Magecart is a notorious and insidious threat that targets e-commerce websites with the aim of stealing payment card information from unsuspecting customers. Named after the shopping cart software Magento, Magecart attacks involve the insertion of malicious JavaScript code into compromised websites’ payment processing pages.
Magecart is a form of data skimming that attacks by using the client-side browser as the front door for consumer interactions. “Skimming” is a method used by attackers to capture sensitive information from online payment forms, such as email addresses, passwords and credit card numbers. For Magecart specifically, hackers implant malicious code into websites to steal credit card information as people enter credentials on the checkout page.
Data skimming attacks like Magecart typically follow a well-established pattern. They must achieve three things to be successful:
Gain access to your website:
There are typically two ways attackers gain access to your website and place skimming code. They can either break into your infrastructure or your server and place the skimmer there. More often though, they will attack one of your third-party vendors, especially if they are an easier target and infect a third-party tag that will run a malicious script on your site when it is called in the browser.
Skim sensitive information from a form:
There are many different ways that attackers can capture data, but the skimming code is always some sort of JavaScript that listens for personal information and collects it. A common scenario is one in which attackers monitor all the keypresses on a sensitive page or some that intercept input into specific parts of a webform like the credit card and CVV fields. Generally, attackers will hide malicious code inside other code that looks benign to avoid detection.
Send information back to their server:
This is the simplest part of the whole process. Once hackers gain access to your website and scrape the data they want—it’s game over. They can send the information from end users’ browsers to almost any location on the internet.
Magecart poses serious risks to both businesses and customers:
Financial Losses:
Stolen payment card data can lead to unauthorized transactions, causing financial losses for customers and damage to businesses.
Reputation Damage:
A Magecart attack can severely impact the reputation of an e-commerce website, eroding customer trust and loyalty.
Legal and Compliance Issues:
Businesses may face legal consequences and regulatory fines for failing to protect customer data adequately.
Extended Downtime:
Detecting and mitigating a Magecart attack can lead to extended website downtime and disruption of e-commerce operations.
Radware’s comprehensive cybersecurity solutions protect against Magecart and other attacks and create a 360-degree defense against supply chain vulnerabilities and attacks, as well as automated (bot) attacks that are increasingly growing in sophistication and ability to emulate human behavior.
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
Radware's WAF provides powerful protection against Magecart attacks by inspecting incoming web traffic and blocking malicious JavaScript injections.
Client-Side Protection
Designed to secure end users from attacks embedded in your application supply chain, Radware Client-Side Protection defends against supply-chain attacks like Magecart, formjacking, skimming, and DOM XSS. It automatically and continuously discovers third-party services with detailed activity tracking and provides real-time alerts and threat-level assessments according to multiple indicators. It prevents data leakage by blocking destinations that are unknown or have illegitimate parameters and only blocks malicious scripts without interfering with your vital JavaScript services.
Secure CDN Services
Radware's Content Delivery Network (CDN) includes security measures to prevent Magecart attacks from compromising your website.
Radware Bot Manager
In addition to Client-Side Protection, Radware Bot Manager prevents Magecart attacks through real-time bot protection for websites, mobile applications and APIs. It safeguards against automated threats by using behavioral modeling, collective bot intelligence and fingerprinting. Bot Manager provides protection against critical risks like account takeover, DDoS, ad and payment fraud, web scraping, and other types of attacks.