It’s the Most Wonderful Time to Secure Your eCommerce Website

The holiday season is a busy time for online retailers and other ecommerce websites. Unfortunately, it’s also prime time for cybercriminals to attack. As you prepare for the uptick in traffic, don’t let an oversight make you vulnerable to a breach. Instead, get ahead securing your ecommerce website by knowing what to expect.

Anticipate an Attack

Cybercriminals assume that retailers are caught up in the holiday shopping frenzy and will use this opportunity to take advantage of lax security. Anticipating their behaviors can help mitigate risk and prevent an attack.

Secure Your eCommerce Website

Cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated and efficient, so what may have worked last year may not be enough to protect you during this year’s holiday rush. Consider installing a website scanner and using a web application firewall to defend against an attack. Think of it this way—you wouldn’t close your shop without locking the front door, so why would you leave your website unprotected?

Don’t Offer Cybercriminals a Holiday Bonus

One small security error on your end may give an attacker the holiday bonus they’re after. Research shows the going rate for stolen data is about $80 per card, so if 70 million accounts are compromised, the attacker collects $5.6 billion. Retailers are one of the biggest targets. According to IBM Security, during 2014 cyber attackers stole more than 61 million records from retailers.

The Stakes Are High

For many businesses, the holiday season is a crucial time of the year. Retailers typically generate 20% of total annual sales during the holiday season, with a large percentage initiated online. Outside of the immediate financial impact, a breach can sully your brand’s reputation for years to come. In a recent poll by contact center software provider Semafone, 86.6% of respondents say they are not likely to do business with a company that has experienced a data breach that resulted in the loss of payment card data.

Hold onto your customers, data and dough by knowing what to expect from cyber-criminals this holiday season and staying one step ahead. Contact SiteLock today for a free consultation with our website security experts – we’re here to help you create a response plan in case of a data breach, and to equip your site with the right security measures to prevent a data breach from happening in the first place.