In the 21st Century, achieving a tranquil and relaxing lifestyle has become a reality. Purchasing desired items from the Shopify store requires no physical effort. Furthermore, individuals with ideas, skills, and resources can create their own Shopify stores.
Shopify Statistics indicate that, on average, a customer generated approximately $72 for a Shopify store in 2020, with an increase in revenue in 2021. This spike in earnings attracted attention and prompted an influx of customers, leading to the establishment of numerous new Shopify stores. If you own a Shopify store, it is crucial to assess its security as a top priority.
In practice, Shopify’s security largely depends on cybersecurity measures. One of the most important security measures is Shopify VPN integration.
Role of VPN for Shopify Businesses
A VPN is an essential tool for your Dropshipping business, providing necessary security and anonymity. To a large extent, e-commerce protection relies on advanced VPN solutions. With their help, you can protect yourself from hackers and freely change location on Android, iPhone, or any other devices. You can read more about how to change location on Android from the link above. At the same time, you should avoid cheap free VPNs as they may not function properly.
How else can a VPN be useful for a Shopify business:
- To access Chinese websites like AliExpress and Alibaba from countries where they are banned, you need a VPN.
- You can hide your IP and analyze competitors by accessing search results from different countries.
- For product research, a VPN allows you to change your IP and check Facebook ads from other countries, helping you identify trending products.
- To open ad accounts on platforms like Snapchat or TikTok in the US, a VPN is required to appear as a US person.
Other Ways to Improve Online Store Security
#1 Control Access Settings
Many individuals have access to different areas of the store, and there is a possibility that they may intentionally or unintentionally cause tension for you. One of the remarkable features offered by the Shopify store is the ability to control access for each individual. By applying restrictions with just a few clicks, you can determine who can access specific areas. It’s not solely about trust; as the owner of a Shopify store, it’s important to keep access to confidential information to yourself. As your business expands over time, you can easily grant access to anyone you choose.
Additionally, people often download various applications to simplify tasks like transactions and notifications. However, these applications can have bugs, viruses, and even potentially damage the firewall. To ensure protection, it is crucial to limit the access of these applications to the store.
#2 Check Your SSL Settings
Shopify grants SSL certificates to all stores by default, ensuring secure and threat-free traffic. Normally, traffic flows through HTTP, but Shopify fortifies it with an SSL certificate, allowing only HTTPS traffic. This maintains a record of IP addresses for potential cyber breach investigations.
#3 Check Password
The password for your Shopify store is crucial and should not be shared with anyone. By keeping it private, you can avoid potential chaos caused by unauthorized access. When creating social media accounts like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, we often choose easy-to-remember passwords, which unfortunately makes them susceptible to hacking. However, when it comes to your Shopify store password, it should be prioritized and treated with utmost care. To simplify password management, consider using trusted password-managing applications. With one of these applications, you can alleviate concerns about passwords altogether.
#4 Two Factor Authentication
If you are unable to safeguard your Shopify store against a hacker, even with a strong password, or if your password gets leaked for any reason, what can you do? Hackers and cyberattacks are more sophisticated than you might imagine, and many businesses allocate substantial budgets to protect themselves. However, you have a solution at hand within Shopify itself. It’s called Two-Way Verification, a built-in feature enabling not only username and password authentication but also an additional code generated on your personal device to verify your identity.
By activating and enabling this feature in your account, you can significantly reduce the risk of hacking. Only the most skilled hackers could potentially bypass Two-Factor Authentication, but we won’t give them that opportunity.
#5 TLS Certificate
TLS, also known as Transport Layer Security, enhances network security by encrypting messages and ensuring a reliable connection between the client and server. With TLS security, malicious imposters between the web browser and the client are prevented, and data integrity is maintained over a secure medium to eliminate potential losses. If your store processes credit transactions, TLS provides an additional layer of security for your users’ financial data.
Shopify provides free TLS certificates for all domains. The following instances automatically trigger the issue of a TLS certificate:
- All assets are hosted on the .myshopify.com domain on Shopify.
- When you purchase a new domain on Shopify or transfer an existing domain to Shopify.
- Upon connecting your third-party domain to Shopify by changing the A record and CNAME record and redirecting it to Shopify. Please note that it may take up to 48 hours for the changes to take effect and for the TLS certificate to be issued.
Conclusion
Currently, VPN is an additional security tool for Shopify stores; it is not required for PCI compliance. However, it can offer a number of benefits to business owners that are hard to ignore. You shouldn’t rely only on a VPN either, but it should be in your arsenal.
