6 Critical Magento Security Threats You Should Keep An Eye For
Updated on: July 22, 2020
Jinson Varghese
6 mins read
Magento is the second most popular eCommerce platform globally. Unfortunately, it is also among the top three most attacked eCommerce platforms. A Magento website experiences about fifty to sixty attacks on a daily basis. A lot of these attacks have a common agenda — extorting sensitive personal and payment details of customers.
Further, most of these attacks can be categorized on the basis of their modus operandi and can be prevented by following a few security measures. Hence, it always helps to be aware of what are these attacks and how they work. Which is what this post will help you learn today.
6 Most Common Magento Security Threats
1. XSS Attacks
Cross-Site Scripting attacks are one of the most common Magento security threats. In this attack, attackers inject malicious codes into websites that have vulnerabilities. The method of attack is simple, however, these attacks can severely risk visitor’s systems. Through XSS, the attacker can steal cookies and hijack sessions, leading to a credit card or personal data theft.
These attacks can be stopped by the below steps:
- Validating input: Checking and validating every input will help prevent attackers from inserting escape characters or special tags containing harmful codes. If the user tries to enter special characters then your website will block it
- Cleaning input data: In this method you can clean all input data and remove unwanted characters or tags. If the system finds anything suspicious it will replace those characters with an acceptable format
2. Code Execution Attacks
In this attack, one can execute arbitrary codes within a Magento server. Attackers create executable files with “.csv” extensions, which are then executed to target not only the website but also other applications in that server.
Magento has released patches to fix this vulnerability and thus you need to install the latest version of Magento. Also, you can follow a few simple steps, like changing server configurations and adding blockers to stop such Magento security threats.
3. Injection Vulnerabilities
SQL Injection is an attack that inserts harmful codes into websites by exploiting vulnerabilities in input fields, warning messages, to name a few. Attackers will enter malicious SQL codes to get access to or alter the database. Attackers can also change user permission allowing them access to administrative files and folders. By using tautologies, they can bypass the login system to gain access to your website without valid credentials.
To stop such Magento security threats, you need to find any vulnerability that might exist on your website. Assess the list of users and if you see any suspicious users with names like “sqlmap”, remove them since it indicates that automated tools were used. Protect input fields from SQL statements by using codes that treat credentials individually and not as a statement. Using a firewall will protect your website from multiple attacks attempts and unauthorized access
4. CSRF Attacks
Through CSRF attacks, attackers can trick you into executing harmful codes to make your website vulnerable. Attackers usually leverage cookies and POST and GET statements to enter a website and take over it completely. If a website is missing CSRF token on either POST or GET requests, attackers can exploit it to send in requests to bypass the security.
To prevent CSRF Magento security threats, you need to set up a synchronizer token pattern on your Magento website. You can enable this by
- Go to Security >>Advanced >> Admin
- Click YES for ‘Add a secret key to URLs’
This option will verify all requests for each session based on the secret key attached to the requests. You can also enable the cookie-to-header token feature, which will check the cookies in every session and detect if any request is made from a malicious site
5. Brute force attacks
In these Magento security threats, attackers use trial and error methods to guess credentials to accounts. Most attackers used automated programs and tools to generate multiple combinations and check them against the login fields. They might also use dictionaries to find default or common passwords, to quicken the attack.
To prevent this attack, you need to replace all default passwords and user names, since they are much easier to crack. Use alphanumeric or phrases as passwords, since a more complex and long password will take considerable time and resource to brute force. Keep changing your password periodically. Using CAPTCHA is another great idea to limit bots and programs from accessing login pages. 2-factor authentication logins are also effective in reinforcing your website’s security
6. Silent card capture
As the name suggests, in this Magento security threat, attackers covertly record all credit cards being used on your website. By installing malware within your website, attackers can change the payment addresses leading to payment details going to the attacker’s servers.
This attack can remain undetected for a long time and by the time it is discovered, it might have caused a lot of damage to your website and brand image. A security scanner like Astra, can detect such malware and help in removing them from your website. If required, you can replace the infected version of your website with a clean backed up copy
Conclusion
An infected Magento website will negatively impact your brand value and will lead to reduced visitor traffic and disgruntled costumers. Detecting Magento security threats early on is an essential part of keeping your website safe. Ecommerce stores handle crucial information, which makes it even more important for websites to have a strong security system.
Astra’s Magento security extension offers complete store protection for your Magento store. Our web application Firewall blocks all critical Magento security threats listed in this article and 80+ more threats (including bad bots, spam, LFI, RFI, etc) by advanced traffic filtering mechanism.
Our on-demand Malware scanner lets you scan your website for security issues in your Magento store and is available to you 24/7. Moreover, experienced security experts are there to support you in case of a security emergency. With round-the-clock protection and a detailed security dashboard, managing your store’s security is a cakewalk.
Jinson Varghese
