E-commerce is booming, and it’s clear that it will continue to be a major part of the business landscape. With WordPress, you can easily create and manage a responsive e-commerce store. However, one critical issue could stand in the way of achieving your business goals: cybersecurity. Data breaches are a nightmare for any entrepreneur. Whether you’re just starting out or have been running your business for a while, secure your WordPress e-commerce website should be a top priority.
Here are some practical and simple tips to help you protect your site and keep your customers’ information safe.
Ways To Keep Your WordPress Website Secure
1. Invest In A Quality Host
When it comes to choosing a web hosting service, cutting corners can cost you in the long run. Investing in a reliable, high-quality host is crucial for your site’s security. A good web host offers multiple layers of protection to keep your WordPress Website Secure.
Look for these key security features in a web host
- Frequent Malware Scans: Regular scans help detect and fix any potential security breaches.
- Automatic Software Updates: These updates protect your site by patching vulnerabilities and keeping your platform up-to-date.
- Web Application Firewall (WAF): A WAF helps block malicious traffic and defend against cyberattacks.
- DDoS Protection: This feature defends your site from Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which could take your site offline.
Don’t forget to check if your web host offers regular backups. Having a backup ensures that you can quickly restore your site to its previous stable version if something goes wrong.
Another important factor is customer support. Opt for a host that provides 24/7 support, so you can get help with any security issues at any time. Cloud-based hosting services are often a great choice because they combine strong security features with a team of experts working around the clock to prevent and address potential security threats.
By choosing the right web host, you’re laying the foundation for a secure and reliable e-commerce site.
2. Choose Secure Plugins And Themes
When adding plugins and themes to your WordPress site, it’s important to be cautious and do your research. With so many options available, it can be tempting to install the first plugin or theme that promises the features you need, but not all are created equal.
Here’s how to make sure you’re choosing safe and reliable options
- Check the Developer’s Reputation: Before you install any plugin or theme—whether it’s free or paid—look into the developer’s background. Do they have a solid reputation in the WordPress community? Have they built other trusted plugins or themes?
- Read User Reviews: Reviews from other users can provide valuable insights into the plugin’s or theme’s performance, security, and any issues other site owners have encountered. High ratings and positive feedback are good indicators of quality.
- Stick to Trusted Sources: Only download plugins and themes from reputable sources like the WordPress Plugin Directory or trusted third-party sites. Avoid downloading from suspicious websites, as they may host malware.
- Keep Security in Mind: Be aware that some malicious developers may hide malware in their code. That’s why it’s important to use plugins and themes that are regularly updated and well-maintained by reputable developers.
By taking these simple steps, you can ensure the themes and plugins you choose are secure, helping to protect your site from potential security threats. Always prioritize safety over convenience when enhancing your site’s functionality.
3. Move to HTTPS
As an e-commerce platform, your site will no doubt be processing sensitive information such as credit card information. Encryption is one way to protect these details. Without an SSL certificate, which is what you’ll need to move to HTTPS, this information is delivered in readable plain text between your web server and a user’s browser. On the other hand, installing an SSL certificate encrypts this information, making it hard for hackers to read it.
HTTPS is also a search engine ranking signal. Google and other search engines will reward your efforts towards keeping your site secure with a higher rank in SERPs, which will impact your traffic and lead generation. Your web hosting provider may provide you with an SSL certificate at no extra charge. You can also buy from a third-party company.
4. Secure Sensitive User Data
Use advanced data security methods, such as tokenization, to protect user data. This method replaces sensitive data such as credit card details with elements such as words, numbers, or phrases generated by an algorithm. Even in the event of a data breach, the security of this data remains uncompromised because the cyber attackers cannot decipher the meaning.
5. Make Regular Back-ups
Imagine having to start from scratch in the aftermath of a cyber-attack. Fortunately, that is not something you have to worry too much about if you regularly back up your site.
Whether it’s an integrated feature in your web host or you have to install a plugin, ensure that you make backing up your data something regular and be consistent about it. Some offer daily back-ups, but if you consider that overkill, then you can always set your automatic back-up to every couple of days, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Backing up your site will help you bounce right back after an attack. With a backup in place, restoring your site to a previous working state is just a click away.
6. Fortify Logins
It may seem incredulous, but some site owners and managers, be it because of laziness or, for whatever reason, go with “Admin” as a username and don’t put nearly enough effort into creating a secure password.
Create a unique username and password. A password generator can help on this front. Also, prompt and remind the users on your e-commerce platform to do the same when setting up user accounts. Both you, as the admin, and your users should change your passwords regularly.
Another way to fortify your login page is by limiting the number of login attempts for both admin and user accounts. There are plugins for this function.
Implementing two-step, also known as two-factor authentication, will also help secure login. Again, you have several plugins to choose from to achieve this authentication.
Also Read: Everything You Need To Know About CDN for your WordPress Blog
7. Follow PCI DSS
Are you familiar with the specifics of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS?) It is not enough to know these standards. Still, as a merchant who accepts credit card payments, regardless of your niche, you must ensure that you are fully compliant.
Some of the requirements for compliance include maintaining a secure network, maintaining a vulnerability management program, implementing access control, and regular system monitoring and testing.
8. Stay Updated Always
Update your plugins and themes regularly and ensure that your site is always up-to-date by running WordPress updates. Hackers often target bugs that developers may have fixed in the latest versions. Installing and running these updates will secure your WordPress website from such vulnerabilities.
For the security of your e-commerce platform, do not ignore that update notification. A managed hosting plan may also include automatic updating of your themes, plugins, and all other WordPress elements.
9. Optimize Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Using a CDN does more than just speed up your e-commerce platform’s loading times. Added security is one such benefit a CDN provides. CDNs mitigate against DDoS attacks by default through the CDN provider or manually from your dashboard. A CDN also provides the option to enable SSL, whose security benefits have already been highlighted. Setting up access protection through secure tokens is also quite easy with CDNs.
10. Regularly Run Vulnerability Tests
A comprehensive vulnerability assessment will help you to detect and identify any possible vulnerabilities and imminent threats. With this knowledge, you can implement an effective strategy to resolve these vulnerabilities before hackers and other cyber attackers have a chance to exploit them.
Final Thoughts
As a business owner, cyber-attacks are an ever-present threat that you must address head-on. While WordPress is already a secure platform, there are numerous steps you can take to actively make your WordPress website secure. By following these tips, you’ll not only protect your e-commerce site from potential breaches but also improve its performance, ensuring faster loading speeds and more efficient operations. Prioritizing security today will help safeguard your business tomorrow.
Interesting Reads:
Top 7 Ways of Handling the Vulnerabilities of the WordPress Plugins
How To Setup Google Cloud CDN?
Web Security Essentials: How to Protect Your Website from Modern Threats
