Online shopping has become a necessity for all growing businesses in this day and age. Customers are gradually becoming more comfortable buying things they need and want with just a click. Many customers are leaving behind traditional shopping methods. This has led business owners to turn to online delivery solutions built on websites and mobile apps. In 2020, thousands of businesses had to close their brick-and-mortar establishments and move their services online. While this effectively allowed organizations to continue operations, it also posed a new threat: cybercrime. When it comes to cybercrime and cyberattacks, all online businesses and e-commerce solutions are always on the edge. Irrespective of the size and scale, no business is immune to cyber risk.  

In the first quarter of 2020, there were 273% more data breaches than there were in the first quarter of 2019. The main reason for this is that many businesses shifted their focus towards becoming more digitally orientated, such as embracing online delivery.

Tips to Secure Your Online Delivery Business

In this era of increased cybercrime, it is imperative that online delivery business owners are aware of prevention techniques against cybercrime. This applies to all types of businesses, whether it is an online food delivery business, a medicine delivery business, or an online B2B delivery business. These four tips can better help to secure your online operations:

1. Know the cyber risks

First and foremost, you need to educate yourself on the nature of cyber risks so you know what to expect and how to protect against them. 

1. Phishing attacks
   One of the most common cyber risks is phishing attacks. This is when hackers send you emails that pose as legitimate institutions to lure you into providing sensitive data, like your banking details or credit card number. These hackers use phishing emails to steal money from their victim’s accounts and even impersonate their digital identities. 
   
2. Ransomware attack
   This is when hackers encrypt your data, making it impossible for you to read, and demand payment for the cipher or the key to unscrambling the data. Both of these cyber risks can easily be avoided by double-checking emails with suspicious links or attachments. You should also back up company data and ensure that your passwords and accounts are secure.
   
3. Financial frauds
   Hackers tend to perform unauthorized transactions and clear the trail so that the business owner is unable to investigate. The hacker also at times requests fake refunds and returns. Fraud management systems are one way to detect and get protection against fraud. 

2. Secure tracking systems

Your online delivery business can benefit from tracking systems that inform customers of their product’s delivery time and status. However, such systems can be hijacked and manipulated by hackers. In many cases, this causes little more than disruptions to the delivery schedule. However, this vulnerability can lead to more dangerous situations. For example, cybercriminals can use stolen tracking data to intercept your delivery routes and steal goods. This not only leads to a loss of property, but it could also be dangerous for your employees. For a secure online platform for delivery businesses, check out VentureDive’s all-in-one application and delivery management software for online delivery businesses.

 It’s highly customizable and a cyber-secure option for business owners. You can also secure tracking systems by doing the following:

1. Securing your servers and admin panel: Do not keep passwords that are easy to guess. Keep complex passwords and keep changing them every now and then. 
   
2. Keeping strong firewalls: Firewall software and plugins are easily available for free or at a price. They automatically keep a check on your servers and blocks any new threats. Good firewalls even resolve new viruses or bugs that might attack your server.
   
3. Using anti-virus and anti-malware software: Hackers can be easily stopped if your antivirus is up to date. They are also able to flag any malicious activity or transaction. 
   
4. Frequently backing up your data: You can employ an automatic backup service so your data is being protected and backed up regularly. A system malfunction or cyber-attacks can easily wipe out your entire data for good. So it is wise to take all the precautionary measures. 
   
5. Checking from time to time for any malicious activity: You can get special monitoring software that keeps track of data and activity in real-time. It also notifies you if a suspicious transaction occurs.
   
6. Stay updated: Keep your antivirus software and plugins up to date. Hackers can detect if a system is using an outed version of security software.

3. Educate your employees

Robust cybersecurity measures are only valuable if your workforce is aware of potential cyber risks and how to mitigate them. People are the weakest link in cybersecurity, so you—or better yet, your cybersecurity team—must educate them on the dos and don’ts of conducting business online. This protects company data from all forms of cyber risks, particularly those that prey on human error, like phishing emails. A small act such as clicking on a malicious link can make you the victim of a cross-site request forgery or cross-site scripting attack.

With delivery businesses holding valuable personal information like addresses and bank details, it is important to hold workshops or distribute resources on the importance of cybersecurity to your workforce.

4. Consult with cybersecurity professionals

Basic cybersecurity measures might not be enough to protect your delivery business against hackers. As your business expands, consulting with professionals might be a necessary step forward. The increase in cybercrime in 2020 is one of the reasons why cybersecurity jobs are being created in droves—3.5 million in 2021 to be exact. With the sheer number of businesses migrating to some digital platform or another, there is huge pressure on the cybersecurity industry to respond.

Filling this gap, though, is a massive undertaking. This is why educational institutions have developed their cybersecurity certifications and degrees to have a strong business focus. This is helping the cybersecurity graduates of today be much more knowledgeable about the business landscape and the needs of growing businesses like delivery services. Mixing business with cybersecurity training has opened up the industry to more professionals. If your business is too small to have its own cybersecurity department, put your trust in outsourced experts who can set up strong defense and offense strategies against hackers and cybercriminals. This way, instead of hiring in-house resources, you can hire and manage QA teams and other cybersecurity experts to share the load.

Always Secure Your Online Business – Whether Big or Small

To sum up, the world of e-commerce fraud can seem complex. But keeping your cybersecurity up to date will only benefit your business and fight against fraud and viruses. Developing a cybersecurity plan for your online business is vital to the growth and success of your business. Though not every business can allocate resources for cybersecurity, small initiatives such as workshops can also assist in training your staff better. This will further help in eliminating a huge gap in your defense against hackers and criminals. You should take as many measures as your business demands. Your end goal should be to be able to create a website or app or develop custom software that your customers can absolutely trust.