Does Installing Google Tag Manager Compromise Server Security?

[Kingalan1]

Greetings MOZ community!!!

Both my hosting company and developer have told me that in order to install Google Tag Manager it is necessary to disable the rule securing against malicious i-frame attacks in Mod Security and that this would leave the site (we operate on a virtual private server and out hosting company is InMotion Hosting) extremely vulnerable to attack.

I can't believe that Google would write code that could allow potential security issues? Is this true?

Does anyone know of a way to install GTM while maintaining site security?

What functionality will we lose if we choose to stick with the old version of Google Analytics rather than upgrade?

Thanks everyone!!!
Alan

[ThompsonPaul]

And to be clear - you CAN run the newer Universal version of Google Analytics without needing to use Tag Manager. There are some management advantages to running Analytics from within Tag Manager, especially if you are managing a large number of other tracking tools in it as well, but it is not required in order to run Universal.

If you want a terrific Analytics plugin for WordPress that handles Universal really well, have a look at Google Analyticator. It also allows easy implementation of event tracking, and you can even customise the snippet manually for additional capabilities if you wish. (I always add config to track pagespeed for 100% of pageviews, for example).

Hope that helps?

Paul

[IBEE-Hosting]

No it won't unless your GTM account compromised.

[LesleyPaone]

Alan,

i would have to say they don't know what they are talking about. Mod_sec is in a sense like an ip black list, if no one ever changes it, it is pretty ineffective in terms of security. I would imagine that inmotion is running a configuration that they have been running for 5 years with no updates. Mod_sec is an old module that there really was a time when it was more useful, but apache has been updated and php to be pretty secure by itself.

On another note, I develop pretty much exclusively in Prestashop and Prestashop is a partner with inmotion hosting. Inside Prestashop is a method to disable mod_sec that runs on inmotion's servers. They don't seem to have an issue with that. Here is a screenshot of it, http://screencast.com/t/gDqO9a8axf

I would think you can safely disable it, but at the same time I would still install a wordpress security plugin just to keep wordpress safe, it has a lot of security holes.

[Kingalan1]

Thanks your response Lesley!!

Not worried about my password being hacked by very concerned about disabling Mod Security as both my developer and the hosting company have told me that could cause major security risks.

At the same time I have have not seen any documentation about sites running GTM ever getting hacked. Our site runs on Wordpress in a virtual server environment. Are you saying that disabling Mod Security in this environment is not going to increase risks of getting hacked in a major way? It is really strange as tech support at InMotion Hosting strongly advised against disabling Mod Security. At the same time I would like the more advanced features available with GTM.

Thoughts??

Thanks, Alan

[LesleyPaone]

There is an inherit risk with everything you do. Putting a webpage up itself can put you at risk for being hacked. But as for GTM, the risk is very low, but the burden is all on your shoulders. If someone gains access to your GTM they can execute malicious code on your site, yes. But the only way they are going to gain access to the account is because of bad security practices for who ever has or sets the passwords. If you use a weak password, someone might can guess it. Or if you use open publicly accessible networks, someone can grab it that way. I would suggest turning two factor identification on in your Gmail account and following good password practices. Don't use the same password for any other service, make a strong password, don't email the password to other people, things like that.

As for mod_sec, it is more of a problem for most cases than it is good for any more, in my opinion. A lot of web applications need it totally disabled to run correctly, or major parts of it. Also if no one is actively monitoring it and adding to it, it is pretty much useless.

Here is a great comic on setting your password to a strong one. http://xkcd.com/936/