Believe it or not, the holiday shopping season is already upon us, and with Black Friday kicking things off, it’s time to up your awareness to security concerns that could threaten you online retail business. That’s why it’s absolutely essential to audit and secure your systems now, ahead of the holidays and before it’s too late.     

There are countless scams out there these days when it comes to targeting victims online, and anyone can be affected.  It can be as simple as clicking an unknown email link or visiting an unsecured website – you won’t even know it’s happening!  The potential impact cyber-attacks can have on your organization, though, not to mention your customer base, can be catastrophic.  That’s why it’s important to understand the risks of online shopping the holiday season poses to your network.  

Black Friday is the busiest retail day of the year.  But, behind the frenzied excitement, there’s a massive spike in traffic volume and transactions happening online that pose serious concerns. 

While a site audit is vital to maintaining site availability, you must also understand that your business will be most vulnerable to cybercriminals during this time who are looking to target your systems and steal valuable, personal data.  For businesses, a cyberattack or data breach of any kind can be disastrous, both financially and to your reputation. But, how can you prepare for such a costly data breach?   

It has never been more important for businesses to do everything in their power to secure their websites as well as all associated mobile apps.  This is the only way to protect the data which is being input through the various channels during a period of such high volume. Enterprise businesses can help aid in this fight against cyber-attacks by employing such solutions as load balancing, DDoS protection, and web application firewalls.  Of course, it’s just as important to focus on the risks associated to your customers’ interactions and data.   

To protect your consumer base, businesses must have real-time marketing security to protect against malicious attacks and data loss.  This will help ensure that criminals can’t do things like target form fills and chat boxes, or piggyback on unauthorized tags across a website.  Without such security measures, hackers can potentially gain access to all of your customer data that’s generally and harmlessly collected for marketing outreach. 

The fact is, businesses are operating in an era with heightened focus on data privacy and strict regulation.  You simply can’t afford to be dismissive when it comes to data protection. So, what can you do to better secure your website?  Your focus should include:  

  • Thinking of your marketing security solution as an essential part of your business’ cybersecurity strategy, not as an afterthought.  In addition to remaining compliant with user preferences and global data privacy laws, you need to be able to block unwanted website trackers and third-party technologies.    
  • Dedicating time to performance testing.  You need to be able to see what third-party technologies are coming at your website and which pages they’re affecting.  The only way to ensure your customers’ data isn’t exposed is to whitelist any tags that come up during your tests so that only specified third-party technologies are able to access data.
  • Enforcing which vendors can operate on your site.  This means taking charge of third-party technologies to regulate load times and stopping unwanted customer data leaks to ad networks.   
  • Taking immediate action!  This is the only way to ensure you have plenty of time to correct any performance issues you may encounter on your website.

While these are just a few measures you can take to secure your website for both your sake and your customers’, your main hurdle is time.  With Black Friday fast-approaching, updating and maintaining both the performance and security of your website will help ensure that you see a profitable holiday season. Don’t wait until it’s too late!       

Contact us for a complimentary security consultation.