What is e-commerce security?
E-commerce security is the set of guidelines that are designed to allow safe transactions on the web. These guidelines include steps and protocols that help protect the sale and purchase of goods and services online. Appropriate e-commerce security measures boost consumer confidence by protecting their Personal Identifiable Information (PII) that is typically shared during transactions, thereby increasing their trust to shop with the retailer again which drives long-term sales.
E-commerce fraud is up 18%
According to Juniper Research, e-commerce fraud has increased 18% in the past year, taking the loss value from $17.5 billion in 2020 to more than $20 billion in 2021. Naturally, this increase has led online retailers of every size and industry to evaluate their risks and vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, most organizations don’t have the time that is necessary to identify, develop, and implement the fixes before the online shopping season kicks off.
What are the top e-commerce threats and how does Runtime Protection help?
According to research, much of this fraud can be attributed to the following types of cyberattacks. To make sure your organization is safe, below lists detailed descriptions of each threat along with the steps necessary to check your Runtime Protection (RASP) security policies to make sure applications are safe:
Third-party and supply chain
Recent studies show that nearly 70% of modern web applications consist of third-party libraries, plugins, or software creating a supply chain of code that organizations have increasingly grown to rely on. Hackers have noticed this growth in third-party code use, and have designed specific malicious software that covertly embeds itself within this supply chain. This is then automatically distributed by a ‘trusted’ source, by default. Infected third-party code may include spyware, viruses, trojan, or ransomware and can create future damage by easily injecting itself into confidential data sources.
Third-party software and supply chain solution
- Configure RASP to “Track Application Dependencies”. This setting monitors and reports all third-party vendor software actually being loaded into memory within the application. Confirm the scanning intervals for initial and subsequent scans.
- Enable and tune the RASP Networking Activity module as needed. This module offers protections against unauthorized networking activity, with additional settings to limit network protections only to activity that originates from an HTTP request, and an “Allow list” for known-safe TCP/IP hosts or endpoints.
SQL injection (SQLi)
Attackers are consistently on the lookout for certain vulnerabilities such as SQL injections (SQLi). E-commerce stores are susceptible to SQLi due to the search features and capabilities that are often offered to consumers, as a way to help them find the correct products. Once a product name is input into the search box, pressing the enter key often sends the search terms to the database for matching results which are displayed on the web page. However, instead of sending a product name to the database, hackers repeatedly try to send database queries and uncover data tables, consumer information, and more which can cause a devastating data leak.
SQLi solution
- Enable the RASP SQLi module. Even the most sophisticated SQLi can be prevented, including those that originate via other APIs, partner applications, RSS feeds, or synthesized queries.
Cross-site scripting (XSS)
Similarly to SQLi, hackers are always checking web applications for cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities and have a multitude of strategies and methods that can gravely affect e-commerce websites. XSS (also known as content injection) is similar to SQLi, but instead of attacking the back-end for confidential data, XSS targets the front-end of websites, changing how consumers interact with the website. For example, XSS can take-over product links, sending consumers to an unauthorized website to continue shopping and then steal their information. XSS can lead to lost revenue and loss of consumer trust and safety.
XSS solution
- Enable the RASP Content Injection (XSS) module. This module can effectively analyze all incoming code for Content injections, including HTML, XML, JSON and JavaScript, whether it is fragmented, a full document, plain text or mixed content.
Aside from these protections, RASP offers a host of security features and modules to keep enterprise applications and confidential data safe from unauthorized access. RASP protections safeguard against Command Injection and Path Traversal attacks, which were the primary targets of the massive Solar Winds cyberattack. RASP also offers security modules that protect sites from vulnerabilities such as Cross-site Request Forgery (CSRF), Weak Cryptography hashing and algorithms, unauthorized network activity, and more!
Recently, we’ve released our 2021 report, The State of Security within eCommerce, where you’ll gain valuable insights into the nature and impact of attacks targeting your organization.
Need help setting up protections? Current customers may contact us for assistance on ensuring these protections are implemented correctly and customers are safe this holiday season. Ask for a demo to see how RASP can quickly and effectively protect even legacy applications and mitigate vulnerabilities. Or contact a Imperva representative today.
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