Sonassi supports retailers still operating on Magento 1 post end of life

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Sonassi, the eCommerce hosting and consultancy company, has launched its Sonassi Assurance Scheme for retailers continuing to run eCommerce stores on Magento 1 following its end of life on 30th June, providing up to £50,000 warranty against a PCI breach.

Magento 1 end of life means any retailer continuing to run their website on the platform is faced with a number of risks that are so severe it could put them out of business. According to Foregenix, one of the leading PCI Forensic Investigator firms globally, there was still over 218,722 Magento 1 merchants globally at the end of June. With retailers focusing on the short-term challenges COVID-19 has presented, many are yet to migrate to either Magento 2 or another platform.

Prior to Magento 1 end of life, Magento 1 stores were a prime target for hackers. At the end of June, Foregenix revealed that Magento 1 sites make up 64% of the hacked sites globally and 95% of Magento 1 sites were categorised as either high or critical risk. Therefore, without any upgrades or new security patches, retailers on Magento 1 are in the spotlight of hackers even more so. In addition, retailers still on this platform will be violating PCI compliance standard, the security standard for organisations handling credit cards, which aims to help reduce credit card fraud. 

For those retailers that remain on Magento 1, whether looking to migrate to Magento 2 or not, Sonassi is offering its Assurance Scheme to those businesses taking best practice steps to secure their store. The scheme provides up to £50,000 warranty from a breach and while it does not mean a retailer will be PCI compliant, it mitigates the costs of a full PFI investigation.

In addition to the warranty, the Assurance Scheme covers all security best practice steps, ensuring both the brand and its customers are protected from the threat of a hacker. Included within the package is a site vulnerability scanner, DDoS protection, deep inspection and malware detection, enhanced WAF, zero-day exploit protection, fully managed threat detection and incident response.

James Allen-Lewis, Development Director at Sonassi explains: “Magento 1 reaching end of life represents a real risk for retailers so we wanted to provide a means for our customers stores to be online, well-protected and de-risked from cyber security threats, while they are transitioned across to a supported solution.

“At a time when businesses across the globe are already facing disruption and uncertainty and have been focusing on mitigating the challenges brought on by the pandemic, it is likely many retailers have placed migrating platform to the bottom of their agendas, despite many payment processers issuing warnings to their customers. As a result, Sonassi wanted to offer a package that could help out existing and new clients at a challenging time for many retailers.”

Allen Lewis continues: “Losing PCI compliance or customers personal information is a disaster for online retailers that manage online card payments as it is highly likely they will become liable for the damages caused to their customers, as well as having to pay the costs of a PFI investigation. Any additional costs to the retailer are unwelcome in the current climate and for many the costs associated with remaining on a Magento 1 platform could cripple them financially. As a result, we have launched our new Assurance Scheme to help retailers that are already fighting for survival and still find themselves operating on a Magento 1 platform.

“While we would strongly advise any retailer to migrate to Magento 2 as soon as possible, we are on hand to support any retailer whatever their future plans. Providing an unmatched security package which guarantees to secure, scan and respond to any security threats, hosted on the fastest and most secure Magento platform in the world really is our bread and butter,” Allen-Lewis concludes.