Magento Firewall – Increase your Magento Store Security to next Level.

What is Magento Web Application Firewall (WAF)?

The Magento Web Application firewall is a software application that is powered by a hardware device to monitor the traffic flow on the network. This flowing data is examined by the Magento firewall and the firewall ensures that the data follows a set of rules. This gives the firewall the decision-making power to decide whether to let the data flow or not. It could be seen as a checkpoint to make sure that the data is in order and not malicious. We need to understand the data flow to get the idea of a firewall.

The data flow on networks is divided into different layers, where each layer supports the operations for the next layer. The Open Systems Interconnection is a model for data transfer. In this model, the system is divided into 7 layers:

1. Physical Layers. This layer is supposed to be the raw bitstream over the physical medium.
2. Data Link Layer. This defines the format of data on the network.
3. Network Layer. This layer decides the physical path that the data will choose.
4. Transport Layer. The data is transmitted by using relevant protocols such as the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or the User Datagram Protocol (UDP).
5. Session Layer. This layer manages and maintains the connections for controlling the ports and sessions.
6. Presentation Layer. This layer makes sure that the data is in a usable format. On this layer, data encryption also takes place.
7. Application Layer. This is the human-computer interaction layer, where the applications are able to can access the network services. The Magento firewall is applied to this layer.

Next, having IPtables is another tool used in firewalls. This works at the network layer. The use of this tool helps block any incoming or outgoing data for all the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and any ports according to the rules that were set up by the host. However, this does not prevent the attacks against the application layer and thus, Magento itself.

To understand firewalls, we must understand the different types of attacks to get an idea of the significance of the Magento firewall for platform users. Different types of attacks include:

• XSS or Cross-site scripting attacks. These attacks are a type of injection that injects a malicious piece of code into trusted websites. These XSS attacks generally occur when a cracker attacks a web application by using browser-side scripts to different end-users. These codes run when the links are clicked initiating them. The victim’s browser is fully compromised.
• General injection attacks. These are a broad class of variable attack vectors. Injection attacks target the programs by giving them untrusted inputs. Then the network in which they were injected, fetches all the information from the data repositories to attackers.
• In the process of website development, mistakes are made if the developers are amateurs. In the process of coding and building the site, these mistakes are made and referred to as bugs. Bugs themselves aren’t really harmful, except of course those that detrimentally affect performance. The harm of bugs is that they can be exploited by nefarious actors. These bugs are vulnerabilities in code that can be compromised. Then these vulnerabilities may leak information, affect performance, and compromise data transfer between layers.
• HTTP code is not encrypted, HTTP does not have encryption for web server communication, this means that hackers can easily eavesdrop on the data and view it. This may leak sensitive data and expose customer credentials.

These attacks hinder the performance of Magento stores. To keep the Magento store of the user safe from such attacks, the Magento firewall ensures that the store is kept secure from external threats. The Magento firewall is the 7^th layer of the OSI model, in the application layer. Its main task is to monitor the HTTP requests, especially those that are matched with different patterns for the most known attacks.

For example, if a hacker generates a request to the browser while hacking, the Magento firewall will create an SQL injection, prior to the execution of the malicious code to stop this illegal access. Magento firewall is often updated by the platform in real-time to block old and new emerging threats to the platform against the application layer.

The consistent monitoring of data allows the credentials of users such as credit card numbers, account details, customer address, and their sensitive information to be stopped from being leaked online. The Magento websites can also be integrated with new and customized firewalls. Some Magento store owners hire Magento developers to perform Magento integration services with open source firewalls as well to add further levels of security.

What are the benefits of Magento Web Application Firewall?

The Magento firewall when used on the platform has multiple benefits for Magento platform users be it store owners or customers.

Protection from external threats.

The Magento firewall is a Web application firewall that is based on the cloud. It stops Magento website hacks on the platform. Magento has constant research which incrementally improves the mitigation and the detection of evolving software threats. These are then integrated with the platform after updates. It also allows Magento users to add their own customized rules such as instantly blocking any hackers, patching and hardening the site virtually, protecting the brand reputation, preventing Zer-Day data exploitation and mitigating and prevention disturbed denial of service attacks.

Boost platform performance.

Magento’s content delivery network makes Magento sites faster and highly available over all the world. This is thanks to Magento’s secure data centers, customers, visitors, and search engines secure as all of the data is monitored and made sure that its regulation is efficient. If you have a store on a different platform and you make use of Magento migration services to Magento, you will note a clear change in the speed of operations. Features such as smart caching options, using GZIP compression for resource optimization, fast HTTP/2 support, reduced server loading times, and working with other CDNs boost the performance of the platform.

The Magento firewall in itself has its own benefits:

• A default web application firewall policy is available that is maintained. It provides a group of security guidelines that are designed to protect the Adobe Commerce website applications from a range of attacks such as injection attacks, malicious inputs, data exfiltration, HTTP protocol violations, cross-site scripting, and other security threats that plague e-commerce stores.
• The enablement and Web application firewall onboarding is deployed by Adobe that enables the default policy active on your environment within 2 to 3 weeks.
• The payment card industry standard is applied. This ensures that all transactions are safe and secure. The Adobe Commerce storefronts in the production meet the PCI DSS 6.6 security requirements that further legitimize the store.
• The Magento firewall is maintained to set up and manage logs and any alerts for the firewall. Any upgrades to the firewall are immediately upgraded to ensure instant coverage for evolving attacks.
• Adobe triages the customer support tickets that are related to any service issues that may block the legitimate traffic and client-side requests.

Adobe enables the Magento firewall service on new accounts after the provisioning is finalized. The firewall is implemented through the Fastly CDN service. Magento users do not have to install any software nor maintain any hardware. The result of these benefits provided by the Magento firewall are:

• Mitigation for disturbance denial of service attacks. The mitigations against these DDoS attacks prevent any downtime for the store.
• The protection from SQL injections. These injections are prevented as their query on parameters, inputs, headers, and body data are filtered out and not considered.
• Linux attacks are detected. The request patterns of these attacks are identified and then blocked. These attacks are associated with the exploitation of vulnerabilities that are specific to the Linux operating system, including local file inclusion attacks.
• Protection against cross-site scripting attacks. These XSS attacks are prevented as the data monitoring tracks these vulnerabilities and fixes them.
• Making a rate limit. This rate limitation protects the Magento platform from the use of brute force. These HTTP flood attacks are prevented because otherwise, they affect the availability and the performance of the shop by consuming resources. If your store still isn’t able to cater to increased traffic, you should perform Magento speed optimization services.
• Providing real-time visibilities. The firewall is able to provide near real-time metrics for the data and captures the raw requests that include sensitive data such as geolocations, IP addresses, URIs (uniform resource identifier), and referrers.
• Blocking the traffic from unwanted countries. For example, if you want to sell only in a specific country, you can block all other requests from locations that you cannot deliver to or don’t want to serve.
• Blocking bots and IPs. The Magento firewall easily blocks these bad bots and addresses.
• The provision of automatic web application firewall updates on the Magento store. Any new update in the back-end is instantly applied to the store.
• Restricting access to the Magento backend by not serving some IP addresses. This means only whitelisted IPs are allowed to access the Magento back-end.
• Management of the Magento module is also a benefit. Magento store owners can manage blocked IPs, countries, whitelisted IPs, and bots on the Magento store’s back-end.

These benefits are the reason why Magento stores are safe and secure and why large enterprises who value security and performance make use of Magento as their e-commerce store.

How Magento Web Application Firewall Helps?

The Magento firewall allows the Magento store owners to control the website application firewall by themselves, whether you want to block bots, countries, or IPs, it can easily be done by the Magento backend using the firewall. The Magento firewall helps in preventing attacks and hacks. This help is achieved when users want to set up custom rules for their store or even protect from external threats.

The firewall helps in IP blocking. Here, the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses that cause malicious traffic are actively detected and then blocked. Traffic from unwanted countries can also be blocked by performing country blocking on IP addresses. The Magento store is also kept free from bots as the firewall can deny access to these pre-defined bad bots to our Magento shop. The firewall makes the store performance better and safer by providing a rate limit to browsers. IPs that hit a pre-defined threshold of requests within a defined period of time get automatically blocked.

As IPs are blocked o rate limits, some IPs are also granted special access. For instance, there is going to be no rate limit on your office IPs to prevent any mishaps. Some whitelist IPs can also access the Magento backend, this will be enforced by the Magento firewall.  In conclusion, the Magento firewall for Magento helps to protect Magento stores be protected against common attacks. The Magento firewall is consistently updated to keep sure that the stores are safe. You could configure the firewall as per your customizations as well.

What are the best security extensions for your Magento Store?

There are multiple security extensions that can be used on your Magento store. In order to make sure that the extensions work with complete efficiency, use Magento integration services of a certified Magento web development company.

1. Security by Mageplaza. Its features include letting admins record and track all of the logins in a catalog with complete information. It enables the admins to set a custom limit on the number of failed login attempts. Display automatic warnings of security risks that are detected. Include an email template for warnings and block or allow a range of IP addresses in the backend. It is priced at $99 as a one-time price.
2. Security by Amasty. This extension includes a secure two-step authentication process. Each user is established by a unique authentication code. Custom IPs can be added to a whitelist. It helps protect the Magento store from spyware. This extension is priced at $419 as a one-time price.
3. Security by Xtento. This security plugin allows a secure login to the admin panel. Prevent brute force attacks by limiting resources and detecting these attacks. Track the traffic on the site. It is also compatible with third-party applications. Allows admins to check history lifetime in a set of days. It is priced at $69.
4. Security by Astra. It blocks IP and countries as per the admin. Ensure that the admin login is protected. It sends daily threat reports, performs a daily malware scan and a blacklist check. It detects this malware and removes it, blocks cyber threats like XSS, SQL injections, malicious file uploads, and over a hundred security issues in real-time. This is charged at $24 per month subscription.
5. Security by Magedelight. This is supported to accept.js. It allows adding, modify and deleting saved cards. Supports a full refund. It also enables saving payment methods for the customer securely. Helps in a safe and secure checkout. It is priced at $239 as a one-time price.
6. Security by Wyomind. This extension allows stopping the website from being attacked by using brute force. Traffic can be viewed on the admin panel. It can also follow each connection attempt to make sure it is legit. It is priced at $70 as a one-time price.
7. Security by Firebearstudio. This extension allows import and export scheduled by cron. It also supports XML with XSLT, XLSX, JSON, ODS, CSV, zip, and tar archives. It can map file separators, increase and decrease in price, attributes, and other parameters. This plugin also supports REST and SOAp APIs to connect to external software. It is free to use.
8. Security by Neklo. It has features to strengthen passwords by using digits and case requirements. Enable a two-factor authentication verification method. Enable automatic scanning for malware, scanning viruses, and any missing security patches or links. Set a minimum password length to make it difficult to crack. This extension is priced at $299 as a one-time installation charge.
9. Security by Magfence. This extension allows checking the security of your Magento store. Store owners can examine the site for malware. Protect the store from multiple brute-force attacks. Ban any undesired visitors to the store. It is priced at $159 as a one-time price.
10. Security by Webkul. This Magento security extension has features such as supporting 2-factor authentication. The data access can be restricted through an IP or country ban. Brute force logs can be maintained. This extension is priced at $199 as a one-time.

You can use any security extension but it is preferable to first take consultation of a Magento web development company to make sure you make the best business decisions.

Why Does Your Magento Store Need A Web Application Firewall?

Magento stores need a Website application firewall for many reasons. The firewalls keep the Magento stores safe from data loss and data compromise by blocking any suspicious requests before they even reach the e-commerce application. In today’s world, e-commerce stores are a central target for cybercriminals, and the amount of monetary value on Magento makes Magento a hotspot for these malicious activities.

If a store owner sells products online, the retailers rely on the trust of customers who hand over their personal information such as physical addresses, mobile phone numbers, emails, and credit card numbers. This means that the Magento store owners should also play their part in keeping the trust of the customers and providing them security. Only banks and healthcare providers hold more sensitive information. This makes e-commerce stores a very valuable prize and this is why Magento owners should take special advantage of the various security tools and best practices to keep this asset valuable.

This is where web application firewalls come into play. This means that the data is kept safe. When firewalls are used to block access to ports, it blocks all data related to that port as it is sending out malicious information. Firewalls also specialize to handle specific types of network traffic and protocols. Some important reasons which declare why firewalls are a must to be used are:

• To monitor data and make sure everything is in order.
• Block any malicious data. Then also bock the port that it originated from.
• To make sure no details of customer data are being compromised. Or else customers will lose trust in the store and sway away to competitors.
• Block traffic from certain countries to make sure that more relevant users can access the resources.
• To give exclusive rights to whitelisted IPs that want to access the data on the Magento backend. For example, your office addresses, some developers who are working on the store, or any special clients.
• Resolve queries.
• Allow for fair resource distribution, make sure that only one address does not consume all of the resources, and also give a chance to other IP addresses. If the customers still complain about not being able to access the store, you should perform Magento speed optimization services.
• Manage all of the data associated with the store. This can be done from the Magento store if the user wants to manage and view all the blocked IPs, certain countries and then customize the settings.

The Magento firewall is for Magento store owners who want to stop worrying about the security of the store and have it managed by trusted experts who can make the store more secure. You can find and hire Magento developers to manage the firewall for you while you focus on the business side. Having a firewall is a must as customers trust you with the data.

You can even hire a Magento web development company to perform Magento integration services with other extensions that make the usage more secure.  The firewall will monitor security incidents, protect the site from hackers, and fix the website hacks. These also ensure that the store is reachable and ensures a fast working.

Why is Folio3 the best company for your Magento Store’s Protection?

The best Magento web development company that store owners can employ for e-commerce solutions that are related to Magento store protection is Folio3. There are multiple reasons for this.

Following international standards.

The company has been providing services for over 15 years internationally. Folio3 has outlined its own set of process models. This process model makes sure that the development process is expertly crafted to make sure that the final product is of premium quality. The company follows the latest ISO 9001 standards so it is a legitimate e-commerce solution provider. They take no shortcuts that risk the product performance so it is a well-developed and tested solution. It has provided Magento services in development, integration with security extensions, migration from other platforms, speed optimization, and security maintenance. So it is a legit and good option to employ for keeping the store protected.

Experienced and certified Magento developers.

Folio3 has over 50 certified Magento developers. These experts have skills that give their solutions enhanced cyber security. The developers make use of healthy coding practices such as reducing redundancy, closing sessions, including re-usable code, and keeping the data inaccessible to outside sources.

This means that the final solution is safe and secure. The experience of the developers allows them to include all their software expertise to make sure that older and recent cyber-attacks are handled relevantly.

Premium services in an affordable package.

The company can guarantee safe and secure storage as they make sure that they do not abandon their users after handing over the solution. They provide affordable packages for Magento support and maintenance services to keep the Magento stores safe from external cyber-attacks and also keep the store safe internally.

These are just some of the reasons why Fortune500 and small-scale business companies prefer to get their services for a Magento web development company only from Folio3 due to their consistently well-performing services.

Final Thoughts.

Having a Magento firewall for stores is a must in today’s age where everything is transferring to the online platform. An e-commerce platform must be fast and highly responsive. If your Magento store isn’t able to cater to increased traffic, you should perform Magento speed optimization services. A Magento platform must be secure for payments as well.This also asks for greater security.

To ensure this on the Magento store owner’s end, they should make use of security extensions and maintain firewalls. You can hire Magento developers to perform Magento integration services with other security plugins. You can hire the services of Folio3 as your Magento web development company to develop the store as you focus on developing the business.

FAQs.

Q.1. How does Magento WAF protect my Magento store?

A. The Magento firewall protects the Magento store by providing several benefits.

Improve the visibility of website traffic.

The Magento firewall offers close to real-time visibility of the Magento traffic. You can even micromanage the metrics. You can create new rules and alerts to monitor inbound traffic in every rule. Store owners can also use logging metrics. These capture the header of a web request, this can then analyze the data for auditing and security purposes.

Provide cyber-security.

Magento firewall supports hundreds of managed rules that can be configured and updated instantly. These rules inspect the requests of browsers without slowing the general performance. Your Magento firewall can actively prevent attacks such as DDoS attacks, SQL injections, and XSS attacks. The requests that are patterned on these threats are filtered.

Easy deployment and maintenance.

The firewall is easy to deploy and maintain. You can hire a Magento web development company to provide you with services along the journey. This ensures that the firewall is also maintained. This saves resource consumption for future requests.

Q.2. What is WAF?

A. WAF is an acronym for Website application firewall. This is present on the application layer that is the 7^th layer of the OSI model. The WAF is important for keeping the website secure from external threats by monitoring the data flow and making sure that the data follows a set of accepted rules. For Magento, it has its own firewall called the Magento firewall. This keeps infiltrators with malicious intentions out and the information of clients safe and secure.

Q.3. Is WAF a must have thing for your Magento Store?

A. Yes, it is a must to have a safe and secure Magento platform. If the platform is not secure to make payments, there is almost no use for that e-commerce platform. It needs to keep the customer data safe and secure.

The firewall will keep the sensitive data safe from unauthorized users, as it is the responsibility of the Magento store owner to keep the trust that the customer placed in them. You can make use of a Magento web development company to set up the firewall. The firewall will encourage shoppers to safely use your store without any shortfall.

Q.4. Does a web application need a firewall?

A. First of all, your web application should have HTTPS, after that you should invest in setting up a firewall. This is a set of rules that are designed to keep the web application safe. A firewall includes features such as blocking any unwanted web traffic from accessing the site. It protects against hacks, cross-site scripting, DDoS attacks, brute force attacks, and any SQL injections. Firewalls also have virtual patching before the platform release their official patches.

This is done on an unending basis, this means that this gives you the best chance to protect the website before an attack is successful. Even if a hacker manages to slip past and comes in contact with the firewall, they will be detected and removed. A firewall enhances the ability to clean the site quicker, completely, and for a little money.

If your site is slow, a firewall increases its speed and performance by using advanced caching mechanisms. This makes a website safe and fast. Magento store owners, should set up their Magento firewall and can even customize it to their personal needs.

Q.5. How does WAF help?

A. A web application firewall helps web application owners by:

• Providing a rate limit to keep the platform safe from brute force attacks and resource mismanagement.
• Blocking malicious IP addresses.
• Giving special access to some specified IP addresses such as office servers.
• Blocking bad bots, countries, IPs, and ports that send malicious data.
• Prevents hacks and cyber-attacks.
• Set up custom rules for the website.
• Keep the data flowing encrypted and safe.

A web application interface is a must to have on e-commerce platforms as security is a big factor. Any compromise may result in exposing sensitive data. Magento store owners should use a Magento firewall to keep their store safe.