
The use of third-party apps has become increasingly important for businesses in order to optimize website performance and services for a global audience. However, as their importance has grown, so has the threat of cyber incidents involving unmanaged third-party apps and open-source tools. Online businesses are struggling to maintain complete visibility and control over the ever-changing third-party threat landscape. Sophisticated threats, like evasive skimmers, Magecart attacks, and unlawful tracking practices, have the potential to cause severe damage. Third-party scripts are often invisible to standard security controls, like web application firewalls (WAFs), because they are loaded from external sources that are not under the control of the website owner. When a website loads a third-party script, it is executed in the user's browser alongside the website's own code. This means that a WAF, which is typically placed in front of a website to inspect and filter incoming traffic, may not be able to detect and block malicious activity originating from a third-party script. Moreover, third-party scripts often use obfuscation techniques to hide their true purpose or to evade detection by security controls. This can make it even more difficult for security controls to identify and mitigate potential threats. It is important for website owners to take additional steps to monitor and control the behavior of third-party scripts. One way to do this is by using a script management platform, like Jscrambler, which provides visibility into the behavior of third-party scripts and the ability to enforce security policies on them. Another way to protect against third-party threats is to use a browser extension, like uMatrix, that can block third-party scripts from running on a website. Third-party scripts can pose a serious security threat to websites. Website owners should take steps to monitor and control the behavior of third-party scripts in order to protect their website from potential threats.