In a world where online retail currently dominates, ecommerce websites are huge. However, they’re also extremely vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

As online shopping has become increasingly popular, professional fraudsters have seen a lucrative opportunity to cash in on small and medium sized businesses weaknesses. Thousands of online companies are leaving themselves exposed to potential attacks, which could cost them not just their reputation, but their business too.

Here, we’ll look at the potential dangers ecommerce websites face when they don’t check their online security.

The financial dangers

The most immediate danger that comes from a cyber-attack is the potential financial loss. If a hacker manages to get into your system, they could steal both your company’s and your customer’s personal information.

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners claims that nearly 50% of small businesses are affected by fraud at some point. What’s most worrying is that the Association also claims the average amount it costs a company when they are hit by a fraudulent attack, is approximately £88,000 ($114,000).

Most small businesses cannot afford to take such a hit. So, the financial dangers alone should be enough to spur you into action. However, that’s not the only thing you need to worry about…

The damage to your reputation

Even if your business could afford the initial financial hit from a cyber-attack, it might not be able to recover from the effect it has on your reputation. This is especially true if your customer’s data has been breached.

There have been many instances in the news where businesses have been hit by a cyber-attack and their customers have been furious. Large businesses may have the financial capacity to survive the damage dealt to their reputation, but small and medium sized businesses don’t.

Unfortunately, many businesses assume when their website was designed, high security was already added. This simply isn’t always the case and it is vital ecommerce websites are monitored and updated with the latest security software.

One of the best ways to protect your business against cyber-attacks is Nettitude Ltd penetration testing. This can identify any weaknesses currently in your website and it tells you exactly what would happen if they were to be exposed.

Overall, it’s vital you protect your ecommerce business against cyber-attacks. You may think it won’t happen to you, but the sad truth is fraudsters and hackers do target smaller businesses. The above are just some of the potential dangers you face if you don’t keep up with your website’s security.