With the rise in popularity of e-commerce, more and more businesses are moving online.
E-commerce platforms like Magento, Zepo, and Shopify have become extremely popular. As a result, massive data is being stored online. And with that, the threats of cybercrime have also increased.
Platforms like Magento are facing the challenge of increasing their security to protect themselves from cyber-criminals effectively.
Remember, not only you, but even your trusted customers are at risk if data is compromised. In this article, we have summarized a few ways that can provide enough protection to the Magento Platform.
Here Are Ten Best Ways to Protect Your Magento Store from Hackers
Secure Checkout Process
You must ensure the absolute security of your checkout process. It is a process, which is quite prone to cyber-attacks. The best way to prevent this is by installing a reliable SSL certificate.
When you decided to buy SSL certificate, there are multiple options in the SSL industry like single domain, multiple domains, wildcard SSL, etc. You will find many SSL brands like Comodo, RapidSSL,Geotrust, etc. If you want an authenticated SSL certificate then, the GeoTrust SSL certificate is worth considering the option. It will provide you industry-standard encryption of 256-bit encryption and 2048-bit CSR key encryption.
You might have noticed that almost every reputed website is secured by this padlock and has an “HTTPS” extension in its URL.
Here’s an example:
If you fail to install an SSL certificate, sensitive customer information like contact details, credit card details, and a lot more are always at risk of.
You should buy SSL certificate from a certified authority that is also paramount for proper encryption and secure connections.
Use A Strong Password:
Most of us do not take this factor very seriously. We tend to think that our passwords cannot be hacked and therefore tend to use the same password for multiple accounts. Both factors considerably increase the chances of unauthorized access and data breach, and ultimately reduce your security.
A secure password like “BrazilEconomiS@@19191939” offers much higher security than a basic one like “james1998”.
Moreover, make sure to use different passwords for different accounts.
Unique URL For Admin :
You are always assigned a default admin URL upon setting up your account. Cybercriminals are always on the lookout for that default URL, and they know where to extract it from.
Thus, it is highly recommended to change the default admin URL to something that is unexpected and cannot be easily traced. This makes it very tough for criminals to hack your Magento store. To safeguard their Magento store against cybercriminals, a lot of people are now using this technique.
Check the Web Root Folder:
The Webroot folder is the folder where the web files for a domain name are stored. This has been a target for many hackers.
They often drop exploited files in the root folder, that are programmed to take undue advantage of any vulnerability of your system. They can target any set of weaknesses. So regularly visiting your root folder to keep a tab on malicious files is a good idea to weed out any such attack.
Update Regularly:
Regularly updating your software and Magento store is an outstanding practice. Software updates provide additional support and cybersecurity and can correct any existing problems or errors in your system. Not updating your system regularly is a bad practice, that makes your system exposed to superior forms of cybercrime activities, such as unauthorized access, data breach, repudiation, etc.
Spend Time Training Your Employees:
Investing in your employees to educate them about the possible repercussions of cybercrime always pays off. Properly training your employees in the correct safety measures can significantly help strengthen security.
They should be trained not to open suspicious emails or text messages to prevent phishing attacks, which is surprisingly quite common, even in large enterprises. On top of that, the employees should be aware of the protection and privacy policies of customer data and how it can be secured.
Whitelisting – Better Safe Than Sorry:
Whitelisting IP addresses is another measure that can provide enhanced security. That said, this method comes with its fair share of potential caveats.
When you whitelist specific IP addresses, you are essentially creating an environment where users from those IP addresses are only able to log in to the admin panel. It is an excellent security measure and can help you ensure that no unauthorized person gets access to your admin panel.
However, if you have an urgent task, and do not have access to the specific IP addresses at that particular moment, you will be unable to log on to admin panel. Thus, it can take a toll on your professional commitments. So, it’s better to try out other measures before resorting to this one.
Validate Admin User List:
You should check and validate your admin user list very frequently. A hacker can get access to your site in many ways.
Moreover, most of the times, hackers leave a portal only to re-access it easily some other time. Careful checking of admin user list can bring to light unauthorized usernames. Make sure to delete them right away to avoid such a situation.
In many cases, smart cybercriminals can change the login credentials for a valid email address as well. This can be difficult to trace. However, it can be duly avoided by meticulous and regular validation.
Two-Factor Authentication:
Nowadays, cybercriminals are getting smarter than ever before. It is thus an excellent idea to use two-factor authentication systems to strengthen your site security further.
Ideally, two-factor authentication requires the user to enter both the login credentials as well as the associated code. You receive this code right after entering your login details.
💡 TIPS TO IMPROVE CYBER SECURITY AND WEBSITE SECURITY
There are so many apps on the internet that can help you implement two-factor authentication without any technical know-how.
In most cases, these apps can be linked to your account, so that every time you need to login, you must enter the unique One-Timecode, which is valid only for 60 seconds. Failure to correctly enter the code three times results in the lockdown of your account.
Audit Core Files:
When it comes to e-commerce platforms like Magento, there is no requirement to modify the core coding framework to add any new feature or modify an existing one. The core coding is not supposed to be edited or tampered with.
However, cybercriminals will often target your core coding framework to revamp and redesign it according to their needs. This helps them to get easy access to your database, which ultimately allows them to steal highly confidential customer details.
You must regularly audit your core files to check for any unwarranted modification done. It helps you avoid any potential impending cyber-attack.
Conclusion:
Magento, written in PHP, is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms available on the internet. It has the third-largest market share out of all the global e-commerce platforms.
As a result, it is inundated with a vast amount of customer data from across the world. It is a brand that people trust. Therefore, Magento cannot afford to show any lapse in security and must provide the best safety to sensitive customer data.
Try out these simple yet effective ways to ensure the protection of your Magento account from cybercriminals.
