7,500 Magento Stores Hacked This Month: Why Magento 1 Merchants Need Adobe Commerce Now

March 24, 2026 By Creatuity Team

A massive March 2026 cyberattack compromised over 7,500 Magento stores. If you're still running Magento 1, here's why replatforming to Adobe Commerce is no longer optional—and how to do it without disrupting your business.

In late February 2026, a sweeping cyberattack campaign began compromising Magento-powered ecommerce websites at scale. By mid-March, over 7,500 stores had been hit (opens in new tab)—attackers uploaded hidden malicious files into publicly accessible web directories, stealing customer data and injecting backdoors that persist even after surface-level cleanup.

This isn’t a hypothetical risk. It’s the current reality for merchants running outdated Magento installations. And if your store is still on Magento 1—the version that officially reached end-of-life in June 2020—you’re not just outdated. You’re operating without a safety net in an environment where attackers are actively, systematically targeting your platform.

Here’s what’s happening, why it matters for your business, and how replatforming to Adobe Commerce eliminates the risk permanently.

The Magento 1 Problem: Six Years Without a Safety Net

Magento 1 reached end-of-life on June 30, 2020. That was nearly six years ago. Since then, there have been zero official security patches, zero bug fixes, and zero platform updates. Every vulnerability discovered in the Magento codebase since mid-2020 has a permanent, unpatched entry point on Magento 1 stores.

The numbers tell the story: 93% of remaining Magento 1 websites carry a high or critical security risk rating (opens in new tab). These aren’t edge cases or poorly configured instances—this is the baseline reality of running unsupported software in a hostile threat landscape.

The March 2026 campaign that hit 7,500+ stores exploited exactly this dynamic. Attackers scanned for vulnerable Magento installations, found them in abundance, and deployed automated exploitation at scale. The malicious files they uploaded were designed to persist—hidden in web directories, invisible to casual inspection, and capable of exfiltrating payment data, customer information, and admin credentials indefinitely.

Why “Staying Patched” Isn’t an Option on Magento 1

Some merchants have attempted to mitigate the risk through third-party security patches, WAF rules, or manual code hardening. These approaches buy time, but they don’t solve the structural problem:

No official patch pipeline. Third-party patches are reverse-engineered guesses at what Adobe would have released. They’re incomplete, untested against the full codebase, and always reactive.
Growing attack surface. Every PHP version deprecation, every extension that drops M1 support, every browser API change widens the gap between your store and a maintainable codebase.
PCI compliance erosion. PCI DSS 4.0 requires documented evidence that unsupported software is adequately protected. Compensating controls are expensive to implement and increasingly difficult to justify to auditors when the underlying platform has no vendor support path.

The March 2026 campaign is the latest in a pattern that will only accelerate. Staying on Magento 1 isn’t a cost-saving decision—it’s an accumulating liability.

What Adobe Commerce Actually Gives You

Replatforming to Adobe Commerce isn’t just about escaping Magento 1’s security debt. It’s about moving to a platform that’s actively maintained, continuously improved, and built for the complexity that modern ecommerce demands.

Monthly Security Patches Starting January 2026

Adobe shifted to monthly isolated security fixes (opens in new tab) beginning in January 2026. Instead of waiting for bundled releases, security vulnerabilities are addressed individually on a predictable monthly cadence. This means:

Faster response to emerging threats
Smaller, lower-risk patch deployments
Easier testing and rollback procedures
Consistent security posture without major version disruption

This is the opposite of the Magento 1 reality. Where M1 merchants face permanent exposure, Adobe Commerce merchants receive proactive protection.

Built-In B2B Capabilities

If your business serves other businesses—dealers, distributors, institutional buyers, or wholesale accounts—Magento 1’s limitations become painfully apparent. Adobe Commerce includes native B2B features that would require extensive custom development on Magento 1:

Company accounts with hierarchical structures, shared catalogs, and negotiable pricing
Quote workflows that let buyers request quotes and sales teams negotiate within the platform
Purchase order and requisition list support for procurement-driven organizations
Quick order functionality for bulk purchasing by SKU
Role-based permissions that mirror organizational purchasing hierarchies

These aren’t bolt-on modules. They’re integrated capabilities that work together, supported by Adobe’s development team, and continuously improved. For B2B merchants, this is often the single most compelling reason to replatform—Magento 1 simply cannot deliver this level of business-to-business functionality without unsustainable custom development.

Performance That Drives Revenue

Adobe Commerce 2.4.8 (the current release line) delivers fundamentally different performance characteristics than Magento 1:

50% faster page loads compared to Magento 1 benchmarks
39% more orders processed per hour under equivalent infrastructure
Native OpenSearch integration (Elasticsearch removed in 2.4.8) for faster, more relevant catalog search
PHP 8.3/8.4 support with modern language features and performance improvements

When paired with Hyvä frontend (opens in new tab), Adobe Commerce stores consistently achieve Core Web Vitals scores that legacy platforms cannot match. Hyvä replaces the resource-heavy Luma theme with a lightweight, Alpine.js-based frontend that loads faster, interacts more smoothly, and converts at higher rates.

For merchants tracking conversion rate optimization, this isn’t a nice-to-have. Faster pages mean lower bounce rates. Smoother interactions mean fewer abandoned carts. Better mobile performance means capturing the 60%+ of ecommerce traffic that now comes from phones.

The Migration Path: What Magento 1 to Adobe Commerce Actually Looks Like

The most common objection to replatforming is migration complexity. And it’s a fair concern—moving an established store is a significant project. But the migration from Magento 1 to Adobe Commerce is more structured and better-supported than many merchants assume.

Data Migration

Your catalog, customer records, order history, and store configurations can be migrated using Adobe’s data migration tools (opens in new tab). The process maps M1’s database schema to Adobe Commerce’s, handling structural differences automatically. Custom attributes and extensions require mapping, but the core data transfer is well-documented and repeatable.

Key data categories that transfer:

Product catalog (including configurable, bundled, and grouped products)
Customer accounts and address books
Order history and invoices
CMS pages and static blocks
Store configuration and tax rules

Theme and Frontend

Magento 1 themes are not compatible with Adobe Commerce—the frontend architecture changed fundamentally with Magento 2. This is actually an opportunity. Rather than trying to replicate an aging M1 theme, merchants can adopt Hyvä as their new frontend, gaining:

Modern, component-based architecture
Dramatically reduced JavaScript payload
Built-in performance optimization
A frontend that’s actively maintained and improved

The upfront investment in a new frontend pays dividends through better performance, easier maintenance, and a foundation that supports ongoing optimization.

Extension and Integration Audit

Magento 1 extensions don’t carry over to Adobe Commerce. Each extension needs to be evaluated: does Adobe Commerce provide this functionality natively? Is there a modern equivalent? Can the integration be rebuilt more cleanly?

In practice, many M1 stores carry years of accumulated extensions—some functional, some conflicting, some addressing problems that Adobe Commerce solves differently. A migration is the ideal moment to audit this technical debt and build a cleaner, more maintainable integration architecture.

ERP, PIM, and OMS integrations typically need to be rebuilt against Adobe Commerce’s REST and GraphQL APIs. This is work, but it results in more durable, better-documented integrations than the direct database manipulations common in M1 customizations.

A Realistic Timeline

For a typical Magento 1 to Adobe Commerce migration, expect:

Discovery and planning: 4-6 weeks (extension audit, data mapping, integration requirements)
Build and data migration: 8-16 weeks (depending on catalog complexity and number of integrations)
Testing and QA: 4-6 weeks (functional, performance, security, UAT)
Launch and stabilization: 2-4 weeks

Total: roughly 4-8 months from kickoff to stable production, depending on store complexity. AI-accelerated development approaches can compress the build phase significantly by automating code migration, test generation, and integration scaffolding.

The Cost of Waiting

Every month on Magento 1 carries quantifiable risk:

Security exposure increases as new vulnerabilities are discovered and exploited at scale (as the March 2026 campaign demonstrates)
PCI compliance costs grow as compensating controls become more elaborate and auditors become less patient
Competitive disadvantage compounds as Adobe Commerce merchants capture performance, conversion, and B2B capability gains
Developer availability shrinks as the Magento 1 talent pool moves to modern platforms
Technical debt accumulates as PHP versions deprecate, extensions abandon M1, and browser requirements evolve

The merchants who replatformed two years ago are already seeing ROI. The merchants who replatform today will see it within the year. The merchants who wait another year will face higher costs, greater risk, and a more complex migration.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a Magento 1 to Adobe Commerce migration take?

A typical Magento 1 to Adobe Commerce migration takes 4 to 8 months from discovery to stable production. The timeline depends on catalog size, number of custom integrations, and B2B complexity. AI-accelerated development can compress the build phase. A structured discovery phase—extension audit, data mapping, integration requirements—sets realistic expectations before committing to a timeline.

Can I keep my Magento 1 data when migrating to Adobe Commerce?

Yes. Adobe provides data migration tools that transfer products, customers, order history, CMS content, and store configuration from Magento 1 to Adobe Commerce. The tool handles structural differences between the two database schemas. Custom attributes and extension-specific data require manual mapping, but the core data transfer is automated and repeatable.

What happens to my Magento 1 extensions during migration?

Magento 1 extensions are not compatible with Adobe Commerce. Each extension must be evaluated: Adobe Commerce may provide the functionality natively, a modern equivalent extension may exist, or the integration may need to be rebuilt. This is an opportunity to eliminate accumulated technical debt and build a cleaner, more maintainable extension architecture.

Is Adobe Commerce secure enough for PCI compliance?

Adobe Commerce is designed for PCI DSS compliance. Current versions include built-in security features, monthly isolated security patches (starting January 2026), integrated web application firewall support, and regular third-party security testing. Merchants using Adobe Commerce Cloud Service get additional security benefits through managed infrastructure and automated patching.

Can I migrate from Magento 1 to Adobe Commerce without downtime?

A zero-downtime migration requires careful planning but is achievable. The typical approach involves building and testing the new Adobe Commerce store in parallel with the running Magento 1 store, then performing a final data sync and DNS cutover during a planned maintenance window. Delta migration tools capture orders and customer changes made during the parallel-running phase.