Magento Security Best Practices: How to Keep Your Store Safe

March 30, 2023

How to secure your Magento website should be your primary concern when setting up an eCommerce store using Magento. There are some powerful built-in security features in Magento, but you must do something to protect your site against attacks or data loss.

Although it is a powerful eCommerce platform with over 250,000 active sites, it also poses some security risks. 87 percent of Magento-based eCommerce stores are at higher risk of cyberattacks, according to a recent TechRadar security report.

There is a possibility that your store is one of them.

What is Magento Security

One of the most popular ecommerce platforms, Magento has built-in security features that reduce security risks such as data leaks, information theft, and unlawful transactions. Ensure you have applied all modern Magento security practices, including trusted themes, extensions, and hosting.

This clearly shows that Magento is the first choice for anyone considering starting an ecommerce store in 2020, regardless of their size or history. Magento, however, offers splendid security practices right out of the box to most ecommerce merchants.

Magento Security Checklist: How to Secure Your Magento Store in 2023?

You can prevent (and to some extent, fix) Magento security issues by following the checklist below. Here are some Magento security tips to help you keep your ecommerce store secure:

The latest Magento version should be used

There are times when you will be told that the most recent Magento version is not the best. The reason for this is that most people believe Magento’s latest version isn’t secure enough. While this is true, developers usually fix previous Magento security patch issues in new releases. Therefore, staying up to date with the most recent Magento patches is essential. After a stable release is released, you should perform Magento testing before implementing it.

Use Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

The Magento 2 platform supports Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), which adds a layer of stealth or surreptitious movement. Four different types of authenticators are used to allow trusted devices to access the Magento 2 backend.

By using your smartphone’s security code and the password from your Magento admin login, the Magento Two Factor Authentication extension enhances your Magento admin login security. To access the Magento 2 admin panel, only allow authorized users to access the code.

You no longer have to worry about password-related Magento security risks with some Magento extensions that support Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).

Customize the admin panel’s path

The Magento admin panel can be accessed at my-site.com/admin. Hackers can easily access your Magento admin login page and conduct brute force attacks.

You can prevent this by /admin with a customized term (for example, “Store Door”). If hackers manage to get hold of your password, they are also prevented from accessing your Magento admin login page. By editing the local.xml file in Magento 1 and the env.php file in Magento 2, you can change your Magento admin path.

Acquire an Encrypted Connection (SSL/HTTPS)

Data sent across an unencrypted connection, like your login details, is at risk of being intercepted. Assailants may be able to peek into your credentials through this interception. Magento connections must be secure in order to avoid these issues.

Magento allows you to get a secure HTTPS/SSL URL by checking the “Use Secure URLs” tab in the system configuration menu. Additionally, it is a vital component of making your Magento website compliant with the PCI data security standard.

Let’s Encrypt is a good place to start if you want an SSL certificate. Additionally, it will help you become PCI compliant.

Use Secure FTP

Easily guessing or intercepting FTP passwords is one of the most common ways to hack a website.

 SFTP (Secured File Transfer Protocol) uses a private key file to decrypt and authenticate users, so you can prevent this from happening to you. On Carmatec, SFTP access is already available.

Have an Active Backup Plan

Taking precautions for Magento security is a great practice, but a backup plan is equally vital. Offsite backups should be made hourly and downloadable backups should be made as well. The backup plan will ensure that you don’t experience any interruptions in service if your website is hacked or crashes for any reason.

Backup files for your website can be stored off-site or backed up through an online backup service to prevent data loss. Minimal data loss occurs as a result of data backup.

You should always ask your hosting provider if they have a backup strategy. Our backups are timely and sufficient at Carmatec.

Indexing of directories should be disabled

You can improve the security of your Magento store by disabling directory indexing. By disabling directory indexing, you will be able to hide various paths through which your domain’s files are stored.

You can use it to prevent cyber criminals from accessing the core files of your Magento-powered website. You can still be accessed by them if they know the full path to your data.

You Should Be Careful With Your Magento Password

You need a password to access your Magento store. It is for this reason that you should be very careful when choosing a password. Create a password that contains upper and lowercase alphabets, numbers, and special characters such as ?, >, etc. (Additionally, you can use a password management service if you find it hard to remember complex passwords.) 

Additionally, never use your Magento passwords to log into any other website. To make it harder for hackers to find your password, keep your Magento password separate from your other applications.

Close email loopholes

With Magento, users can recover their passwords via an email address that has been pre-configured. In the event that your email ID is hacked, your entire Magento store becomes vulnerable. Magento requires a two-factor authentication for your email address and must not be publicly known.

Host your website with a sound plan

For any ecommerce business, shared hosting is not a good option.

 Shared hosting is typically a good option for Magento startups, but investing in shared hosting compromises the security of your Magento store.

You may also consider dedicated hosting, but it may not be sufficient for your needs since you will be restricted to a single server. When your Magento store traffic spikes suddenly, the website will crash due to a lack of resources.

You should instead choose a managed cloud hosting provider that offers robust security and frequent server patches.

The dime-a-dozen hosting plans promise features that they cannot deliver (at least not at low prices). You should stay away from such plans, since they do not know anything about Magento security.

Prevent MySQL Injection

Magento’s newer versions and patches provide excellent protection against MySQL injection attacks, but relying solely on them is not always optimal. In order to protect your website and your customers, we recommend adding a web application firewall, such as NAXSI. It is also possible to apply security patches provided by the official developers of Magento 2.

Get a Magento Security Review Done

It is not necessary for Magento developers to be security experts.

 There are many people who are good at coding, but only a few know how to secure Magento sites. For this reason, you should have your website analyzed once (or perhaps twice) a year for security gaps. 

The Magento 2 security scan includes checking the site, plugins, and extensions installed on it.  In case of security flaws, bugs, or loopholes, Magento 2 security patches should be obtained from a reliable security firm. It is possible for these reviews to help further harden the security of your Magento store if they are done properly.

Get in Touch with the Magento Community

In the event that you need assistance, Magento’s tech community is always there to help. If you would like to post a query regarding any security issues related to Magento or its features, you can search and post it. Various versions of Magento are also released by the Magento Community members, so keep an eye out for those as well.

Append a Security Key to Magento Admin Panel

Magento 2 ecommerce platform allows you to easily append a secret key to URLs. In addition, the key prevents eavesdroppers/hackers from accessing the admin panel.

The keyboard inactivity time can also be added as a measure to enhance Magento 2 security. By doing this, the session will expire and the admin will be able to access the admin panel again. 

Conclusion

We live in an ever-evolving world when it comes to security. There is no guarantee that Magento will be totally secure. However, if these steps were followed, hackers or breaches would be considerably less likely to occur. Get in touch with our expert Magento support team if you have any questions regarding this article. Hire Magento developers in India for Magento development Services.

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