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Retail &
E-commerce

Berghem runs penetration testing for retail, e-commerce, and marketplaces — from physical stores to payment gateways, checkout, shopping apps, and order and inventory APIs. We test PCI-DSS 4.0 and data-protection compliance, assess anti-fraud, and deliver evidence that Security and product teams can prioritize before peak dates like Black Friday.

Sector Focus

Why retail needs specialized security

Retail runs on massive volumes, thin margins, and seasonal windows that multiply risk. A PCI-DSS failure, checkout fraud, or phishing during peak dates can hit reputation, fines, and annual revenue in hours.

Payment gateways, shopping apps, order and inventory APIs, admin panels, and dozens of third-party integrations form an attack surface no generic program covers. We map that surface end to end and chain flaws until we prove real business impact — from card-data exposure to account takeover and business-logic abuse.

Our approach combines web and mobile application penetration testing, API assessment, cloud configuration review, and targeted social engineering against support and operations teams. Every finding ships with a reproducible proof of concept, a severity rating, and remediation guidance prioritized by risk and revenue impact, so Security, product, and anti-fraud teams fix what actually breaks operations or exposes customer data first.

Sector Reality
$48B
global e-commerce fraud losses in 2023
1 in 6
online orders show signs of fraud
85%
of retailers suffered attack attempts in 2024
+30%
phishing increase during Black Friday/Christmas periods
Main Threats

Why retail needs specialized security

Digital skimming (Magecart)

Malicious script injection into checkout pages to capture card data in real time, often through third-party libraries and pixels.

Checkout fraud and card-not-present

Synthetic identities, mule networks, and anti-fraud bypass to authorize fraudulent transactions with stolen cards.

Account Takeover (ATO)

Credential stuffing and hijacking of accounts with saved cards and addresses, driving fraudulent purchases and chargebacks.

Seasonal phishing

Campaigns impersonating the brand during Black Friday, Christmas, and holidays to steal credentials and payment data.

Bots and scraping

Inventory hoarding, price scraping, and coupon and gift-card abuse by automated bots that distort operations.

Vendor and gateway risk

Compromise through integrations, plugins, tracking pixels, and payment gateways across the third-party chain.

Compliance & Frameworks
Standard requires penetration testing or a security assessment
FAQ

Frequently asked questions about retail security

What does a retail and e-commerce penetration test cover?
We cover the surfaces where a flaw becomes fraud or a data leak: checkout and payment gateway, shopping apps, order and inventory APIs, admin panels, and third-party integrations. We chain flaws until we demonstrate access to card data, account takeover, or business-logic abuse, always with synthetic data.
How does PCI-DSS 4.0 apply to my e-commerce?
If you process, store, or transmit cardholder data, PCI-DSS 4.0 requires periodic penetration testing, controls against digital skimming, and script monitoring at checkout. We assess the cardholder data environment scope, validate segmentation, and evidence whether applicable requirements are truly implemented, supporting your certification.
Can you test during Black Friday without stopping sales?
Yes. We plan scope, windows, and boundaries with product, IT, and anti-fraud teams, prioritizing staging for intrusive actions and synthetic data in production. We avoid peak hours and irreversible operations, so the assessment causes no downtime or revenue impact during commercial dates.
How do you assess checkout fraud and account takeover?
We simulate the abuses attackers exploit: credential stuffing and account takeover, synthetic identity creation, anti-fraud bypass, coupon and gift-card abuse, and inventory and price bots. We test business logic and control resilience, showing where to reinforce rules, limits, and monitoring.
Do you test marketplaces and multi-seller platforms?
Yes. We assess seller onboarding, payout and split-payment flows, inter-seller isolation, and the APIs that connect stores, logistics, and gateways. The goal is to prove whether a seller or attacker can reach another party's data, funds, or orders, and to prioritize the fixes.
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