Online Threats Against Business: How To Retain Customers and Protect Traffic

We all know about the danger of cyber attacks on businesses (especially small businesses). But what if we tell you that this isn’t the only risk your company may be facing online? We have found four major issues you should be aware of and have solutions to gain customers’ trust and protect your brand.

Let’s go through each of them together.

Danger #1: Cybersecurity Issues

A cybersecurity threat is any malicious attack against a system to steal and access data, damage company operations and data files, demand a reward for getting everything back in order, etc. The culprits may be anyone from a terrorist organization to former employees frustrated with how the company treated them.

These attacks happen every day. Former Cisco CEO John Chambers described the situation this way:

“There are two types of companies: those that have been hacked, and those who don’t yet know they have been hacked.”

66 million records were breached in January 2022 alone.

There are seven types of such attacks:

1. Malware. This can be a kind of software used to spy, damage, steal data through a virus, etc. An example is you getting an email with a suspicious link and clicking on it, which triggers a chain of events leading to a software installation and the following damage.
2. Phishing.
   Phishing is an approach used to trick users into downloading malware and performing other actions. Fake emails, messenger contacts with “a special deal expiring in an hour!”, etc., are all considered phishing.
3. Password attacks.
   Accessing password databases or tricking people into neglecting security are approaches used in password attacks. The hacker can access much more information and distribute other malicious software with such data.
4. Denial of service (DoS).
   DoS are attacks targeted at flooding the system, so it can no longer respond. They’re often the foundation for other attacks that occur when the system is down. Botnets, a type of DDoS (distributed DoS), are especially dangerous since they can zombify millions of systems.
5. Emotet.
   Considered one of the most destructive types of malware, Emotet acts as a Trojan downloader that helps get other Trojans to the system. In 2020, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency reported seeing more of such attacks, primarily spread by phishing emails.
6. Man in the middle.
   A hacker becomes a third party in a two-party transaction with this type of attack. Then, they can steal data and use it for their own purposes. Using an unsecured Wi-Fi network increases the risk of falling victim to such an attack.
7. SQL injection.
   A Structured Query Language (SQL) injection is an attack that injects your code with a virus code. Even an unprotected search field on a website can become the target.

Source: IFF Lab

Any of these attacks can steal the personal data of your customers. It can also lower you in the SERPs if Google notices you have issues with cybersecurity. Something as simple as not having HTTPS encryption will mark your website as insecure.

Solutions

Here’s what you can do to lower the risk of the following security breaches and as damage control in case an attack happens:

• Be completely transparent with your customers and visitors regarding cybersecurity attacks if one happens. The best thing you can do to maintain the trust and loyalty of your clients is to be honest with them.
• Update the people about the progress in real-time. You can use social media as the main channel for this.
• Improve your system’s security to the maximum to avoid such situations in the future.
• Use free online tools such as Sucuri, HostedScan Security, and Quttera to analyze the condition of your website and detect any vulnerabilities.

Danger #2: Frustrating Customer Experience

Customer experience can bring you an army of loyal customers or completely destroy your business. People require social proof nowadays. That’s why 54.7% of shoppers surveyed by Bizrate Insights in 2021 read at least 4 reviews of products they wanted to buy. According to the same data, 44% read 3 or fewer. 

Moreover, what about the people that actually had a poor experience with your brand?

Over 50% will never come back.

Along with word of mouth, all this is very bad for a business that has made a mistake. 

Solutions

Here are some things you can do to avoid poor customer experience (CX) on your site and after being exposed to a threat:

• Improve the loading speed of your pages – the ideal load time for a mobile site, for instance, is 1-2 seconds.
• Remove all broken links, expired images that don’t load, and 404 error pages (simply redirect them if the content on such a page was important).
• Optimize your pages for mobile. According to Statista, in 2022, the monthly mobile traffic will reach 77.5 exabytes (77.5 billion gigabytes). Mobile accounts make up about half of the worldwide web traffic. And the number is expected to grow every year.
• Improve navigation to make the website easy to understand and use.
• Optimize the sales funnel – make every step easy to complete. Strive for fewer fill-out fields, faster loading, effort-free checkouts, etc.
• Ensure support availability across multiple social channels along with email and Live Chat. While being active on all channels will be difficult, support tools like DelightChat help you bring all your support channels to a single screen and make management easier. This helps your customers reach you for any pre-purchase assistance irrespective of the platform.
• Digital tools such as the SE Ranking technical SEO audit tool identify any tech issues with your website (slow loading, broken pages, and other performance problems). And, of course, don’t forget about Google Analytics to check the well-being of the general experience and sales funnels users are going through.
• Use native advertising instead of flashy banners that scare off users and obscure the view. It’s much better to include a link as a recommendation or a related post in your blog than to post a huge, colorful banner with aggressive CTAs.
• Talk to your customers. Inform them about any major changes on your website beforehand, from design to privacy policy and payment options.

Danger #3: Customer Privacy Issues

Privacy concerns are increasing as users become more aware of the ways businesses may use their data, according to Forbes. 

Clario states what data companies can gather, and it varies from the regular name, email, and birth date to your image library and facial movements. Facebook is the leader of gathered data, having access to your face, voice, product, environment recognition, and even image gallery.

And while a lot of this data is used to provide the best, most innovative user experience to you, if it gets into the wrong hands, who knows what can happen.

You have to be very careful with the information users provide on your website.

Solutions

Here are some things you can do if your business experiences a data breach (even former employees with access or knowledge can harm):

• As we’ve mentioned already, be honest and transparent with your customers about the issues you’ve encountered.
• Limit the access to user data to a team of true specialists who are not only professionals but are happy with their working environment and policies.
• Use digital tools for password management to achieve the best level of encryption.
• Use complementary security services (vulnerability search, additional encryption, incident reports, etc.) to ensure maximum security for your databases and website.
• Educate customers on their data safety. For example, you can send them notice after they connect a new device about the risks of their data being exposed.
• Use a data tracking plan instead of data silos. This way, you’ll always know what data your site collects from visitors and why you need it.

Danger #4: Customer Journey Hijacking

This one is tricky because you’re not responsible for the issue. But losing a customer and damaging the brand is never good.

Basically, journey hijacking happens due to rogue browser plugins that can inject third-party ads on the pages you visit. So, a user visits their cart on an eCommerce site to buy something, and a pop-up appears, offering them the same stuff for half the price. They click on the ad, get to a similar site, and, not knowingly, insert credit card data there where it is stolen.

Solutions

The business isn’t at fault. However, there are things you can do to prevent or manage a hijacking: 

• Pause all the ads and affiliate programs you have on the site until the culprit is found.
• Use client-side website security, which delivers a code to their browsers along with your website that doesn’t allow manipulating the page’s code in any way. Some examples of such tools are PageGuard and Inspector.

Summary

Online threats like malware, a poor customer experience, journey hijacking, and privacy issues are the real deal, but the good news is there are solutions for each of them. Never neglect cybersecurity, to protect not only your business and its data but also the personal information of your customers.

By Louie Andre

B2B & SaaS market analyst and senior writer for FinancesOnline. He is most interested in project management solutions, believing all businesses are a work in progress. From pitch deck to exit strategy, he is no stranger to project business hiccups and essentials. He has been involved in a few internet startups including a digital route planner for a triple A affiliate. His advice to vendors and users alike? "Think of benefits, not features."