Chapter 19: Securing and Managing Your Storefront for E-Business

“Is it possible to store the mind with a billion facts and still be entirely uneducated?”

—Anonymous

Overview

Businesses that accept transactions via their online storefront can gain a competitive edge by reaching a worldwide audience, at very low cost. But, the online storefront poses a unique set of security issues, which businesses must address at the outset to minimize risk. Customers will submit information via the online storefront only if they are confident that their personal information, such as credit card numbers, financial data, or medical history, is secure.

With the preceding in mind, by installing an SSL certificate (previously discussed in Chapter 18) on your server, you can securely collect sensitive information online, and increase business by giving your customers confidence that their transactions are safe. Immediately after installing your SSL certificate, you can establish secure communications with any customer using a browser from Netscape or Microsoft. This proven technology is in use now—by the top 60 e-commerce sites, all of the Fortune 500 companies with an online storefront presence, and thousands of other leading sites.

This chapter is a continuation of Chapter 18, with very detailed explanations of key issues related to online storefront security. It also describes the technologies that are used to address the issues, and provides step-by-step instructions for obtaining and installing an SSL certificate.