5 Ways to Protect Your E-Commerce Site from Hackers in 2020

According to the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the two major cybercrimes targeting Australians are online fraud and shopping scams.

In light of this, consumers are being asked to stay vigilant and report any potentially fraudulent activities to authorities. Meanwhile, businesses are looking to identify and correct weaknesses in their systems by employing methods like penetration testing services.

There are many steps you can take to ensure the safety of your website. Here’s a list of five of them:

1. Mandate Strong Passwords

One of the easiest (and most effective) steps a retailer can take to protect clients’ sensitive information is asking for a strong password. A complex password with a variety of alphabets and special characters makes it harder for hackers to crack it.

You can even take this a step further and ask for multi-factor authentication. This sets up two or more protective defences, thereby protecting your data better.

2. Back Up Data Regularly

Some hackers attack websites to delete data, with the primary motive being causing distress to the company and its customers. Others hack into systems to steal customer data, such as credit card information. If this happens your company may need to shut down its site to fix the situation.

Data might get lost or deleted in the process. But if you have backups available, the impact of the damage can be controlled.

3. Protect Yourself from DOS/DDOS

Denial of Service (DOS) or Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS), are cyberattacks that don’t require any internal access. They work by flooding the system with fake traffic until the servers overload—till the point of failure.

In simple terms, it lowers the speed of your website, making it difficult for customers to use it. The best way to protect yourself from DDOS attacks is by monitoring traffic.

4. Ensure Data Encryption

Any piece of data that your customers are inputting on your site needs to be encrypted. This includes not just credit card information, but also emails addresses and phone numbers. The reason being that this information can be used for phishing attacks.

What are phishing attacks? It involves a host of fraudulent practice, including sending emails pretending to represent reputable companies and asking for sensitive information. Even big companies like Facebook and Google have fallen victim to such attacks.

5. Perform Routine Checks

The best preventative measure is performing routine penetration checks. Keep checking your defences to make sure they are up to date and impenetrable. It’s always better to be prepared beforehand than have to deal with damages once they’ve been incurred.

More importantly, you risk turning away customers who feel your site isn’t reliable.

Lean Security is one of Australia’s leading penetration testing service providers, with over 10 years of experience in the IT security industry.

We’ve helped thousands of big and small businesses make their site more secure. To find out how we can help you, give us a call at +61 (2) 8078 6952 or message us here.

Creating a Culture of Cyber-Security at work

Internet of Things (IoT) Security in 2020: Expert Advice You Should Follow

The rapid proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in the past few years has been unprecedented. It is estimated that the number is going to touch 125 billion by 2030! What’s more is that the combined market size for IoT devices will reach $520 billion by 2021. Internet-connected devices now rule the digital landscape and are more than set to revolutionize the way we humans live, work, and play.

But what is the Internet of Things, and should we be concerned about security threats? Here’s your 2020 primer on beefing up IoT security in 2020.

What is IoT and What are the Security Risks in 2020?

Put simply, the IoT encompasses all devices connected to the internet and to each other. It is the interconnected behemoth of devices and people linked to each other through the internet. 

Considering the fact that many IoT devices are online every minute of every day, this makes them particularly vulnerable to DDoS botnet conscription. Because IoT devices utilize backend connectivity, they can easily be used as entry points by skilled hackers to compromise home or enterprise networks.

We’re in 2020 now and 5G is close to becoming a widespread reality. While this may be good news, it also means IoT devices—which more often than not have long shelf lives—that end up becoming obsolete will remain insecure over long periods of time. Hackers can exploit the increased 5G connectivity on these vulnerable devices for their own gain.

Prioritize API Security

According to Security Boulevard, API security is a growing concern in the IoT world. 2020 will see API abuses as one of the more prominent ways through which data breaches will be made. According to Gartner, 2022 will see APIs becoming the top attack vector.

The only way to protect from API attacks is to increase spending on cybersecurity protocols and measures to counteract the increased risk IoT-related risk.  

If you require state-of-the-art and reliable cybersecurity measures to protect against attacks on IoT, look no further.

Here at Lean Security, we are at the forefront of effective security solutions for IoT devices. We help companies to prevent theft of personal, financial information, and costly data breaches from unauthorized parties.

We are professional penetration testing service providers that can help secure your APIs through thorough API penetration tests. If you require web application or mobile application security and penetration testing, we provide that as well.

Contact us today on +61280786952

E-commerce Security 101: What You Should Know

The skyrocketing popularity of e-commerce has increased alongside the frequency and sophistication of cybersecurity threats. While brick-and-mortar stores had to contend with physical security threats such as break-ins, robberies, and theft, online retailers have to protect themselves against viruses, hacking, spyware, and phishing.

Cyberattacks necessitate e-commerce security. Here are the fundamentals of what it entails.

Privacy

In this context, privacy refers to preventing information from getting into the hands of unauthorized third parties.

The personal details and account information your customers enter when shopping online should be inaccessible to everyone except you and the customers themselves. In order for sensitive information such as bank and credit card details to remain private, businesses should implement encryption, virus protection, and set up a firewall.

Authentication

In order to avoid fraudulent transactions, both the seller and the buyer need to be verifiable. For the seller to feel secure about the sale, the buyer needs to provide proof of identification. Likewise, there will be no selling unless the business is real and its products are real.

Many businesses hire experts to authenticate the information customers enter on the website. Some of the more common authentication measures include buyer logins, passwords, and/or credit card PINs.

 

Integrity

In e-commerce security terms, integrity is the principle that any information the customer shares online will remain unaltered. A secure transaction necessitates unaltered data.

The business should only use exactly what was entered by the customer. In other words, businesses aren’t allowed to tamper with the information.

Non-Repudiation

For a successful transaction to take place, neither party can deny their involvement in the transaction. Legally speaking, non-repudiation adds a level of security because it confirms that the information shared between the two parties was received, and the purchase was made.

If you run an e-commerce website and need to professionally and thoroughly test your security measures, you’ve come to the right place.

We are a trusted penetration testing provider based in Gordon, New South Wales, AU. We are specialists when it comes to mobile application penetration tests and web application penetration tests.

Our penetration testing service includes client assessment, backend web service assessment, and network assessment. All clients are provided with a detailed technical report during the process.

Get in touch with us today! Call +61280786952

Prioritizing Web Security in Digital Marketing

As cyberspace evolves, the digital marketing industry is constantly adapting to fluctuating trends. Digital marketing is reliant on information systems, so the risk of cyber threats like hacking, data breaches, and financial fraud is ever-present. The biggest threat to SMEs in 2018 was cyber risk.

To prevent any of this from happening to your business, you need to prioritize cybersecurity for your website when running your digital marketing campaign.

Common Types of Cyberattacks on Websites

Before you implement mitigations, here’s an overview of common cyberattacks that websites face:

Cross-site scripting: This involves injecting malicious into a website. It’s used by hackers to infect and steal data from the website’s visitors.

Denial-of-Service attacks: This is when hackers flood a website with traffic in order to bring it down.

SQL injection attacks: If you have a poorly configured website, hackers can exploit its vulnerabilities and access the databases behind the site. They do this by sending commands to search boxes and online forms.

Password attacks: Cyber-criminals notoriously use sophisticated tools to flood sites with potential passwords so they can gain entry to the back-end. Passwords that are easy to guess make their job much simpler. If they gain access to the configuration pages, they can do whatever they please.

 

Protecting Your Website

Email Attacks

Businesses use outbound email marketing to great benefits. However, this strategy opens them up to email account hijacking attacks, like spamming and phishing. To protect your business from these cyber threats, use email security software, encryption, and outbound filters.

Customer Data Privacy Leaks

Just as customer data is highly valuable to digital marketers, it is equally valuable to hackers. They steal and sell customer credit card information, passwords, and other sensitive personal data.

Threats To Financial Transactions

If you’re running an e-commerce website, it’s imperative that you protect the financial transactions that take place on it. If your website processes payments through third-party financial services such as PayPal, they can be vulnerable to cyberattacks. Digital marketers should be well-aware of anti-malware security measures that are used to protect against such attacks.

If you require cutting-edge and reliable security measures to protect your website from cyber-security threats, get in touch with us.

Here at Lean Security, we champion solid, effective, and non-invasive security for digital media applications, connected devices, and OTT services. Our digital media security solutions have multiple levels of security and meet DMR standards.

If, on the other hand, you need to test the robustness of your website’s security measures, we are an industry-leading penetration testing provider. We provide web application scanning and mobile application security testing.

Contact us today at +61280786952.