Protect your website from cyber-attacks

Having an e-commerce, selling online through a marketplace or social networks and having a constant presence on the internet is a reality that is growing every day. Businesses are increasingly aware that they need to incorporate digitalisation tools to keep growing and these tools work mainly thanks to the information they are given.

This information may contain sensitive data that must be protected, for example: personal data of customers and employees, supplier data, annual turnover, among others. With this in mind, have you ever wondered what would happen if you lost all of your e-commerce information or the ability to access it? Both your business and your customers' information could be damaged in the event of a cyber-attack, and although it may seem unlikely, small and medium-sized businesses are affected by this type of attack with some frequency.

According to Microsoft's Digital Defence Report, the sectors most targeted by cybercriminals last year were: retail (13%), financial services (12%), manufacturing (12%), government (11%) and healthcare (9%). These statistics show that even small businesses are at risk from cyber-attacks. But what does a cyber-attack really consist of and why is it important to prevent it?

In general terms, a cyber-attack is a set of actions aimed at breaking into an individual's or an organisation's information systems such as databases or computer networks.

The aim of a cyber-attack is to damage equipment or systems operating on the network, disabling their services in order to seek some kind of profit.

For all these reasons, it is essential that, just as we define a marketing or sales strategy, we also define the risks to which we are exposed when hosting our website on a server, storing data in the cloud or carrying out economic transactions online. In this way, in addition of protecting our own business, it is important that we offer our customers an online shop that provides them with the necessary security guarantees to offer a competitive service and products. When a business does not offer sufficient guarantees of security and privacy, users often choose to abandon your website and look for another alternative.

How to protect your website?

The following are some essential recommendations to reduce the risk of any cyber threat:

1. Conduct an analysis to establish an inventory of all possible risks to which our website could be exposed.
2. Keep your operating system, browser, antivirus and any other software you use up to date.
3. Have a system in order to make backup copies on a regular basis .
4. Use strong and complex passwords. It is recommended that they include a combination of numbers, symbols, upper and lower case letters .
5. Ensure ongoing training and education on cybersecurity issues for all retail staff.
6. Have privacy and security systems in place for communications and means of payment. To this end, it is essential to contract the SSL Web Certificate and provide customers with a wide variety of means of payment .
7. Establish a periodicity for security processes.

What to do in the case of a cyber-attack?

In the event of a cyber-attack, there are two ways to respond:

1. Notify the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) of the nature of the incident, the consequences it has caused and the protective measures that have been taken. In fact, according to the General Data Protection Regulation, companies are obliged to notify any attack on their security within 72 hours to this same body.
2. There is also the possibility of filing a complaint with the Telematic Crime Group of the Guardia Civil or through the Technological Investigation Brigade of the National Police.

As you can see, protecting your e-commerce and generating confidence in your customers is an important factor that influences the development of your business. It is advisable to constantly verify that the necessary measures are being implemented to guarantee the security of your business information. To do this, a first step could be to find out what level of cybersecurity your business has, using our Cybersecurity Self Assessment tool.

Digital transformation is a process that involves several actions and among them, there is security. Don't wait any longer and start protecting your website!