Security vulnerabilities and their prevention in Magento development platform

Ecommerce acts as a catalyst for many businesses to thrive online and boost up their sales just within some clicks. And the businesses which have been utilizing eCommerce stores must have gone through some challenges as well.

It is evident that wherever there are shops no matter if they are brick and mortar or online, there will be thieves keeping their eye on assets, repository, and finances. And eCommerce has its fair share of cybercrooks. These cybercriminals are always on the prowl to find an error or a weaker code in eCommerce stores so that they can take advantage of it. There are a multitude of e-commerce stores that are making businesses hassle-free for both customers and product/service providers. Magento has proved to empower a significant chunk of the eCommerce industry as there are more than 250,000 merchants worldwide who use the platform. So, whenever something happens to the Magento platform, the entire industry takes quick notice of it and acts accordingly. Thus, when the news of the hacking attacks on the Magento store started surfacing across the industry earlier, the Magento stores had to look for Magento maintenance services to resist the unnecessary damage that could either happen or already had! These cyber-attacks can never be completely predicted as we cannot assume the way the cybercriminals will respond to the codes. However, what we can do is to be fully prepared with Magento support and get in touch with the industry experts to save our online stores. But first, we will discuss what issues Magento store owners had to or might face in the future, the possible risks and threats and their prevention. Let’s get started!

When the number of hacked Magento sites doubled last year, the reason found out to be "PRODSECBUG-2198," which is the codename of a security flaw in the Magento 2.x Content Management System (CMS), the most popular among self-hosted online shops.

It was an SQL injection flaw in the Magento that can be exploited by unauthenticated remote attackers to steal sensitive information from the databases of vulnerable e-commerce websites, including admin sessions or passwords. Though the Magento team patched the bug, the things didn’t go as planned as the attacks started resuming again after some hours because patch details got released. Magento developers now have decided not to release any technical details of the flaw. Besides the SQL injection vulnerability, Magento has patched cross-site scripting (XSS), cross-site forgery (CSRF), remote code execution (RCE) and other flaws to avoid any exploitation of the Magento sites. Since Magento, stores information about the users that also contain order history, financial information and so on, all this could simply head to catastrophic online attacks.

Hacked Magento Symptoms

• Administration panel break-in that is critically dangerous to the website and may result in things like you can’t log in to the admin panel or there is a new user as admin.
• Reported data theft such as customers reporting their credit card essentials being stolen or some suspicious activities with accounts.
• Poor store performance which may lead to unsolicited redirects and a significant drop in traffic. Moreover, it can hamper your store presence in search results.
• Web store unavailability and its blocking by the hosting providers.

Common Security Risks in Magento

Open-source software like Magento has an open development process that gives merchants the ability to edit their source code. The advantage of having control is the flexibility and vast opportunity for better customization. However, there are certain responsibilities to keep the sites safe. The time between the issuance of a new security patch and actual installation, the merchants may face some risks. And if the software isn’t updated to the latest version, there will be more room for malicious activities to slip in.

For some businesses, the customization and in-house control of Open-source development are all good until the threats overpower everything. Below are some risks that can add up to the difficulties of Magento store owners:

Server Attacks

Think of a traffic jam keeping legitimate customers from turning into your store. This situation is quite similar. For every minute, shoppers aren’t able to browse your store or visit the site or complete their purchases, you could be losing revenue. If your eCommerce site is hosted under your control, you will always have to be prepared to protect it from attacks. Magento maintenance services can help you in the long run by controlling unnecessary threats before it obstructs your site growth.

Website Defacement

Website defacement usually involves having your homepage vandalized or various files across your site being deleted. Many attackers may leave obscene or hateful messages when they deface your website. Third-party integrations and apps can also strengthen these vulnerabilities. If not spotted quickly, this can impact your brand reputation as well. A reliable Magento support is required to secure your business site so that customers won’t feel hesitant while filling payment information for fulfilling a purchase.

Credit Card Hijacking

Credit card hijacking or skimming happens when attackers tap into payment data coming through your shopping cart. One of the biggest dangers of this risk that it can go undetected for a long period, compromising sensitive personal information. Losing your customers’ personal information and putting their payment details at risk is one of the quickest ways to lose customer trust.

Botnet Attack

The purpose of botnets is to perform mundane tasks automatically and quickly. It is not malicious, however, in some cases, they can be used to add your machine to their hacking web of connected machines to do malicious activities. For instance, sending spam emails from your address to millions of internet users that will reduce the reliability of your brand and e-store.

Prevention

Even after the possible threats, Magento is still pretty secure CMS as compared to others. The best thing you can do is implement the best security practices to protect yourself with Magento maintenance services that can help you in detecting and fixing vulnerabilities and perform a security audit. Here are some Magento security measures which can be implemented for site safety:

Two-Factor Authentication

To cut off any unsolicited access to your Magento administration panel and prevent its hacking in the future, two-factor authentication can prove to be beneficial. Even if a hacker acquires the credentials to your admin panel, they won’t be able to log-in without a code sent to your registered email or mobile phone. Be sure that you only share the code with authorized users to access the Magento admin panel. Two-factor authentication (2AF) protects your login details to a system, adding an extra layer of security. Instead of just signing in with a password, users would have to confirm their identity through a second factor like entering a unique code sent to the user’s email.

Fixes and patches installation

Once the bugs and vulnerabilities are uncovered, they can be fixed by the developers. Many fixes and patches are being regularly released by Magento, so it’s fundamental to check if all the latest patches are installed on your solution. If you are unable to ensure the fixing process, Magento support teams can help you. Make sure to stay updated to all information coming out from Magento, and respond immediately to any security alert, issued patches, or updates.

Magento security extensions and scan

Despite being useful, some Magento extensions you might have installed in the past can no longer be maintained by their creators, thus resulting in vulnerabilities. Uncover such abandoned extensions and uninstall them to lower security risks with the assistance of Magento support. There are numerous security extensions built just for Magento that you can install to help reinforce the security on your website and block certain IP addresses, strengthen login security, protect against fraudulent orders & payments. You can use Magento free scan to monitor for security risks, update malware patches, and detect any unauthorized access to your website by scheduling the scan to run automatically at intervals of your choice with real-time insights.

Ending Remarks

From keeping Magento and extensions up to date till having a strong backup plan and to act smart with usernames and passwords, using security extensions, custom admin path, permissions, two-factor authentication, using an SSL certificate, your online Magento store will be safe. Many of these practices can be implemented within a matter of minutes through reliable Magento maintenance services and you can rest easy knowing that your Magento site is secured from intruders and cyber-attacks while making your customers feel safe.

Jackson Edword is an experienced writer and working with a Magento Website Development company in Los Angeles, California.