Rinchi
TechInAfrica – New research from a cybersecurity firm, Foregenix, reveals that around 87% of SME websites that use the Magento platform are at high risk from cyber threats. In contrary to this, less than 10% of websites that use other major e-commerce platforms are in the same level of high risk.
Foregenix analyzed about 9 million websites around the world, including 25,000 websites across Africa. Among those websites, 200,000 of them are using Magento. The research was conducted in April and May by Foregenix’s Threat Intelligence Group using its website security solution, WebScan. Compared to the research in October last year, the number of Magento websites at high risk has increased, which was less than 80%.
According to a study from IT services and consulting firm, Serianu conducted in April last year, African businesses have lost around US$3.5 billion. The number increased compared from 2017, which was US$2 billion. Among African countries, Nigeria was at the biggest lost, followed by Kenya, and Tanzania.
According to the report, over 95% of public and private companies in Africa spent less than US$1,500 a year on cybersecurity while SMEs failing at investing in it.
Benjamin Hosack, the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Foregenix, commented: “Magento is a market leader for good reason. However, this leadership position also attracts the attention of criminals looking for easy targets, such as websites that have not kept their Magento software up to date or have basic security flaws like leaving their admin page unprotected.”
Hosack continued, “In the vast majority of cyber attacks, victims are small local businesses which never thought they’d be a target for criminals and didn’t realize when they were hacked. Their payment data can be leaked to criminals for months on end before they are notified by credit card companies.
“Most breaches aren’t a result of extremely clever cyber criminal techniques. They are simply the result of basic security issues that have been overlooked by the website owners and developers. A few basic precautions such as deploying software patches quickly can make a big difference to minimizing risk, whichever platform is used,” Hosack concluded.
Source: itnewsafrica.com
