Vulnerabilities in eCommerce Web Development that Hackers Can Exploit

With more and more sales going online, many eCommerce Web Development companies are finding it difficult to address privacy and security concerns. According to Statista, global e-commerce sales were $3.53 trillion in 2019, and are expected to reach $6.54 trillion by 2022. As technology advances and hackers become more sophisticated, the sorts of security flaws in e-commerce become increasingly diverse and complex.

According to a 2019 global online buying survey, around 76 percent of online customers value data privacy and security when determining where to buy. So, what are the top security concerns that eCommerce Web Development Company should be aware of? And how can online merchants safeguard themselves, and their consumers from frequent e-commerce threats? Let’s investigate.

How Hackers Find Your eCommerce Website

There are many ways, really. Here are a few of the more common methods:

1.  Attacks on open-source software

Because they are usually very easy to identify and exploit, these assaults are one of the most common. The assaults are aimed at businesses that employ open-source code and technologies in their apps. These websites are seen as “low hanging fruit” by many attackers.

Because open-source technologies are free and allow for relatively easy customization by low-cost, entry-level programmers, many organisations prefer to use them to develop their websites. Unfortunately, inexperienced programmers frequently make configuration and code modifications without fully understanding the security implications.

Because many eCommerce systems and online programming languages are open-source, hackers, pen testers, and white hat researchers are continually discovering, testing, and exposing found vulnerabilities as well as the ways that were or could be used to exploit them. Wannabe hackers and script kids typically exploit easy-to-use tools developed by skilled hackers to compromise vulnerable websites.

WordPress and Magento Web Development are two of the most popular open-source tools targeted by hackers. These two tools are appealing to attackers since they’re easy to set up and adapt for organisations while also having a very complex code base with numerous attack avenues.

• Magento is a popular open source, off-the-shelf shopping cart that is used by tens of thousands of companies.
• WordPress is both a content management system (CMS) and an e-commerce platform.

This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t use these tools. It simply means that because they are open source, they may be more vulnerable to security flaws; as a result, extra caution should be exercised when customising them. Also keep in mind that, at the same time that hackers are discovering vulnerabilities, people are working to fix them. That’s why, if you use these kinds of website tools, staying up to speed on security fixes is vital.

When working with any open source system, it’s a good idea to work with trustworthy experts and recommended plug-ins as a best practise. Experts from Magento or the WordPress community can assist you with this.

2.  Third party plugins

Open-source programmes like Magento and WordPress are often updated with new features. At times, attackers will create and publish new plugins, as well as modify existing open-source plugins. These plugins appear to be helpful and innocent, but they may have hidden backdoors or intentional or unintended flaws. When using third-party plugins, users should exercise extreme caution.

3.  Zero-day attacks

Zero-day attacks occur when an attacker discovers a vulnerability before the vendor does and begins exploiting it. Users are occasionally forced to wait for a “hot fix” from vendors. However, fully fixing a vulnerability can take several months in some circumstances. Your website could be vulnerable to hackers between the time it’s identified and patched, and the time it’s discovered and patched.

4.  PHP and other web languages are vulnerable to attacks.

For web development and back-end application programming, PHP (hypertext preprocessor) and comparable open-source scripting languages are utilised. One issue with open-source languages is that hackers know a lot about them and can uncover flaws in even the most boring lines of code. Hackers go into overdrive every time a new language or version of the language is published, looking for new vulnerabilities to attack before they are identified and patched by the support community or developers.

5.  Injection of code into the input field

SQL injection attacks are well-known among website owners. Despite how simple it is to prevent, this method continues to be a hacker favourite. An input field is a section of a web form where specific information is requested (date, phone number, credit card number, etc.).

However, input fields aren’t the only way to convey information to a web server. In many cases, the URL line contains input fields that can be easily modified by an attacker. Attackers can exploit particular coding characters to cause the backend programming language to run malicious code instead when input fields aren’t properly sanitised.

Even if fields are cleaned, the way the server responds to odd input data can reveal useful information that can be leveraged to gather extra insight.

6.  Attacks on Buffer Overflow

Even if incoming data is cleaned, if it is not also verified for things like right size and data type expectations, hackers could employ a clever method like uploading massive volumes of data to a website, perhaps causing the web server to malfunction. If the problem is severe enough, hackers may be able to take advantage of it and take control of the web server.

7.  Reconnaissance of Error Messages

Most users quickly hit the back button when they see an error notice like the one below.

However, this might be a gold mine of information about the server for an experienced hacker. These types of error messages are common on websites, and hackers can utilise them to obtain vital information that can be used to establish a successful breach later.

To avoid this danger, make sure that every data is sanitised and validated. Any programming characters found in any incoming data fields are removed during sanitization. Programmers sometimes overlook the need to sanitise and validate data from sources such as their own database, assuming that because they control the data source, sanitation and validation are not necessary.

However, if a web application comprises a database, the attacker has uncontrolled access to the database. A smart hacker can compromise the entire website and web server if the website uses tainted data from the database. Sanitization is the process of removing potentially harmful characters from any incoming data stream. Validation verifies that the data is what it should be, that it is the proper type of data, and that it is the right amount of data.

What can you do to avoid being hacked?

The good news is that, at the same time as hackers are discovering vulnerabilities in open source resources, a large number of individuals are identifying and resolving issues. The goal is to stay current on security issues and to adhere to all recommended best practises. Listed below are a few of the most important best practise tips for running a secure website:

• Install and run an application for file integrity monitoring (FIM): Changes to individual files or all files within defined folders are monitored by File Integrity Monitoring. FIM can notify IT personnel if an attacker successfully modifies a file, allowing them to respond quickly and rectify the incident. FIM is frequently installed, but alarms are sent to an email account that is rarely accessed or a log file that is rarely inspected. Many FIM systems now allow alerts to be issued to both IT personnel and a management through text message, allowing incidents to be dealt with immediately and with complete accountability.
• Keep up with security patches and hotfixes: Security patches and hotfixes should be deployed as soon as feasible after publication, but no later than 24 hours. When new patches or releases are available, many applications send out notifications. Policies should be in place to ensure that patch updates are applied as soon as possible.
• Use intrusion detection systems (IDS): IDS monitor logs for signs of a breach. IDS notifications should be dealt with as soon as possible.
• Use intrusion prevention systems (IPS): Like IDS, IPS monitor traffic in [near] real-time, looking for signs of real-time attacks, and will create an alarm if suspicious activity is identified.
• Avoid exposing weaknesses: Customizing your website and tools can be beneficial for your business, but it can also expose you to risks. When changing code, programmers should exercise utmost caution. Regular code reviews should be performed to check for security flaws and unintended consequences.
• As previously stated, every incoming data should be sanitised by removing potentially harmful characters and evaluated to ensure that the data satisfies the necessary type and size limits.
• To test new code and third-party plugins, use staging or development servers: Website modifications, as well as any plugins and outsourced development, should always be tested and assessed in a non-production environment.

One of the most serious difficulties with eCommerce security is that criminals have plenty of time to hunt for and exploit flaws. To have a successful breach, they just need to be correct once. IT personnel, pen testers, programmers, and security researchers must all be correct at all times. Of course, this is unachievable, and data breaches will happen from time to time. If you make something hack-proof, the world will breed better hackers. Is this a sign that the situation is hopeless? Not in the least!

Remember that hackers are drawn to low-hanging fruit, and there is plenty of it available. Implementing a few easy, reasonable security safeguards and methods can swiftly elevate your eCommerce environment to the relative safety of higher branches.

Naturally, the more lucrative your eCommerce environment appears to data thieves, the more thorough your security procedures must be. The most important best practices to follow is to never assume that your security is complete. What is today’s ultra-secure app, web server, or computer code could be tomorrow’s Achilles’ heel.

In order to act proactively and respond effectively, business owners, IT employees, developers, and management must be up to speed and thoroughly schooled on security risks. This frequently necessitates a significant investment of time and resources, and the return on that effort is often missed when things go well. Thousands of firms that have endured the mental, moral, and financial toll of a severe security breach can attest that none of them ever wished they had invested less in the first place.

ONLINE PAYMENT FRAUD

We have all witnessed a movement from physical to online transactions in recent years. People no longer need to display a card to retailers when placing an order and making a payment. Because credit card information is not physically provided to third parties, it appears that the number of credit card fraud cases have decreased. However, credit card theft incidents have grown to 25% of all instances. According to the 2019 Trustwave Global Security Report, CNP (Card Not Present) data incidents account for 84 percent of all occurrences in e-commerce. Payment fraud is one of the most common types of security flaws in e-commerce.

Historical data, such as that from the 2009 recession, demonstrates that fraud increases during downturns. As a result, there will be an increase in friendly fraud (such as buying a high-value item online like a large, flat-screen TV, and then claiming that it was a fraudulent transaction). While retailers contest chargebacks when they detect friendly fraud, just 32% of them are successful in disputing chargebacks more than 45 percent of the time.

Furthermore, CNP fraud is anticipated to climb by 14 percent by 2023, with retailers potentially losing $13 billion by that time. Online payment fraud can take many forms, but the most prevalent include identity theft, friendly fraud, triangulation, and clean fraud. It’s no surprise that during peak spikes like the holiday season, there are more attempts at online payment fraud. This is especially true of benevolent fraud.

In addition, an increase in internet buying during pandemic lockdowns has increased the number of online payment fraud cases. In the United Kingdom, for example, research suggests that 16,352 persons were victims of online purchasing fraud. So, how might transaction fraud be combated?

Today’s ERFM solutions only give customers a limited amount of insight into and control over their AI and machine learning (ML) models. This presents major problems for merchants, who rely on their investigators to figure out why the AI programme rejected a transaction and explain it to both customers and auditors. The good news is that suppliers are emphasising in their roadmaps that their AI/ML models should 1) “rely less on black box models” and 2) provide explanatory features.

HOW TO AVOID IT:

Online shops may do a few simple steps to protect themselves and their customers from online payment fraud:

• Attain and maintain the PCI standard, which assures that credit card information collected online is safely transported and stored, or select a reputable PCI-compliant payment system provider.
• Use an Address Verification System (AVS), which verifies a customer’s billing address to the information on file with a credit card provider.
• Use Secure Server Layer (SSL) certificates to ensure that all sensitive communications on your website take place over a secure channel protected by data encryption.
• Change to HTTPS protocols to protect client data and sensitive information.
• Use required CVV for all e-commerce transactions involving credit or debit cards.
• Ensure multi-factor authentication and urge customers to create more secure passwords.
• Use AI/ML algorithms to combat e-commerce and retail fraud (ERFM).

WEB APPLICATION MISCONFIGURATION

To meet the expectations of the customers, e-commerce enterprises require several types of web apps. Web apps make it simple to establish product or service listings, product/service descriptions, a personal profile, a shopping cart, and secure e-payment alternatives. Furthermore, mobile devices account for the majority of online purchasing traffic. Since 2016, mobile commerce (or “m-commerce”) has grown at a 33.8 percent annual rate. As a result, web apps are the greatest choice for increasing engagement and income.

However, when it comes to security, many online shops fail to implement appropriate security measures throughout the software development life cycle and underestimate the need of encryption.

This results in many forms of security vulnerabilities in e-commerce web apps, which result in compromised user accounts, malicious code installation, lost sales revenue, consumer confidence loss, brand reputation harm, and so on. The following is a list of the most prevalent web application attacks:

• Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of code injection attack that occurs on the client-side.
• SQL injection entails inserting harmful code into SQL statements via web page input.
• Cookie poisoning is the alteration of a cookie in order to obtain unauthorized information about the user.
• Remote command execution refers to the execution of arbitrary commands on the host operating system through a susceptible program.
• File-path traversal is a technique that allows you to navigate through files.

The case of an order’s auto increment id is another common misconfiguration that could allow your competitors to gain a better understanding of your sales. You can place an order and receive an email with your order-id, then place another order a week later and obtain a different order-id to compare. This is a method of obtaining sensitive information about your sales that someone could exploit. Using a universally unique identity (UUID) instead of an auto incremented id is all that is required to avoid such an issue. This is an easy thing to do, but it can save you a lot of grief.

HOW TO AVOID IT:

Online retailers should consider the following factors to ensure that their website apps are secure against harmful threats:

• Choose the best web host for your e-commerce website: based on your demands, you can go with shared hosting, virtual private server hosting, or dedicated hosting.
• Implement effective monitoring and alerting: you should set up a Web Application Firewall to detect malicious requests and respond in a way that prevents any loss.
• Never save highly sensitive or vital information in cookies, and always encrypt the information stored in cookies.
• To avoid XSS attacks, use the x-XSS-protection security header.

ATTACKS ON DISTRIBUTED DENIAL OF SERVICE (DDOS)

Denial of service (DDoS) attacks are used to bring down a web server or online system by flooding it with traffic from a large number of infected devices. The initial signs of DDoS are an abundance of spam emails, delayed file access, Internet outage, and so on. Without professional instruments and a thorough diagnosis, it can be extremely difficult to recognize these signs.

HOW TO AVOID IT

The major goal is to distinguish actual network traffic spikes from fraudulent traffic and to restrict “bad” traffic before it reaches the site. There are various steps you may take to prevent and minimize DDoS attacks:

• Use a DDoS mitigation solution that filters traffic and prevents DDoS attacks from taking impact.
• Configure your firewall and router to reject inbound ICMP packets and to reject DNS replies from outside your network.
• Switch to a cloud-based supplier with high bandwidth and various points of presence in data centers around the world.
• Set up a load balancer to optimize the network, server, and app performance by dispersing harmful traffic over multiple data centers.

BAD BOTS

Bad bots behave like real users and can be used not only by hackers to steal your users’ credit card numbers, CVVs, and log-in credentials, but also by your competitors to manipulate your product prices, block shopping carts, and create an artificial traffic spike to slow down your e-commerce website.

HOW TO AVOID IT:

If you wish to defend yourself from bot attacks, there are some simple steps you can do right now to begin tackling the issue:

• Always assess traffic sources.
• Look into sudden traffic increases.
• Keep an eye out for failed login attempts.
• Safeguard exposed APIs and mobile apps.
• Use content delivery networks and web application firewalls.
• Install a CAPTCHA test.
• Consider purchasing a bot mitigation solution.

Wrapping Up

An e-commerce website is a sophisticated system comprising numerous components such as a product catalogue, a shopping basket system, online payment systems, personalised profile pages, a contact us page, and many others. And there is a diverse set of attack vectors aimed against each of these components. Hackers typically hunt for vulnerabilities in your server, infrastructure, network environment, databases, APIs, integrations with third-party vendors, and so on in order to obtain illegal information about users. To ensure that your e-commerce site is well-defended from cyber-criminals, security should be included in every stage of website construction.