WooCommerce security features are just one of the many things that help you create a more successful online shop.
While you might think your products or site design is what’s most important to your customers, they also want you to help keep them safe. By having a secure platform, you’re keeping their digital identities safer.
When you add WooCommerce’s own security features in with your regular security measures and maintenance, you give your customers security and safety while they’re shopping with you.
Force SSL
WooCommerce recommends setting up the Force SSL setting immediately after you install WooCommerce. This is to ensure every customer is forced to use a secure, encrypted connection every time they check out. Naturally, you’ll need an SSL certificate.
The object is to prevent a hijacked browser or other issues from creating a non-secure connection between your site and the customer’s computer. It’s a simple security measure that’s built into WooCommerce.
Regular Updates
While you might not think of updates as WooCommerce security features, they’re actually one of the most important. Much like with WordPress itself, core updates to WooCommerce aren’t just about new features or bug fixes. In fact, they’re often to address potential security flaws before hackers have a chance to attack your store.
WooCommerce releases regular updates and security updates as needed. However, they’re only effective if you install them quickly. Usually, hackers already know about even minor security issues before an update is even released. So, the sooner you install the patch, the better. Hackers scan for sites using outdated software versions and you don’t want your site to be one of them.
Code Audits
WooCommerce takes security seriously. For instance, this is why the company partnered with the Internet security firm Sucuri to ensure their code is as secure as possible. While this was first announced in 2012, WooCommerce still lists Sucuri as their code auditor on their website.
Sucuri’s experts audit every single line of code for the core platform and updates to ensure there aren’t any security issues. This creates a much more secure platform. However, adding secure hosting and a security plugin helps boost your security even more.
PCI Compliant Payment Gateways
Any site or business that accepts must be PCI compliant. The PCI Security Standards Council works to create guidelines for accepting and processing payments more securely. Naturally, the goal is to avoid data loss as much as possible.
PCI compliant payment gateways are a part of WooCommerce security features. While you’ll have to install an extension to access the gateways, WooCommerce only approves compliant extensions. This means you’ll be able to provide your customers with a secure checkout process every time.
Compliments WordPress Security
You can’t talk about WooCommerce security features without pointing out that it’s designed to work perfectly with WordPress’s built-in security. WordPress also releases regular security updates. By installing them regularly, you’re able to boost the security of your WooCommerce store too. WooCommerce is consistently maintained to ensure it’s always compatible with the latest version of WordPress.
For optimal security, keep WordPress and WooCommerce updated as the security of each compliments the other for an overall safer site.
Security Extensions
You’ll have to install extensions for some WooCommerce security features. Luckily, WooCommerce’s extension store includes the best extensions for ecommerce stores. The store only lists extensions regularly maintained and updated by the developers.
One of the most popular security extensions for WooCommerce is Jetpack. It’s free to install and helps protect your site from brute force attacks, attempted account hacks and much more. Also, you get warnings if your site goes down for any reason, which helps you recover faster in the event a hacker does get in and tries to take your site down.
Have questions about how WooCommerce boosts security on your site? Contact Darren today to learn more about WooCommerce and WordPress security.
Image: TheDigitalWay
