Round Tale

One of the biggest priorities when running an online business is website security. Having a secure website will cause your customers to trust your business, thereby boosting sales and increasing your return on investments. The online community is teeming with malicious hackers that are willing to do whatever it takes to penetrate your site’s security and compromise the delicate financial information of your clients. You should have the same fervor when attempting to deter these careless intruders. Most customers will not shop at an online store that is not secure, therefore creating a secure environment is essential in the world of online business. The following 4 tips will help make your website a safer place for your customers to shop.

Strong Administrative Passwords

Protecting your website means protecting the administrative interface. Once a hacker gains access to your site’s administrative interface, they can gain control of your entire online business in a few short steps. Once they’ve access the administrative control panel, hackers can do anything from defacing your website, to committing identity theft or fraud in the name of your business. To prevent hackers from easily gaining access to your website, you’ll want to use strong passwords that are mix of letters and numbers. These alphanumeric password should be at least 10 characters in length. Try to avoid using any commonly used words or names. Also try not to use dates that are significant in your life, as a hacker may be able to access this information.

Firewalls

Firewalls filter information that is transferred to and from your website. By configuring a secure firewall, you’ll be preventing all unauthorized access to your website. Setting an industry standard firewall at the highest possible security preference is one of the best ways you can deter hackers with ease. Remember that simply having a firewall is not enough to keep you site safe. The firewall must be configured properly.

Antivirus

Make sure you use only the best antivirus programs. If your computer contracts a virus, the hacker that distributed this virus could gain access to sensitive information on your computer. Some viruses will install hacking utilities known as KeyLoggers, which record the data inputted from your computer’s keyboard. This means that everything you type is recorded and then sent to the hacker, including your system and website passwords.   It is imperative that you ensure that your antivirus program is regularly updated to the latest definitions. This will help you to protect your computer from hackers who attack your system in efforts of gaining control or information. Simply having an antivirus program installed is not enough. New viruses are created everyday, so it is important to keep your Antivirus program updated regularly.

Security Testing

Once you have all of the above security measures in place, you’ll want to test the security of your website routinely. Try to use a security analyzing tool regularly. These tools will usually find any existing security lapses and assist you in correcting them. Remember that in order to have good website security, these security measures must be practiced regularly.

As annoying as they may be, chargebacks are something that many online business owners just have to deal with.  They have simply become another common element of e-commerce.  It may not be fair, but in many cases, customers can back their way out of a purchase and leave you stuck to bear the financial burden.  Adding to the problem is the aspect of less scrupulous characters looking to commit fraud with someone else’s credit card.  It can be a frustrating ordeal, but this article will provide some strategic tips to help you combat the dreaded chargeback.

Common Chargeback Claims

Most chargebacks originate from fraudulent transactions and customers who make the claim of never receiving the items they purchased or even making a purchase at all.  Because many of the credit card policies today are designed in favor of the consumer, as the merchant, you are generally required to pay the costs of the merchandise along with a penalty fee for the chargeback.  This may occur whether the claim is legitimate or not.  Merchant account providers having varying fees on chargebacks, typically factoring in the percentage of total monthly sales as well as your history of incurring such claims.  So what is an online merchant to do in this seemingly no-win situation?  Fortunately, there are several proven methods for minimizing the frequency of these claims and dramatically reducing their overall impact on your bottom line.

Obtain Your Merchant Account from a Reputable Provider

Chargeback defense starts by selecting a reputable merchant account provider for your business needs.  Sadly, a large number of companies have blemished the market by delivering less than stellar support and pouring salt into the wound with hefty penalties and astronomical fees.  Therefore, when choosing your merchant account provider, it is imperative that you learn more about their policies in regard to chargebacks.  Keep in mind that not all providers are the same but the more reputable ones will be willingly to help you resolve matters and only charge moderate fees.

Select a Dependable Payment Processing Solution

When choosing your payment processing solution, put strong emphasis on a service that provides efficient, state of the art security mechanisms.  Though a solution equipped with SSL encryption would be a good start, you also need to have something in place that ensures the legitimacy of credit card purchases to protect your business from fraudulent transactions.  AVS (address verification) and CCV (credit card verification) are two viable anti-fraud features that should be applied to authorize all purchases on your site.

Stay on Alert

The best way to fight chargebacks is to remain proactive and look for signs of suspicious activity.  Keep an eye out for inconsistency in the usual ordering logic and customer behavior.  If you start to suspect that something is not right, further investigate the matter to determine if fraudulent activity is occurring.  Whether it is something fishy with a home address, email address, IP address or phone number, whenever in doubt, take the necessary actions to find out what is going on.  Like most offensives, one of the most effective ways to deal with chargebacks is prevention.