Shopify Stores Face Suspected AI-Driven Attacks

German-based software engineer Roman Zipp was buying a mechanical keyboard from a Shopify-powered storefront last month, when he discovered a series of ecommerce cyberattacks. As he checked out, he noticed the URL was from a domain affiliated neither with Shopify nor the merchant, he told ADWEEK. Examining the source code revealed a redirect to a fake checkout screen, likely meant to fool unsuspecting shoppers into handing over their personal information. The code wasn’t in the Shopify platform itself, but a third-party extension used by the merchant via the Shopify App Store — a marketplace where sellers can find apps to add functionality to their storefronts, like recommendation engines or post-checkout upsell screens. Over the next few weeks, Zipp started documenting reports of apps being injected with fake checkout screens or hacked in other ways. Some apps are gone from the App Store, like Boost AI Search & Discovery and Swym Wishlist Plus. Others have since been relisted, such as commerce tech company Rokt’s upselling platform Aftersell. Many of the apps infected with malicious code led to the same couple of domains, Zipp said. But it is still unclear who initiated the cyberattacks. For about a week, Swym, which lets consumers save products they like to a shopping list, noticed someone trying to add malicious code to storefronts via its Swym Wishlist Plus application, the developer said in an Oct. 20 blog post. Malicious code injected into Swym had already affected a client of Underwaterpistol, a U.K.-based Shopify agency. According to Underwaterpistol delivery director Dan Sutherland, the client — whom he declined to name — discovered their cart was redirecting customers to an external checkout screen that didn’t belong to them, causing an unusual dip in orders and conversions. Sutherland and his team quickly removed the code and all potentially affected apps used by its clients. Swym said in its blog post it had found no evidence that merchant data or customer personal information had been exposed through its application, but that customers who entered their details on the fake checkout screen may have had their information compromised. The developer declined to comment beyond what it already shared in its blog post. Shopify claims no responsibility for damages from apps The MO is similar across the Shopify app ecosystem. Back in July, app developer Qikify noticed an unauthorized third party injecting a script into customizable HTML fields in the app settings, the company said on its website. Aftersell’s CEO Dhruv Patel said in a LinkedIn post that an attacker “sent millions of malicious requests” to its servers beginning Oct. 7. “Most failed or did nothing, but the attack exposed non-sensitive upsell configuration data (e.g. discount settings) from a subset of 22 stores and they have of course been notified.” Patel claimed his app was not affected by checkout hijacking Selleasy developer LogBase said an attacker injected a malicious script into storefronts via a legacy internal support tool. “This was a deliberate, planned attack,” according to a company blog post. “It was carried out over a few hours through an anonymising network, specifically to hide its origin.” Qikify, Aftersell, and Selleasy did not respond to requests for comment. Shopify’s terms of service says it is not responsible for damages that result from the use of Shopify apps and other third-party services. A Shopify spokesperson told ADWEEK that it removes apps from the App Store when they fall short of the company’s security and privacy standards until the developer has fixed the issue. Shopify also said its own platform, systems, and checkout have not been compromised. The company did not respond when asked how many apps and merchants were affected, how it happened, or why so many Shopify apps were affected at the same time. Shopify also did not provide an estimate of how many shoppers were victimized by the scams. AI might have exploited the Shopify ecosystem Some blame AI for making it easier for hackers to identify software vulnerabilities and write malicious code. “It was an automated and almost certainly AI-assisted attack,” Patel wrote in his post. Zipp also believes the attacks he encountered were AI-assisted. “I read the code, and it’s 100% slop code you get out of an AI,” he said. “There were also comments in the code which you really never do if you’re using that code to attack someone; you want to make that code look as unreadable as possible, maybe as unsuspicious as possible.” After word of the attacks had been circulating on social media, in a blog post Oct. 20, Shopify acknowledged attacks across the app ecosystem had increased as AI gets better at finding vulnerabilities, and has taken steps to fix some issues. On Oct. 20, in an effort to guard against surprised redirects, it added a feature asking customers to agree to be redirected to an outside website — though it has since been updated to only block links to websites that Shopify has identified as malicious, according to a changelog on its site. On Oct. 27, Shopify rolled out several new features for developers to secure their apps, including the ability for developers to restrict API access to their servers, identity verification, and a support page detailing how developers can keep their apps secure. Confidence in Shopify hasn’t waned The cyberattacks mean merchants should be hyperaware of the apps they install on their store, said Edward Upton, founder and CEO of Littledata, a data platform for Shopify merchants. Littledata wasn’t affected in the latest cyberattacks, Upton said, but had been hacked in 2020. “You want to deal with trusted app developers,” he said, adding that every app has a potential security loophole. “A lot of stores have really no idea what is running on their storefronts.” Underwaterpistol’s Sutherland said merchants’ confidence in Shopify is still high. “We didn’t see any hesitation to continue engaging with Shopify as a platform or the ecosystem, really they were just looking for reassurance,” he said. “Shopify did step in pretty quickly and start to provide that.”

Ecommerce News

Shopify Stores Face Suspected AI-Driven Attacks

Fake checkout screens are showing up through third-party apps, and some suspect AI is powering the attacks

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Mitchell Parton

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