Living in the modern, digital world while having your business online has many advantages. You can have numerous internet visitors and consumers coming to your website from all around the world with as little as one click.
With the many benefits that come with your online presence, it is almost impossible to avoid potential adverse effects such as malware and various cyberattacks. Indeed, there are plenty of activities from "bad actors" that can cause damage to business websites and online stores. If you are a Magento 2 store owner, it is essential that you have studied and implemented Magento security best practices in order to keep your ecommerce operation safe.
Understanding Magento security best practices at Nexcess
With the risks inherit of having your business online, it has been shown in recent years that not having a good Magento security plan can come with a heavy price of lawsuits, damaging reputation, and even the loss of your business. If you can identify with the previous sentences, in this article, you will learn more about Magento security best practices, so please keep reading.
About Magento 2 security at Nexcess
Magento 2 is one of the most popular applications used in open source ecommerce solutions on the web. It is commonly used as the Content Management System (CMS) in conjunction with an easily created online store. One of the platform's fantastic features is that it allows the admin to update the ecommerce website's contents automatically. Often the need for a developer's skills is not necessary if the Magento store owner has the appropriate plugins and extensions.
An important field of any Magento 2 project is the overall Magento security scheme, which will give you a proper piece of mind knowing that your business is safe and secure. Key Magento 2 security features include the following:
- Security monitoring and support from Magento experts 24/7/365
- Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates
- 30-days backups
- Proactive security patches
- Level 1 PCI compliance
- ModSecurity (ModSec)
- Progressive Web Applications (PWAs)
- Magento Sentry
Security monitoring and support from Magento experts 24/7/365
Managed Magento at Nexcess is fully managed and monitored by our expert Magento Support Team. Our team is available 24/7/365, which is one of the Magento security best practices to make note of, as it gives you a sense of safety knowing that there is a whole team of Magento experts monitoring your store. When it comes to Magento security, knowing that our Magento experts are just a chat, call, or email away is a good feeling.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates
At Nexcess, Magento solutions also come with SSL certificates, ensuring the security and safety of users' websites and the protection of personal information. SSL certificates play an important role in Magento security, allowing browsers to encrypt data to malicious third-party entities.
30-days backups
Another great advantage of Magento solutions from Nexcess is 30 days of automatic backups, which makes it easier to access and restore your data quickly. We have this built-in fallback system in case of cyberattacks.
Proactive security patches
Making sure that your security patches are up to date is a Magento security best practice. You can update them by downloading and applying the patch to your Magento store, which is essential as these critical patches will help protect your ecommerce setup from security flaws and cyberthreats.
Level 1 Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance
Magento solutions are Level 1 PCI compliant solutions so that your customers know your ecommerce platform is safe, secured, and follows industry standards for both processing and transmission of cardholders' data. A key part of PCI compliance is ModSecurity (ModSec). This Apache module protects your ecommerce from external attacks. It detects and blocks intrusions, making it a fundamental Magento best security practice.
ModSecurity (ModSec)
ModSecurity is one of the core components for Magento 2 security as it helps prevent:
- Brute force attacks (designed to guess usernames and passwords quickly until gaining access)
- SQL injections (designed to access sensitive information by entering SQL in URL fields, login forms, etc.)
- Inclusion vulnerabilities (designed to maneuver through applications with insecure code using the attackers' code)
- Other types of attacks.
One of the many ModSec functions is real-time security control, continuous passive security assessment, and web application hardening.
Progressive Web Applications (PWAs)
For additional Magento 2 security, Magento solutions have a PWA-readiness to enhance security. Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) are a web technology that provides lightning-fast page loading, a flexible customer user interface, offline purchases, no marketplace submissions, and overall better flexibility within the ecommerce management system.
Magento Sentry
If you are wondering what about two-factor authentication for your Magento 2 ecommerce, look no further because you can easily activate our Magento Sentry two-factor authentication module, as it is a free and open source extension that boosts Magento 2 security against any compromised user passwords and potential security breaches.
Important Magento 2 security patches for 2023, 2022, and 2021
In 2018, Magento was acquired by Adobe. The Magento 2 development team has been releasing important security updates for ecommerce stores to make them more secure. Since 2022, there has been a slight increase in Magento 2 vulnerabilities, and Adobe has issued security patches to make the site more solid continuing into 2023 and the future:
- Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source release notes | Adobe Commerce
- Security Patch release notes | Adobe Commerce
Magento security best practices regarding important software patches from 2023
Here are the most critical security updates from 2023.
August 8, 2023 - 2.4.6-p2
August 8, 2023 - 2.4.5-p4
June 13, 2023 - 2.4.6-p1
June 13, 2023 - 2.4.5-p3
March 14, 2023 - 2.4.5-p2
August 8, 2023 - 2.4.4-p5
June 13, 2023 - 2.4.4-p4
March 14, 2023 - 2.4.4-p3
Magento security best practices regarding important software patches from 2022
Here are the most critical security updates from 2022.
October 11, 2022 - 2.4.5-p1
- Adobe Commerce 2.4.5-p1 release notes
- Adobe Security Bulletin: APSB22-48
- Magento security patch: installing Magento 2.4.5-p1
October 11, 2022 - 2.4.4-p2
August 9, 2022 - 2.4.4-p1
August 9, 2022 - 2.4.3-p3
April 12, 2022 - 2.4.3-p2
February 17, 2022 - Adobe Security Bulletin: APSB22-12
Apply MDVA-43395 patch first and MDVA-43443 on top of it if your Magento store is 2.3.7 and earlier, as well as 2.4.3. Versions and earlier. To ensure that the patches are updated, you should install the Quality Patches Tool, as it enables you to check the overview of individual patches that can be installed and also helps you apply and revert any patches you have updated. Next, you should run the following command:
vendor/bin/magento-patches -n status |grep "43395|43443|Status"Afterward, you should see that MDVA-43395 returns the N/A status and MDVA-43443 returns the Applied status and checks patches before applying them to the live site.
Another Magento 2 best security practice is to check that your Magento version is up to date by logging into the server via SSH and navigating to your Magento base directory. You should also scan your store for malware, as the harmful effects of any malware attacks can be pretty severe. Official Magento 2 malware scanner is Magento Security Scan Tool in which you can do a one-time scan or set up periodic scanning (daily, weekly, etc.).
The release of Magento 2.4.2 in February 2022 included over 35 security enhancements such as Fix Core Content Security Policy (CSP) violations as well as the capability to identify potential malicious message content through alert appearing.
Magento security best practices regarding important software patches from 2021
Here are the most critical security updates from 2021.
October 12, 2021 - 2.4.3-p1
August 11, 2021 - 2.4.2-p2
Partner with Nexcess to keep your web hosting solution secure
Malicious entities are trying their best to find security loopholes within Magento ecommerce, which can make you feel insecure and anxious. Therefore, a Magento 2 best security practice is to have a backup plan — someone to call if that if the worst-case cyberthreat scenario becomes a reality. This scenario is where the managed Magento platform by Nexcess shines.
At Nexcess, we do the heavy lifting so you can focus on your business and continue growing your ecommerce business. Our dedicated Magento Support Team is available 24/7/365 to assist in both resolving the current issue you may be facing and also recommending what additional paths you should take.
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Aside from having an SSL certificate, PCI compliant solution, 30-day backups, and security patches that are included with your new managed Magento plan from Nexcess, you should also enable the Magento Sentry two-factor authentication module and set up the Magento Security Scan Tool.
