{"id":103936,"date":"2025-02-22T19:43:29","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T19:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/internet-business\/tis-the-season-to-be-careful-how-to-protect-your-ecommerce-site-during-the-holidays\/"},"modified":"2025-02-22T19:43:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T19:43:29","slug":"tis-the-season-to-be-careful-how-to-protect-your-ecommerce-site-during-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=103936","title":{"rendered":"‘Tis the season to be careful: how to protect your ecommerce site during the holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The holidays are finally here and while most people will be filling the coming weeks with goodwill and cheer, there\u2019s a subset of society that will be doing exactly the opposite \u2013 cybercriminals.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s predicted that cybercrime will cost the global economy more than $10.5 trillion<\/a> every year by 2025 and according to the FBI, attackers are especially active<\/a> during holiday periods.<\/p>\n

Cyberattacks increased in the run up to Mother\u2019s Day Weekend, Memorial Day Weekend and Fourth of July Weekend in 2021.<\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s highly likely the same criminals are upping their efforts in the run up to the winter festive season.<\/p>\n

So, in this blog we\u2019ll look at the tactics cybercriminals use to target ecommerce sites at this time of year.<\/p>\n

Plus, we\u2019ll suggest a few ways online business owners can protect themselves against common holiday hacks.<\/p>\n

5 common types of holiday season cyber attacks<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

1 \u2013 SQL Injection<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Structured Query Language (SQL) is a programming language that\u2019s used to retrieve data from databases.<\/p>\n

In an SQL Injection attack, hackers find ways to manipulate this language in order to access the sensitive data stored in these databases.<\/p>\n

These sorts of attacks can be used to steal everything from customer addresses and passwords to credit card details and gift card numbers and authentication codes.<\/p>\n

2 \u2013 Zero-day attacks<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Sometimes software and plugins come with vulnerabilities and weaknesses.<\/p>\n

In a Zero-day attack, a hacker finds out about these vulnerabilities before the software or plugin developer can produce a fix or patch and gets to work exploiting them.<\/p>\n

Zero-day attackers have also been known to take advantages of vulnerabilities in third-party JavaScript code that\u2019s used in elements like ads, analytics and widgets.<\/p>\n

Zero-day attacks often lead to sensitive company or customer data being stolen.<\/p>\n

3 \u2013 Cookie poisoning<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Cookie poising attacks see hackers interfering with website cookies.<\/p>\n

Website cookies are pieces of data about browsing behaviour that are passed back and forth between a user\u2019s computer and the servers where the websites they visit are stored.<\/p>\n

Hackers can alter, forge and steal cookie data.<\/p>\n

On ecommerce sites, cybercriminals can use cookie poisoning techniques to gain access to user accounts.<\/p>\n

The can then carry out all sorts of malicious actions, including stealing the sensitive data contained in those accounts and buying items using the account holder\u2019s payment details.<\/p>\n

4 \u2013 Denial of inventory attacks<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In these sorts of attacks, hackers use bots to repeatedly add items of stock to carts in order to make the items unavailable to other customers.<\/p>\n

Often, the attackers then ask store owners to pay them to cease their attack.<\/p>\n

\u00a05 \u2013 Brute Force attacks<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In Brute Force attacks cybercriminals try to hack into user accounts by repeatedly entering passwords.<\/p>\n

They take a systematic approach, entering a logical combination of letters, numbers and characters until they discover the correct password.<\/p>\n

8 ways to protect your ecommerce site from a holiday cyberattack<\/span><\/h2>\n

Words like SQL Injection, poisoning and Zero-day can sound intimidating, but there are some simple steps you can take to protect your ecommerce site from attacks.<\/p>\n

Here are a few of them\u2026<\/p>\n

1 \u2013 Get an SSL for your site<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Secure Sockets Layers (SSLs) certificates encrypt the data that\u2019s shared between a customer using a browser to interact with a website and the server that the website is based on.<\/p>\n

This means that visitors to a website can fill in forms and add payment information that can\u2019t be intercepted by hackers.<\/p>\n

SSL certificates come with other benefits, too. They increase customer trust, encouraging more clients to buy from your site.<\/p>\n

Sites with SSL certificates also rank better in Google searches.<\/p>\n

The good news it, it\u2019s easy to add an SSL certificate to a site. You just need to buy one from a provider and follow a few simple steps to set it up.<\/p>\n

At Media Temple prices for SSLs<\/a> start at just $75 a year.<\/p>\n

2 \u2013 Invest in a web application firewall<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Website application firewalls intercept and scrutinise all traffic on its way to an ecommerce site.<\/p>\n

If that traffic is deemed to be suspicious, it is blocked or tested again for authenticity.<\/p>\n

Web application firewalls can protect against a variety of cyberattacks including the brute force, cookie poisoning, SQL Injections and Denial of Inventory attacks mentioned above.<\/p>\n

3 \u2013 Demand these three things from your hosting provider<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If you choose the right hosting provider, they will contribute to the security of your site.<\/p>\n

Hosting plans like Media Temple\u2019s Managed WordPress Ecommerce package includes daily malware scans.<\/p>\n

Plus, the plan comes with daily backups, to protect your site\u2019s data if the worst should happen.<\/p>\n

4 \u2013 Reduce your attack surface<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Whenever you add a new component like a plugin or an extension to your site, you\u2019re adding an extra element that could potentially be exploited.<\/p>\n

So, before you add something new to your site ask yourself the following:<\/p>\n