The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a drastic change in the lifestyle and habits of consumers. Spending more time indoors whether due to necessity or not has driven more consumers towards online shopping. E-commerce is taking over the market at a shocking rate. The e-commerce market penetration rate more than doubled during the first quarter of 2020, a feat that could have taken 10 years[1] if not for the Covid-19 outbreak. Out of those hundreds of thousands of e-commerce websites, Magento is the chosen CMS platform for almost 10%. Big brands like Nike, Coca Cola or Ford are good ambassadors for this content management system.
In comparison to other popular eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce or Shopify, Magento offers a strong advantage with its built-in security features. Magento 2 offers businesses a robust eCommerce solution. Security is a crucial part of any online business and hence Magento continues to deliver countermeasures against multiple security breaches. In this article, we share some simple yet useful tips to help you protect your e-store against cyber-attacks.
1. Keep Your Store Updated
Magento Platform comes in Magento 1.x & 2.x. The Magento 1.x has been discontinued. It is no longer updated with the latest security patches. Sites that are still using it are left vulnerable to the latest risks.
Even with add-on security plug-ins, the mass migration from Magento 1 to Magento 2 leaves behind very few stores running on the older system which are not sufficient incentives for 3rd party developers to continue supporting their plug-ins with the latest security patches.
With Magento 2, the system has been revamped with excellent built-in security features ready to protect against multiple breaches. Furthermore, the development team at Magento is constantly looking out for other risk profiles to deploy preventive actions to its software.
If you are still a Magento 1 store owner, we strongly advise you to upgrade to Magento 2. Simply reach out to Verz Design and rest assured we will guide you every step of the way for a smooth and stress-free migration process. Click here to find out more.
2. Have a Credible Hosting Provider
A weak hosting server will expose you to multiple risks involving hosting attacks despite how secure your software is. A strong and dependable hosting provider will guarantees that your hosting servers are well-kept and regularly checked. This helps to ensure the database and your e-store files are well protected and safe from any cyber-attacks.
Aside from the protection against potential attacks, having a good hosting provider and a good hosting plan enables you to have regular back-ups for your website and a good retention period. Should any issue arise, there are checkpoints and backups ready for rollback to minimise and prevent a long inactive period of time spent trying to rebuild your e-store.
3. Have an Encrypted Connection
Having a secured connection with a https:// URL path not only helps with getting a good Google ranking but also creates a good website image and boost confidence in the customers’ eyes.
Each login, transaction or activity on the e-store triggers data exchange between the users’ PCs and the hosting server. When being transmitted through an unencrypted connection, this data is prone to risks of being intercepted and recorded by outsiders and hackers.
This data leak can be dangerous, even more so in the case of e-commerce as there are constantly admin credentials, credit card details and other private information being exchanged between machines.
If ever this data is stolen, it can lead to real-life material losses. As such, it is crucial to acquire an encrypted connection for your eCommerce store. This will improve the security of your Magento site as well as those on other platforms as well.
4. Change Your Back-end’s URL
Default Magento will configure the URL pathway to your back-end dashboard as abc.com/admin/, and many e-store business owners conveniently keep and use this default suggestion. Anyone can attempt to access the admin dashboard by adding the suffix /admin/ after the domain name.
Easily change the back-end’s URL pathway to abc.com/securedadmin/ or other specific names that you might want. This might be a small detail but it will enhance the overall security of your Magento site. It works wonders by restricting access to the back-end dashboard. This makes it difficult for hackers to find. Buy yourself valuable time to make changes to your login credentials when you change the URL pathway.
5. Log-in Credentials
It is a tale as old as time. Setting your password to “password” or “123456”, will leave your store very vulnerable to hacking.. Never settle for easy passwords, instead, try to create passwords that are difficult to guess to a stranger. Strong passwords help to stop online attackers from trying to crack the code open using brute force.
According to HowSecureIsmyPassword.net, a 9 letter password using only lowercase and uppercase characters can be cracked within 19 hours. The same password using a number, lowercase, uppercase characters and symbol will require 3 weeks of cracking. Evidence supports the practice of creating a strong password for your e-store. You can periodically change the password as an additional preventive step.
As part of a built-in security measure, the Magento system provides admin users with an added layer of protection. This comes in the form of Two-Factor Authentication. Use Google Authenticator or Duo Security to set up a barrier against online attackers.
The Two-Factor Authentication can limit access to certain users. The Authenticator app on their mobile devices will provide the user with exact codes to use. These codes have a short timeline of 30 seconds to 1 minute. To make it harder to guess and crack, new codes will be created at every interval.
At Verz Design, we believe in Excellence in all aspects of web design and development. Ensuring our clients’ e-stores are well-protected and safe from cybersecurity risks is our concern.
Embark on your eCommerce journey with leading magento web design company! We are ready and eager to guide you along the way. Do feel free to reach out to us for a free consultation todxay!
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