About ShopNow
ShopNow is a leading e-commerce platform serving over 500,000 customers and processing millions of dollars in transactions monthly. With rapid growth came increased security risks.
The Challenge
ShopNow’s engineering team was focused on scaling their platform to handle explosive growth, but security testing had fallen behind.
Rapid Development Pace
Deploying new features multiple times per day left little time for security reviews.
Legacy Code Vulnerabilities
Years of accumulated technical debt included security vulnerabilities in older parts of the codebase.
Third-Party Integrations
Dozens of third-party integrations created a complex attack surface.
Compliance Requirements
As a payment processor, they needed to maintain PCI-DSS compliance while innovating quickly.
The Critical Incident
Three months after implementing WebSecurityScore, the platform detected a critical SQL injection vulnerability in their checkout flow.
The Vulnerability
A recently deployed feature inadvertently introduced a SQL injection flaw that could allow attackers to:
- Access customer payment information
- Steal personal data of 500K+ users
- Modify order information
- Gain administrative access
The Detection
WebSecurityScore’s automated daily scan detected the vulnerability within 12 hours of deployment and immediately alerted the security team via Slack.
The Response
The team:
- Received alert at 2:47 AM
- Confirmed the vulnerability by 3:15 AM
- Deployed a hotfix by 4:30 AM
- Verified the fix by 5:00 AM
Total exposure time: Less than 2 hours, during low-traffic hours.
The Solution
ShopNow implemented a comprehensive security program powered by WebSecurityScore:
Continuous Monitoring
- Daily automated scans of production environment
- Real-time scanning of staging deployments
- Monitoring of all customer-facing applications
CI/CD Integration
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Alert Configuration
- Critical vulnerabilities: Immediate Slack + PagerDuty alerts
- High severity: Slack alerts during business hours
- Medium/Low: Weekly digest emails
Vulnerability Management
- Centralized dashboard for tracking all findings
- Automated ticket creation in Jira
- SLA tracking for remediation
The Results
Prevented Major Data Breach
Early detection prevented a breach that could have:
- Exposed 500K+ customer records
- Cost $2M+ in breach response, legal fees, and fines
- Damaged brand reputation irreparably
- Resulted in loss of PCI-DSS compliance
Improved Security Posture
Over 6 months:
- Resolved 8 critical vulnerabilities
- Fixed 34 high-severity issues
- Reduced medium/low findings by 60%
- Achieved 99% vulnerability remediation rate
Faster Incident Response
- Mean time to detection: 12 hours (down from weeks)
- Mean time to remediation: 2 hours for critical issues
- Zero security-related production incidents
Maintained Compliance
- Passed PCI-DSS audit with zero findings
- Automated compliance reporting saved 40 hours per quarter
- Continuous compliance monitoring
Business Impact
Cost Savings
- Avoided $2M+ breach costs
- Reduced security team overhead by 30%
- Lower cyber insurance premiums
Customer Trust
- Zero customer data breaches
- Improved security transparency
- Higher customer retention
Competitive Advantage
- Security as a differentiator in sales
- Faster enterprise deal cycles
- Premium pricing justified by security
Key Takeaways
Automation is Essential
Manual security testing can’t keep pace with modern development velocity.
Early Detection Saves Millions
Finding vulnerabilities before attackers do is exponentially cheaper than breach response.
Security Enables Speed
Automated security gates allow teams to move fast with confidence.
Continuous Monitoring is Critical
One-time security assessments miss vulnerabilities introduced by new deployments.
The Technology Stack
ShopNow’s security infrastructure includes:
- WebSecurityScore: Automated vulnerability scanning
- GitHub Actions: CI/CD security gates
- Slack: Real-time security alerts
- Jira: Vulnerability tracking and remediation
- PagerDuty: Critical incident response
What’s Next
ShopNow continues to enhance their security program:
- Expanding scanning to mobile APIs
- Implementing security training for developers
- Adding automated penetration testing
- Building security metrics into executive dashboards
About WebSecurityScore
WebSecurityScore provides enterprise-grade security testing for companies that can’t afford to compromise on security. Our platform detects vulnerabilities before they become breaches.