On June 30, 2020 Magento 1 reached its end-of-life (EOL). If you still are on this platform, either using Magento Open Source or Commerce, you likely haven’t noticed a huge difference. Your site didn’t simply go offline or self-destruct itself, but over time the lack of support from Adobe and not having regular updates will become a huge problem.
Because everyone has been moving on from Magento 1, you’re going to encounter a lot of issues until you do eventually upgrade. And you will have to upgrade at some point because if you don’t, without any of the security or extension updates, your site will become vulnerable to hackers and will not function properly.
If you are still stuck on a Magento 1 platform and looking to upgrade quickly and efficiently, the team at 121eCommerce will be able to help you out. If you’re still unsure whether you need to switch over, we discuss the risks of continuing to run on a Magento 1 platform below.
Questions about migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2? Check out our complete non-developer’s guide to migration.
End of Security Updates
Magento 1 security risks are definitely the most important reason to switch over as soon as possible, since opening yourself up to hackers is never a good thing. Patches and updates are constantly coming out that prevent malicious actors from exploiting vulnerabilities, but not anymore for Magento 1.
Common tactics used by hackers are known as web skimming or Magecart, where they are able to steal payment data as customers check out. This is a very real threat, as hackers have been exploiting Magento bugs and security flaws for years.
As time goes on, you’re going to fall further and further behind with the updates. Hackers will see your site as an easy target. Once you have a data breach, your customers are likely not going to be confident in your security, even after you update. You’ll have to do a lot of heavy lifting just to recover from a PR nightmare like a hack. Not only that, but you’ll also have some steep fines to contend with. On average, it costs about $3.9M per data breach.
Don’t put yourself in that position and don’t leave your customers vulnerable. The safe bet is upgrading to Magento 2 as soon as possible.
Losing your PCI Compliance
If you’re using a third-party payment gateway on your website, which is something you should be doing, you’re at a lower risk of losing your PCI Compliance than those who don’t. However, a big part of staying PCI compliant is maintaining and securing your website. Once Adobe stopped making updates in June, your Magento 1 site was no longer protected from the most recently discovered vulnerabilities.
MasterCard and Visa both issued warnings recently about security breaches happening primarily on sites that have older versions of Magento and that haven’t been keeping up-to-date with the security updates and patches. Visa explicitly told vendors that if they didn’t upgrade to the newest version of Magento, Magento 2.4 at the time of writing, they will eventually fall out of compliance with PCI standard.
You probably know already how bad it is for online merchants to lose this accreditation. Beyond losing customer trust, it also means your company could become directly liable for any damages to customers.
Your Website UX is Going to Get Worse
If the security vulnerabilities aren’t enough to convince you, one of over 100,000 merchants still delaying the migration to Magento 2, maybe the User Experience issues might. Security updates aren’t the only thing that will stop with the Magento 1 EOL, your extensions won’t be supported either. While your site may be fine now, just a short while after the June cutoff, over time, without patches, your site is going to get really buggy and slow.
Performance upgrades, patches, and other maintenance are needed to keep everything on a complex site, like an eCommerce ecosystem, working smoothly. And if you think you can just hire a developer to keep it all up-to-date for you, well, they’re going to be getting pricier as time goes on.
A lot pricier.
Most of the good developers have been working on Magento 2 for years and haven’t been focusing on Magento 1 at all. You’ll have a much smaller, and shrinking, pool of experts to choose from and they know it. They will be setting their prices accordingly.
We all Knew it Was Coming
Magento 1 came out in 2008 and was scheduled to reach its EOL in 2018. Since Adobe acquired it that year, they decided to extend the grace period a bit longer to June 1, 2020. With COVID-19 hitting at the same time, they extended the timeline by one month and sent out the last updates and patches on June 22nd. And that’s it.
Magento 2 was released in 2015 and, while migration from the old platform to the new one isn’t simple, merchants have had a whole 5 years to prepare. If you’re still running on Magento 1, know you are not alone and almost 75% of Magento stores are still running the old version. There is no safety in numbers here, unfortunately. Hackers will easily be able to exploit the same vulnerabilities across many stores, including yours.
Update Now For a More Secure Site
The security risks are simply too high to continue with Magento 1 long-term. Both the financial well-being and your company’s reputation are at stake. Migrating isn’t an easy process and may result in some downtime, but having a data breach is so much worse. You will have to upgrade, so why wait and leave your site vulnerable?
If you are looking to minimize your offline time and loss of sales, while ensuring your Magento 2 upgrade is the best it can be, you need a team of experts on your side. 121eCommerce excels at Magento 2 migrations, consistently finishing them on time and on budget. The team will be able to bring everything over efficiently, and also recommend some improvements along the way. Further, they can stay on to ensure your site stays up-to-date and doesn’t fall behind with any necessary patches or general updates.
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