How to Secure Your eCommerce Platform Data with Headless Solutions

Due to the high-level advancements in the eCommerce field and increased smartphone usage, customers no longer need to shop from websites on their PCs. Customers now prefer to shop through mobile apps, smart TVs, tablets, or anything that connects them to the internet. 

The traditional eCommerce platforms still run successfully, but in a fast-changing customer shopping behavior, multi-channel availability is important for businesses to see real success. To address this, the headless commerce concept was developed to help enhance the customer shopping experience. Connections through multiple channels create online security challenges for business owners. There is a need to improve data security using headless commerce solutions. 

How headless commerce solutions help enhance eCommerce security

In a monolithic application, one single program is used to manage entire processes. The same software manages the company databases and customer transactions. It connects both the front end and back end. The biggest challenge with this kind of strategy is that if one end fails, the entire system fails. Another disadvantage is that hackers can hack the processes between the back end and the front end. They can prevent information from reaching the front end and demand ransom. 

The headless commerce solution by Vue Storefront changes the scenario. Headless business solutions detach the front end from the back end to create a composable application. It separates the source of information from the destination by connecting to an API. Thus, the time/path taken by the information to travel from the backend to the front end is altered. 

The API separates the visual part of the software so that developers can improve it the way they feel is best for the business. This separation provides a business with multiple security advantages. First, the information structure is separated using multiple endpoints. If changes are made to one component, it cannot affect the entire application. Instead, only the adjusted component gets affected. This advantage means a lot to a business. 

Security threats an eCommerce platform might face

Headless commerce architectures are highly sophisticated and thus provide a business with enhanced security. However, as headless architecture developers implement new structures in the application, various security vulnerabilities may arise. 

Authentication vulnerabilities

If someone steals passwords, they can use them to log in. Since the application is developed to allow access based on specified passwords, the wrong person will be allowed access. The frontend ecommerce is developed to enhance user authentication to restrict access by the wrong users. 

Sensitive data exposure

When sending data from the backend to the frontend, it is easy to send unencrypted data. This is data can easily become exposed and compromise customer trust. Headless solutions help improve data security.

Storefront vulnerabilities

The storefront can be tampered with in several ways. A hacker can change its content to create misguiding information. Developers must create strategies to help deny unauthorized access and prevent cross-site scripting attacks. Headless API connections occur over HTTPS and thus protecting the storefront. 

How headless architectures help protect eCommerce

Headless architectures help protect a business in multiple ways. Here are the top methods:

Securing the platform

Developers create headless business solutions using three types of headless architectures.

• API-driven headless architecture: It gives developers more flexible options in UI design. 
• API driven CMS: To allow the addition of an eCommerce element to a CMS-based website.
• Microservices headless solutions: For multiple use experience scenarios

With headless commerce, data flows in and out of the platform through an API. Developers use secure shopper authentication APIs. Some developers combine shopper login with API access service to enhance security.

Headless business solutions are composable, which provides developers with opportunities to customize authentication models as they want. They customize the infrastructures for hosting, scaling, and securing your storefront. When the business person is using the traditional back end to the front end, they are likely to experience multiple security challenges.

The headless architecture eliminates the possibility of multiple security breaches. Even if one of the channels is hacked, the rest of the system will not be affected. The IT team gets an advantage of dealing with minimum security issues than when handling security challenges affecting the entire system.

Secure processes

The traditional monolithic architecture puts company business processes at risk. Processes such as ordering, payment, and delivery can be hacked or altered. In headless commerce, the application development team thoroughly assesses the specifications of the API to ensure it contains the correct security configurations and features. The entire software development lifecycle is secured. It ensures coding is done correctly from the start. 

Secure log in

The store’s front end faces more risks than the back end. With the traditional frontend to back-end connection, the storefront can have a lot of authentication issues which poses a greater security threat. The headless solutions provide better authentication processes that enhance security.

Developers create stronger security protocols that easily recognize unauthorized access from the storefront. They can customize the security protocols as they desire without having to upgrade the backend. They are able to constantly test for any security loopholes that can use to leak data. Since it is separated from the backend, unauthorized access may not pose a greater risk to the backend. It is easier to deal with less risk than a serious risk that could easily bring a stop to the entire company system.

Secure storage of information

In terms of security, traditional commerce is more vulnerable. Since one software does all the work, the system is consistently susceptible to security breaches with information landing in the wrong places.

The business owner can undergo huge losses from ransom demands, loss of business, or trust by customers. Sometimes, it can take several weeks to recover and correct all lost/breached data if hackers gain access to the company system. The right measures must be taken to help eliminate all security concerns. Traditional commerce cannot be trusted to seal all security loopholes and provide the business with a security system that can be trusted.

Headless commerce solutions ensure all data is stored within the platform. It ensures the data is not accessed by unauthorized people and thus eliminates any data breaches. The integration with API allows developers to customize their security measures. They decide the type of API to use when users interact with the website. They also set limits on how much interaction the customer can have with the front end and who can access the back end. 

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