
• Sticky Password,
• KeePass, etc.

By the way, all the named tools are free to download.

eCommerce Security Tip #3: Use HTTPS Instead Of HTTP

Well, even if you have no idea what I’m talking about you surely have seen it multiple times. Although it’s a pretty old thing, HTTPS is still a nice and proven way to secure your eCommerce site. To make a long story short, in 2022, it’s the most secure standard in website security days. However, some users still use the outdated HTTP protocol, but it can lead to unpleasing aftermath.

So, in case you want to make your web store more secure, use HTTPS instead of HTTP. How to switch your online project over to HTTPS? To start with, you’ll need to select SSL Certification. Click on the link to figure out how to install SSL.

eCommerce Security Tip #4: Updates, Updates, Updates!

Here is another simple point that many beginners still miss. To make a long story short, you should update the platform you use and all its plugins regularly. This step is as important as making your password powerful. You may not know but keeping your CMS updated really influences the security of your site. And influences a lot. Why?

In fact, outdated versions of the themes, plugins, and other digital products you use usually have different vulnerabilities. As you may know, all the worthy eCommerce templates have regular updates, and here is why. After a theme or a plugin is released, its users start reporting about various bugs they have. So, the next version comes with all these bugs fixed. Besides, thanks to the updates, your eCommerce site will work faster, and there are usually lots of new features. All in all, the updates are free, so don’t forget to download them.

eCommerce Security Tip #5: Data Backups

When it comes to business website security, data backups are precisely what you need! Performing scheduled backups is essential for any online project but especially for one related to sales. And not only because it will help you to restore your content when the shop is down.

In a word, data backups won’t protect your web store from intruders. Still, they will help you in case the site is already hacked. As soon as it happens, restore the previous version of the website. Also, keep in mind that you should not store the shop backups on the server that was hacked. To ensure that your shop won’t be infected by the malware, you’ll need to store data backups on a separate server.

By the way, there are many ways to get your backups created automatically. In 2022, multiple hosting providers offer this option to their customers. And, needless to say, in case you prefer WordPress, you can use their data restore plugins. Plus, there are some cool WordPress plugins (like WPBackItUp) that come for best-selling WooCommerce themes.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, in 2022, securing a web store is not such a big deal. You can do it even if you have no website-owning experience. To finish with, here are some other tips that will help you with website security.

• Never store customer credit card details on your server.
• Protect your website against SQL injections, XSS, bad bots, and malware. Just search for the security plugins made for the platform you choose.
• Monitor website activity in real-time and get alerted about any suspicious activities.
• Use a disposable email to avoid spam.
• Never keep your passwords on your PC or mobile.
• Don’t use personal info when creating your pass.