UK Industry Guide

Cyber security for UK ecommerce and online retailers

Ecommerce sites face constant card-skimming (Magecart), account takeover and supply-chain attacks via third-party scripts. A single skimmer left undetected for weeks can trigger a PCI fine and reputational collapse.

Avg loss per incident

£148,000

Top regulations

PCI DSS v4
UK GDPR
Consumer Rights Act
PSD2 / SCA

Top threats

Magecart / card skimming

Malicious JavaScript injected into checkout pages via compromised npm packages or third-party tags.

Customer account takeover

Credential stuffing using leaked password lists — drains loyalty points, gift cards and stored cards.

DDoS during peak sales

Black Friday and Boxing Day attacks designed to extort or knock out competitors.

Quick wins

  • 01Lock down third-party scripts with a Content Security Policy
  • 02Enable bot management and rate-limiting on /login and /checkout
  • 03Use Subresource Integrity (SRI) hashes for all hosted JS
  • 04Require MFA for all admin accounts on Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento or BigCommerce

Frequently asked questions

What is Magecart?

Magecart is a class of attack where malicious JavaScript is injected into checkout pages to silently steal card details. It can come through compromised plugins, third-party tag managers, or supply-chain attacks on npm.

Are we PCI compliant if we use Stripe or Klarna?

Using a hosted payment provider reduces your PCI scope but does not eliminate it. You're still responsible for the security of any pages that load checkout scripts.

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