Website Security & Performance Case Study

Project Overview

The Challenge

A retail storefront processing payments across dozens of stores and an online business is a target, and a fast-moving sports calendar leaves no room for downtime. Security has to hold up under normal conditions and under the exact traffic spikes that also make a site most attractive to bad actors and most exposed to strain.

Key challenges included:

• Payment and checkout flows that needed to stay secure across every store and the online storefront
• Traffic surges around gameday that increase both legitimate demand and exposure to malicious traffic
• No tolerance for downtime once a live event or product drop begins
• A growing footprint of stores and gameday shops that expanded the surface area needing protection
• A need for ongoing visibility into uptime and edge security, not a one-time review

The Approach

Security and resilience were treated as ongoing disciplines, not a one-time hardening pass - built to hold up as the storefront's footprint and traffic kept growing.

Edge Security Hardening

Configured protections at the network edge to filter malicious traffic before it ever reached the storefront.

Secure Payment Handling

Reviewed checkout and payment flows against current standards to protect fan data across every store and channel.

Resilience Under Load

Built infrastructure to absorb sharp traffic surges without sacrificing security controls during the highest-demand moments.

Uptime Monitoring

Established continuous monitoring so availability issues get caught and addressed before fans notice them.

The Solution

A hardened, continuously monitored storefront now stays protected and available even as gameday traffic and store locations continue to grow.

The Results

With hardened security and continuous monitoring in place, store and web performance have improved, gameday traffic has been handled without the site buckling under peak demand, and conversion has trended upward across departments over the course of the partnership.

• Secure, protected checkout and payment flows across every channel
• Gameday traffic handled reliably at peak demand
• Upward conversion trends across departments
• A resilient storefront supporting ongoing email campaigns for gameday information, product drops, and student-athlete appearances

Approach & Capabilities

Edge Security

Network-level protections configured to filter malicious traffic before it reaches the storefront.

Payment & Checkout Security

Checkout flows reviewed and hardened against current security standards across every store and channel.

Platform Resilience

Infrastructure built to absorb sharp traffic surges without sacrificing protection.

Uptime & Monitoring

Continuous monitoring that surfaces availability issues before they affect a live event.

Business Impact

A storefront that goes down or gets compromised during a live event costs more than a bad afternoon - it costs fan trust. Treating security and resilience as ongoing disciplines, not a one-time checklist, meant the storefront stayed protected and available exactly when the stakes were highest.

Through edge security hardening, secure payment handling, and continuous uptime monitoring, this initiative created a resilient foundation that has supported the partnership with Hawkeye Fan Shop and the University of Iowa Athletics Department since 2016.

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