1. Eliminate Passwords with “New Customer Accounts”

The primary defence mechanism is a managed identity. Passwords used to access corporate email accounts are among the most vulnerable parts of the security system as they can be compromised through third party data breaches, and can therefore lead to credential stuffing attacks.

With Shopify’s New Customer Accounts system, passwords are no longer used as a point of failure when the buyer logs in to their account. Instead of using a password, each time a buyer logs in, a unique, time-limited 6-digit verification code is sent to the buyer’s registered email address.

Why this is critical for B2B:

• Built-in MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication): The MFA process requires the buyer to access their corporate email inbox (which is where they would receive the MFA challenge email) in order to complete their purchase.
• Preventing ATO (Account Take-over): According to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, 80% of all breaches are a result of stolen credentials. By using a passwordless login, you eliminate the risk associated with stolen credentials altogether.
• Streamlined Buyer Experience: It eliminates all friction associated with forgetting passwords, allowing high-value buyers to obtain their custom catalogs immediately after they are created.

Read: Salesforce Accelerators Facilitating Faster ROI and Streamlined Implementations

2. Enforce Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Shopify B2B’s “Company” feature enables companies to have multiple associated buyers. So, giving all users global access creates even more security vulnerabilities.

To enforce security on your Shopify company profile, you must use the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) for access control—only giving users as much access as necessary to perform their jobs.

Key Roles to Configure:

• Location Admins: These accounts are reserved for Senior Procurement officers, provide access for the management of shipping addresses and payment methods.
• Ordering Only: Users will have the ability to build carts only (no full order history view or modifying net terms).
• Auditability: When providing individual logins (rather than a shared “purchasing department” log in), you establish an audit trail. In the event of a fraudulent order, you will be able to identify exactly which account was used.

3. Prevent “Price Leakage” and Scraper Access

Pricing is an important part of wholesale. If a competitor scrapes your negotiated wholesale prices, they can then underbid you on every single major contract. In addition to this, price leakage (i.e. when retailers index wholesale prices accidentally by search engines) can also hurt your retail-to-consumer relationships.

Safe selling of wholesale goods requires strict controls on catalogs; Shopify’s “Catalogs” feature will render prices only after a successful B2B session.

Strategies to Protect Your Data:

• Avoid Liquid Hacks: Don’t depend upon CSS or anything else – like hiding prices through ‘liquid hacks – on your B2B catalog. Native Shopify B2B catalogs are much more secure than third-party applications based upon front-end code, which savvy scrapers can easily circumvent.
• Bot Protection: If you have B2B login pages consider implementing Shopify’s bot protection feature to stop bot scrapers from using automated script tools to try and gain brute-force access to your price lists.

4. Implement a Formalized B2B Vetting Workflow

One of the largest dangers in your wholesale distribution channel is a malicious user attempting to take advantage of your credit terms by setting themselves up as a business that is legitimate. In order to avoid this “bad actor” B2B transactions will require more friction than B2C. Some suggestions on how to do this are:

A Secure Onboarding Checklist:

1. Manual Account Review: Disable “Instant Access” by requiring manual account reviews; if you must provide a user type way to accept payment via instant access then disable until your account review is complete.

2. Identity Verification: Verify the validity of EIN (Employer Identification Number), VAT (Value Added Tax) or Resale Certificate.

3. Domain Validation: Email domain validation of email addresses from your company will only occur if they use the company domain; e.g., purchasing@corporation.com rather than corporation@gmail.com.

4. Tiered Credit Limits: Before granting access to a new account you should start the account with a $0 credit limit under a “Net Terms” agreement until they have established a positive payment history, which can be accomplished by utilizing either credit cards or wire transfers.

5. Audit the Integration Layer (ERP & API Security)

The primary hub of your Shopify store is likely going to be a part of a much larger system consisting of an ERP (examples of ERP are NetSuite, SAP), CRM, and a 3PL, with many of the connection points (“API bridges” or “data connection points”) between these systems being common targets for exfiltration of data.

High-growth merchants often rely on 3rd party Shopify developers’ support for managing these complex technical connections, including ensuring that their API bridges have been developed using the current security protocols and least privilege.

Hardening Your Tech Stack:

• Audit Applications to Ensure Proper Scopes: An audit of your installed applications should be done frequently. For example, does your loyalty application need to have “Write” permissions granted to it for accessing your customers’ credit terms? If not, then restrict this permission.
• Rotate API Keys: If you utilize private applications for synchronization with ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems, then it is recommended that you rotate your API keys at least once every 90 days. This helps to limit the time in which an attacker can attempt to break into the system using your API keys.
• Perform Quarterly Security Audits: Wholesale stores tend to have a lot of “technical debt” due to the accumulation of unused applications over time. Conduct a quarterly audit of the “in-use” applications on your system and remove any other 3rd party products that are no longer needed to maintain your business operations.

Conclusion

Security goes beyond offering risk mitigation when it comes to B2B. Additionally, securing your customer’s corporate data and credit line is crucial if you want to develop long-term trust with your customer base, regardless of whether they’re an SME or enterprise-level organisation. To demonstrate this level of professionalism to your customer, you must have a clear set of B2B best practices on Shopify Plus that will provide them with long-term loyalty.

B2C shoppers are concerned about speed (the Trust Paradox) and therefore may find B2B buyers believe they receive value from security-orientated friction through the verification code/ manual approval processes, etc. They will see that their institution’s safety is guaranteed through the security of the verification code/manually completing the process due to the time they are expending on each of those activities.

Author’s Bio:

Akshay Tyagi is a Senior Content Strategist at Netclubbed, a premier Shopify Development Agency specializing in e-commerce security and B2B digital transformation. He leverages his expertise in the Shopify Plus ecosystem to help wholesale brands build secure, scalable, and high-performing online storefronts.

The post 5 Security Best Practices for Your Shopify B2B Wholesale Channel Setup appeared first on Techie Research.