Ready for Black Friday and Christmas? How to protect your e-commerce platform with pentests & load tests

The end of the year marks two of the strongest sales periods for e-commerce companies: the weekend around Black Friday and the Christmas period. While many companies optimise their sales strategies and prepare their online platforms for the upcoming rush, IT security is often neglected. Especially in times of high user numbers and intensive online activity, e-commerce platforms are increasingly the target of cyber attacks such as ransomware, data leaks or DDoS attacks. At the same time, the demands on IT systems are increasing exponentially as millions of visitors simultaneously use websites, make purchases and expect a fast, smooth user experience. You may have already experienced how a short downtime or a data leak not only costs you revenue, but also damages the trust of your customers. These critical periods therefore require not only high-performance, but also comprehensively secured systems in order to avoid both loss of sales and damage to trust.

It is therefore essential for CISOs and IT managers to ensure the IT security and stability of their systems. Pentests and load tests play a central role here in order to optimally prepare companies for these critical periods.

Why pentests and load tests are crucial for cyber security and performance

Pentests: Putting security to the test

A penetration test (pentest) simulates targeted attacks on your IT infrastructure to identify vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by attackers. Claranet uses state-of-the-art methods and tools to uncover security gaps in web applications, networks and systems. What is special is that not only technical factors but also human expertise are taken into account. The results of the pentest provide you with clear recommendations for action to proactively protect your systems.

Load tests: Testing resilience under real conditions

A load test, on the other hand, checks the performance and stability of your systems under high load. Claranet simulates the onslaught of hundreds or even thousands of users at the same time, as can occur during Black Friday, Cyber Monday or Christmas sales. The aim is to identify bottlenecks and ensure that your platform works reliably even under extreme conditions.

Use Case: VfL-Wolfsburg puts its ticket shop to the test with Claranet

High access numbers are also a major challenge in ticketing. To test the stability of its web shop under load, VfL Wolfsburg commissioned Claranet to carry out a load test. It turned out that the AWS cloud platform set up by Claranet can easily withstand the announced target of 2000 simultaneous shop visitors, says Oliver Gliß, IT and Web Application Manager, VfL Wolfsburg. Thanks to the successfully tested platform, VfL Wolfsburg can look forward to future peak loads with peace of mind.

Conclusion: Cyber security and a powerful and scalable application as the key to success

For CISOs and IT managers in e-commerce, preparing for the busiest e-commerce times of the year is not just a question of performance, but also of security. Pentests and Load tests are essential tools to protect your platform from attacks and keep it stable under high load. 

Prepare yourself and invest in the security and resilience of your systems now. Get your free consultation on pentesting and load testing from Claranet:

• Maximum security for your e-commerce platform
• Resilient support during peak loads
• Customised, fast quotation