eCommerce and Retail Penetration Testing: Protect Payments, Customer Data, and Compliance

Why eCommerce and Retail Are Prime Targets

Penetration testing for eCommerce and retail has become critical as these industries face escalating cyber threats, making them prime targets for attackers seeking financial gain and sensitive customer data. According to IBM’s 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the global average cost of a data breach reached $4.44 million.

The latest Indusface State of Application Security H1 2025 report reveals an alarming surge in API-targeted attacks, with API attacks growing 104% in H1 2025 compared to H1 2024, as adversaries increasingly exploit shopping carts, checkout APIs, and payment integrations.

Account takeover attempts are also surging dramatically, with 83% of organizations experiencing at least one ATO attack and 61% of these attacks specifically targeting e-commerce accounts, reflecting attackers’ preference to “log in rather than break in.”

For both digital-first eCommerce businesses and traditional omnichannel retailers, a single breach can result in stolen payment data, regulatory penalties reaching up to $7,500 per CCPA violation or €20 million under GDPR, and the devastating loss of customer trust with 70% of shoppers abandoning merchants after a breach. This makes penetration testing designed specifically for eCommerce and retail ecosystems not just beneficial, but essential for business survival.

What Makes Penetration Testing Critical in eCommerce and Retail

Protecting Payments and Customer Data

Retailers and online stores manage vast volumes of sensitive data, including cardholder information, personally identifiable information (PII), and loyalty program details. Indusface Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) ensures that every step of the transaction flow is validated, confirming that customer data remains encrypted, secure, and inaccessible to attackers.

Meeting PCI DSS Compliance

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) mandates annual penetration testing, covering internal, external, and segmentation validation of the Cardholder Data Environment (CDE). For organizations processing card payments, compliance is critical, with failure resulting in substantial fines, reputational damage, and potential revocation of payment processing privileges.

Validating Complex Ecosystems

Modern eCommerce and retail systems are interconnected, spanning websites, mobile apps, APIs, payment gateways, POS systems, and ERP integrations. Web application penetration testing provides holistic validation, ensuring that security measures are effective across the entire ecosystem rather than in isolated segments.

Stopping Sophisticated Fraud

Retail-specific penetration testing goes beyond conventional OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities to identify fraud-related risks such as coupon abuse, fake return workflows, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) exploitation, account takeover attempts, and inventory manipulation. These business logic flaws often escape automated scanners but can have immediate financial consequences.

Safeguarding Customer Trust and Brand Reputation

Trust forms the foundation of digital commerce. Even a single security breach can erode years of brand equity and customer loyalty. Penetration testing demonstrates a retailer’s commitment to protecting sensitive data, reinforcing customer confidence.

Ensuring Operational Continuity

Downtime during attacks, whether in online checkout systems or in-store POS terminals, directly translates to revenue loss. Penetration testing validates resilience across critical systems, ensuring uninterrupted operations, especially during peak sales periods such as Black Friday or holiday seasons.

Key Assets in eCommerce and Retail That Require Testing

Websites and Web Applications

Core elements like product catalogs, shopping carts, and checkout flows are high-value targets. Penetration testing identifies vulnerabilities such as session hijacking, insecure payment redirection, and cross-site scripting that could compromise customer data.

Mobile Apps and Digital Wallets

With mobile commerce accounting for over 40 percent of retail transactions, penetration testing assesses mobile app APIs, authentication mechanisms, and payment integrations. Loyalty apps and wallets are tested for weak session handling or insecure APIs that could be exploited for fraud.

Payment Systems (POS and Gateways)

POS devices and payment gateways are primary attack surfaces for cybercriminals. Testing emphasizes tokenization, TLS configuration, webhook security, and detection of skimming malware. POS vulnerability scanning identifies insecure protocols and malware that attackers exploit to steal cardholder data.

Customer Accounts and Loyalty Programs

Penetration testing simulates brute force attacks, credential stuffing, and MFA bypass attempts. Loyalty programs are also assessed for reward abuse and manipulation, which can result in both financial losses and reputational damage.

APIs and Headless Commerce

Modern commerce depends on APIs for checkout, shipping, pricing, and personalization. Pen testing evaluates authorization controls to prevent Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA), rate limiting, and exposure of sensitive fields. While the OWASP API Security Top 10 highlights many common risks, penetration testing delves deeper into business logic flaws specific to retail operations.

Cloud and SaaS Integrations

Many retailers operate on cloud platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and NetSuite. Misconfigured IAM roles, exposed storage buckets, and insecure third-party app integrations can all be exploited. Penetration testing validates configuration security and ensures that plugins cannot be used to inject malicious code.

IoT in Retail

Connected kiosks, smart POS devices, and digital price tags expand the attack surface. Testing must cover firmware vulnerabilities, weak network segmentation, and insecure protocols such as LLMNR and NetBIOS, which attackers often exploit for lateral movement.

Supply Chain Platforms

Third-party vendors, logistics providers, and retail software represent potential weak points. Testing ensures that integrations, vendor portals, and procurement platforms cannot be abused as entry points into the retailer’s network.

Inventory and ERP Systems

ERP and stock management systems are vital to retail operations. Pen testing identifies risks such as order manipulation, insider threats, and integration flaws between ERP and customer-facing systems.

Email and Domain Security

Phishing and spoofed retail domains are common threats. Testing validates SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configurations and assesses email gateways for resilience against impersonation attacks and payment fraud.

Industry-Specific Threats Pen Testing Helps Uncover

• Card skimming and Magecart attacks via injected JavaScript on checkout pages (Visa Security Advisory)
• Account takeover through brute force or credential stuffing attacks on login and reset flows
• Fraudulent or fake orders, including coupon stacking, return fraud, and gift card abuse
• Supply chain exploits via vulnerable third-party plugins or payment service provider integrations
• Bot attacks, including scalping bots and competitor price scraping
• Omnichannel risks arising from connected online, mobile, and in-store systems without proper segmentation

PCI DSS and Beyond: Compliance in eCommerce and Retail

PCI DSS remains the baseline compliance requirement, mandating annual and post-change penetration testing, segmentation validation, and detailed reporting mapped to the Cardholder Data Environment. Depending on geography and business model, additional frameworks may apply: GDPR for EU customers, CCPA/CPRA for California-based businesses, various state-level privacy regulations, and SOX for publicly listed retail companies. Penetration testing provides auditors with evidence that findings are directly mapped to PCI DSS and other applicable frameworks.

Optimal Frequency of Penetration Testing

Annual testing fulfils PCI DSS minimum requirements, while quarterly testing is recommended for high-risk systems such as checkout APIs and payment gateways. Post-change testing ensures new deployments or integrations do not introduce vulnerabilities. Pre-peak season testing is essential for high-traffic events like Black Friday or holiday sales, when fraud attempts surge.

Measuring ROI and Success of Pentesting in the e-Commerce Industry

Penetration testing delivers financial and reputational returns. The average cost of a breach exceeds $4 million (IBM), while PCI fines can reach $100,000 per month. Effective testing reduces chargebacks, account takeover incidents, and loyalty fraud. Faster remediation, measured through metrics like Mean Time to Remediate (MTTR), ensures vulnerabilities are closed quickly, minimizing risk exposure and thereby helping in reducing cyber insurance premiums.

Continuous Protection with Penetration Testing as a Service

Traditional point-in-time testing cannot match the pace of rapid eCommerce release cycles. Continuous testing through PTaaS ensures that every new build, plugin, or integration is assessed before attackers can exploit it. Indusface combines AI-powered scanning with expert manual validation to uncover both technical vulnerabilities and complex fraud scenarios. Indusface’s AI powered fully managed WAF, bot mitigation, and continuous PTaaS allow retailers to stay compliant, resilient, and trusted by customers year-round.

The stakes in eCommerce and retail security have never been higher. Attackers are targeting APIs, checkout flows, and legacy systems, while fraud schemes continue to evolve. While PCI DSS provides a baseline, only continuous, retail-focused penetration testing can provide true resilience. By validating payments, protecting customer accounts, and uncovering fraud scenarios, penetration testing safeguards compliance, brand reputation, and customer trust.

Secure your eCommerce or retail platform today with Indusface Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) and experience continuous, expert-driven protection for payments, APIs, and critical business workflows.

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