Smart Tips for Protecting Magento Database from Hacking

Introduction

Owing to its progress in the e-commerce world, Magento database is attracting the attention of hackers and has become a favorite target for them. Despite the fact that Magento is undoubtedly one of the safest among the open source e-commerce platforms and also, its consistent efforts at thwarting security attacks by releasing security patches really frequently, the hackers still are not discouraged and keep coming up with new tricks all the time.

Though these e-commerce software programs such as Drupal, Magento and WordPress have built-in security features, they still have become pretty vulnerable to hackers or brute-force attacks. Regular attempts at gaining access to the vital areas of your website need your attention and immediate action.

Here are some really simple but smart tips that would be pretty effective in safeguarding your Magento store from all kinds of brute-force attacks. Let us now start exploring a few precautionary measures that you need to adopt for combating security breaches and attacks.

Never Ever Leave Sensitive Data on the Server

Many developers are in the habit of copying folders often for backup reasons or sometimes leave behind DB dump files on the server. These are the not only accessible but also downloadable with just a simple browser. Your user passwords might have been kept in the DB. So they would again be potentially accessible. Moreover, even the simple list of all your clients’ emails would be enough for causing serious damage.

Choose a Strong Password

You must use a very strong password as that is a very effective way of safeguarding your Magento store from hackers. The password should be having at least, 15 characters including lowercase, as well as, upper case letters and it should not comprise your name or your close friend’s name etc. You could consider utilizing a password manager app as that could be a brilliant way of creating a strong password that would be ideal for the Magento store. Moreover, you are advised to keep changing your password, as frequently as, possible.

Change the Conventional Admin Path

Hackers are quite familiar with the simple way of accessing a Magento store’s backend just by navigating smartly to domain.com/admin very much within the browser. So it is highly recommended that you modify the admin path and make it something really difficult to crack.

Never Use the Same Password

Never consider using your precise Magento admin password now and again for some other account. Even if you have a host of online accounts, you should stay away on principle from using your precise Magento Admin password. Never use it on any site. You must remember this and understand the seriousness of the issue. This is really very crucial as most hackers begin working through weaker websites. Hackers would try their luck in gaining access to the relatively weaker websites. They would try their best to hack weaker sites having same password and username. Keep refreshing your passwords at brief intervals. Ask everyone else in the DBA services to keep changing passwords from time to time.

Upgrade and Use the Latest Version of Magento

The latest version is sure to be more stable and secure. You must update the current version so that it has all the advanced security features meant precisely for e-commerce development software. The latest version would be effective in fixing all loopholes that could be used by hackers for accessing the critical areas within your website or store.

Installing Magento Security Patches Should Be Your Top Priority

Magento Support has come up with some excellent security patches ideal for EE and CE versions on www.magentocommerce.com. All you need to do is to just follow the link and create an account here at this particular website. Go to Enterprise Edition Patches or Magento Community section and identify the patch for installation. Finally, just press the download button.

Conclusion

Remember that no e-commerce website could be a hundred percent safe, but if you religiously and seriously implement the discussed tips, you could bring down the chances or possibilities of getting Magento hacked considerably. You need to be conscious about the lurking security threats and equip yourself accordingly. Follow all the critical precautionary measures. This would surely help you in shielding your Magento site from any security attacks.