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.