How to Improve the Security of Your Magento Website?

Are you bothered about the security of your Magento website?

Though Magento includes powerful built-in security features that would protect your eCommerce website from potential attacks and data loss, there is always a risk for security breaches. Magento is quite famous and has been powering over 250,000 active websites. But the share of security risk isn't less. 

According to research by TechRadar, nearly 87% of eCommerce stores that are powered by Magento are at a higher risk of getting attacked.

And your Magento eCommerce store can be the one! Definitely, you are not looking to compromise with the security of your online store and pay for a huge loss.

Check out the following tips to improve the security of your Magento website.

1. Begin correctly - 

Your hosting providers and solution integrators should be evaluated well on the basis of their security approaches. Check if they have a secure software development life cycle that aligns well with the industry standards like OWASP and whether they have provisions to test their code for security issues. If you are planning to launch your new website, launch it over HTTPs. If you have an existing website, an upgrade will be required to run your Magento website on a secured, encrypted HTTPs channel. 

2. Protect your server environment - 

You need to ensure that the server operating system is secure by working with your hosting provider and check whether unnecessary software is running on the server. Manage files and disable FTP by using a secure communications protocol (SSH/SFTP/HTTPS). Also, if you use Apache webserver, Magento includes .htaccess files to protect system files. If you are using some other web server like NGINX, you need to protect all the system files and directories. 

3. Use the latest version of Magento - 

Do you know why Magento websites are a viable option for hackers? Magento is open-source software where anybody can contribute thus making it easier for the hackers to understand its working and target businesses. Developers should always monitor the software so that if they come across any risk profile they will patch it immediately and release the latest versions of software without any risks to lock out these crooks. Therefore, don't miss out on these upgrades.

Also Read: Guide to Solve Most Common Magento 2 Issues

4. Passwords are your best friends - 

You are aware of the fact that a password is required to access your website. Therefore, if an attacker gets hold of it, he/she won't be wasting time to maliciously attack your website. 

To protect your user-data, use strong passwords that will be difficult to crack. It is advised to use free password managing tools for storing your passwords if you find it difficult to remember them. Avoid keeping your passwords on the system you are using. Also, it is recommended to change your passwords once in a while to keep things safe. 

5. Session Expiry - 

Sometimes there are physical attacks too. Imagine a situation where your laptop is stolen and you were logged in. In this situation, session expiration is your savior. With session expiration, the user is logged out immediately in case of inactivity for a certain defined period. Therefore, even if your laptop is stolen, you don't need to be worried about your customer data.

6. Two-Factor Authentication - 

Did you know PCI DSS made it mandatory to implement 2FA? Also, 2FA can be used for your Magento store too. Google Authenticator, U2F, Authy, and Duo Security for two-factor authentication is supported by Magento. So, if you want that the attacker's plan should foil even if they got hold of your username and password, then 2FA will help you. 

7. Additional practices -

• Get answers and solutions for all your security concerns through the Magento Security blog that provides deep insights into security issues and gives best practices.

• Monitor your website for security risks, update malware patches, and detect unauthorized access with Magento Security Scan Tool.

• Block spam and keep your store safe from attackers by using Magento reCAPTCHA. It ensures security, authenticity by identifying the access session whether it is initiated on your website by a human or bot. 

• If you want to recover your Magento eCommerce website at any point in time during an attack, then it is best to back up your website to avoid any kind of data loss. This can be done by downloading the website data through an FTP client and then backing it up in your account. 

• To help test, verify, and prepare your site and Admin for workloads and traffic, use the features of Developer Tools through the Admin.

• Change the URL for the admin control panel. If it is not changed, it opens a wide opportunity for the attackers to launch various attacks on your online store. 

In a nutshell

The security tips that are given above will definitely secure your Magento website. You need to implement this immediately before accepting online payments from your customers on your online store. You can consult a leading Magento Development Company about all the security practices and how to implement them on your Magento store.