Online marketplace plays a significant role in the economy and in the nation’s supply chain, and they are increasingly reliant on information technology to store, process and communicate information. However, protecting this information against rapidly growing cyber threats is highly critical. Marketplaces that are online have valuable information that cyber criminals seek, including employee and customer data, bank account information and access to the business’s finances, and intellectual property. Moreover, online marketplaces work as a gateway to larger networks such as supply chains.

Now it is time to assess your cyber security posture, including the importance of securing information through best cyber security practices. So, what can be done to achieve information security in online marketplaces?

Here are some cyber security tips for online marketplace:

Protect against viruses, spyware, and other malicious code:

Make sure that all of your company’s devices are equipped with antivirus software and antispyware. Such software are easily available online from well-known vendors. Moreover, all software vendors frequently provide patches and updates to their products to address security problems and enhance functionality. Additionally, consider configuring all software to install updates automatically.

Secure your networks:

It is essential for online marketplaces to secure their internet connection by using a firewall and encryption techniques. If there are Wi-Fi networks, then make sure it is secure and hidden. To hide your Wi-Fi network, set up your wireless access point or router so it does not broadcast the network name, known as the Service Set Identifier (SSID).

Provide Security Awareness training to Employees:

Educate your employees about cyber threats and how to protect an organization’s data, including safe use of social networking sites. Depending solely on firewalls and virus protection tools may leave your organization’s valuable information unprotected in the hand of employees that are unaware of the severity of that information.

Establish security practices and policies:

Define and deploy policies on how employees should protect and process Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and other sensitive data.  Explicitly outline the consequences and penalties of violating business’s cyber security policies.

Backup Business Data:

Frequently backup the organization’s data on all computers. All the critical data that include word processing documents, electronic spreadsheets, databases, financial files, human resources files, and accounts receivable/payable files should be backup frequently to prevent any loss. It will help to restore quickly in case of any cyber incident or failure of technology.

Secure Mobile Devices:

Mobile devices create a significant security threat and management challenges, when they hold confidential information or access the corporate network. To ensure the information security on mobile devices, keep it password protected, encrypt their data, and install security apps to prevent cyber attack and information loss while the phone is on public networks. Also, make sure to keep track of all the devices and frequently prepare a report on lost or stolen equipment.

Control and monitor physical access to network components:

Access or use of business computers by unauthorized individuals must be prevented as it poses potential threat to a company’s data assets. In Online marketplace laptops can be particularly easy targets for theft or can be lost, so it is required to secure it with a strong password and lock them up when unattended.

Online user access:

As password plays a vital role in the security of online profiles, so make sure a separate user account is created for each employee that require strong passwords. Moreover, all the access rights must be defined to limit the user access from accessing critical information outside the defined scope.

Best practices on payment cards:

When the business is processing card information, the risks are increased. So, it is important to take some serious actions to protect the card information and protect the processing of it. For that, the organizations should work with banks or card processors to ensure the most trusted and validated tools and anti-fraud services are being used. While, online marketplaces should also have additional security obligations related to agreements with a bank or processor.

Monitor traffic:

In the online world, it is critical to monitor that from where your users are accessing the system. It may help your organization to take actions accordingly. It helps to track the usage of an organization’s resources and violation of security policies more effectively. So, it is essential to implement a traffic monitoring system in online marketplaces to stay ahead in detecting suspicious activities.

However, there are many other practices as well that can help online marketplace to secure their infrastructure and information. As cost to build a marketplace is way too much, so it is essential for online marketplaces to implement these strategies and practices to stay ahead in this world of rapidly growing cyber threats. Moreover, it will help to compete in the market and increase business efficiency and even expand operations.