WooCommerce Security 2019 – How to Secure your WooCommerce Store?

2019 has ushered in a radical change in the hemisphere of E-Commerce. The industry has propelled itself into a whopping $1 trillion business market today. It is seemingly apparent to notice that if the industry is this magnificent, the cons can be equally devastating. This is why companies also experience fraudulent activities being conducted in this sector.

It comes as a big challenge for companies that are running WooCommerce stores. If a customer provides you with his/her vital credentials like email information, credit card details, and so on, then your Store needs to be beefed with WooCommerce Security. 

So today’s article that we have focused is majorly on how security layers can be increased in terms of your WooCommerce Store to avoid any malicious activity and prevent fraud. The following section would focus on some of the critical points that would be instrumental in this case.

1. Update Software Regularly

This is by far the most common and the most forgettable step for securing your online Store. Companies and users fail to comprehend duration-based security updates, thus failing to incorporate them, leaving themselves wide open for cyber-attacks. Web Security Firm Sucuri which closely works with WordPress and WooCommerce, provides these security patches at regular intervals.

• Only the updates provided by official websites should be installed. 
• Any and all third-party installation of these patches should be strictly avoided. 
• The updates are very important so that your website and your e-Commerce store would be invulnerable to malware attacks. 
• Daily updates would ensure WordPress performance optimization by a size able amount.

2. Use Strong Credentials (Login Passwords)

Another point that is grossly overlooked and is also very vital for securing your WooCommerce Store. It is not recommended to use a common name while setting up your password. Some of the factors that need to be kept into consideration are:

• Frequently used username or login names.
• Avoid using the names of your family members or your closed ones as a password.
• Avoid words present in your dictionary. These can be cracked easily, as well.
• Do not use frequent passwords that have been used on websites before.
• It is not recommended to put geographical information, and other personal information like house number, date of birth, and such details into your password.

3. Use Protected Hosting For Your Store

Apart from making your WordPress applications and WooCommerce Store secure, you would also need to make do with a secure hosting service as well. Utilizing this would ensure WooCommerce page speed optimization at optimum levels. 

• Set up hosting firewalls for your server, as well. 
• Must have a secure SSH username and password for added security. 
• Host your WooCommerce Store on the service provider, than the host must have server-level security as well. 
• Some of the providers also take care of this and also eradicate any server attacks, as well. 

4. Purchase Plugins from Official Vendors Only

It is essential that companies need to have themes for their stores so that they would look appealing to the customers and clients. But it would not do for them to have themes from third-party websites; they might contain bugs and other issues that would create problems.

• Check up on all of the vulnerable factors after installing such themes. 
• Notify your professional designers and developers to have a look at it once before incorporating them into your system. 
• It can again be used as the means for checking up your WordPress speed optimization service in your Store. 

5. Have 2FA Authorization Check for WooCommerce

The two-factor authorization check is the most secure way in which you can enter information on your website and for your Store. This would also give your users an extra layer of security before accessing the WordPress website and the WooCommerce Store. There are multiple guides available on the internet, which can give you a basic idea on how to instill this feature inside your website.

• It is important that the 2FA should only be enabled for accounts with increased privileges. 
• Helps in preventing fraudulent access to administrator accounts as well as editor accounts. 
• These accounts are protected from use since they have the required permissions for making changes inside the Store. 
• Also, it must-have in terms of securing your WooCommerce Store. 

6. Install Security Plugins From Trusted Websites

For companies and users, it is a high priority that security plugins should be installed, and that would literally act as the gatekeepers for your system. It is important that at least one should be installed, and not more than that. If you are using multiple plugins, then it might cause functionality errors and thereby break your site in its entirety. 
Some of the best security plugins that can be utilized for WooCommerce are as follows,

• Sucuri Security
• All in One WP Security & Firewall
• iThemes Security
• MalCare Security Solution and so on and so forth.

It is also recommended that these plugins should be installed from their official websites only and not from third-party websites.

7. Ensure That You Have Backups In Place

Without proper backups in place, cyber attackers can easily penetrate into your system, gain access to the admin panel, and manipulate with customer data. In order to avoid such a scenario it is important that you have the customer data stored in protected environment separately. 

• WooCommerce provides you with a backup facility that would help you understand the nuances of the system in a better way. 
• Take backup at frequent points of time is therefore very important. 
• Some of the apps like Cloudways can be used for the backup system, and companies can use this facility for free. 
• Periodic backup is suggested to save space and manage system resources accordingly. 
• Maintain alerts of backup and stay abreast of the latest features and functionalities.

8. Limit Total Login Attempts

In certain cases, it also happens that some of the security plugins installed in your WooCommerce Store give users unrestricted access for logging in. This is one of the most careless practices that you would like to avoid.  

• Hackers use Brute Force hacking methods to penetrate into the system. 
• Such attacks are majorly targeted on such unprotected systems and through plugins. 
• Secure your WordPress admin account and limit the amount of access available to them from the admin panel. Reduce the login attempts and maintain specific access to essential functions to secure the line of defense.

9. Follow The Best Practices For Security

Companies now hire WordPress developers to gain the maximum out of the eCommerce market. It also means that they must follow the industry-certified practices that would eliminate possible issues in the future and make your system more secure.

Many of the multinational and small to mid-level industries now hire custom WordPress Developers to extract the best out of the e-Commerce industry, and especially the WooCommerce. 2019 promises to be a great year for this domain, but the security protocols that are given above would increase the possibility of an even safer environment than before. 

If you are looking for more information regarding hiring WordPress developers or Woocommerce based ecommerce platform, then contact our experts at [email protected].