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Security report for 826digital.com

826 Digital · Education · United States

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

62/100

Risk levelMedium

0–100, higher is better. How it is calculated

826 Digital is a reputable non-profit educational organization providing inventive resources to ignite a love of writing among K-12 students. The website serves as a digital platform offering free writing prompts, lessons, projects, and community engagement tools, positioning itself as the largest youth writing network in the United States. The business model focuses on free access with optional sign-up, supported by donations and a bookstore. The organization is well-branded and consistent with its parent entity, 826 National.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 100 · Medium
Checks completed
7of 7

NIS2 Art. 21(2)

  1. (a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
  2. (b) Incident handling: One indicator
  3. (c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
  4. (d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
  5. (e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
  6. (f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
  7. (g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
  8. (h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
  9. (i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
  10. (j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside

This scan rated NIS2 with an earlier keyword method that is no longer shown; rescan for the per-article view. Risk management, continuity, supply chain, training, MFA, management oversight (Art. 20) and incident reporting (Art. 23) need internal evidence, and Guard cannot tell whether NIS2 applies to this organisation.

GDPR is indicative only, based on publicly visible signals: Articles 7, 12, 13 and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Not a certification or legal assessment.

Priority findings

8 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  2. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • High

      Missing X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

  3. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching 826digital.com

This scan found 26 issues across 6 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

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Results by check

Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.

How this score is calculated

The security score runs 0–100, higher is better. It is the plain average of the security checks that completed in this scan, each counted equally. A check that could not run is left out: it counts neither as a pass nor as a fail.

Counted in this score

SSL/TLS
72
Security headers
30
Email security
40
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
62

Not counted

  • NIS2 outside view: Re-weights evidence from the TLS, email, DNS, network and hygiene checks, so counting it would count that evidence twice. Shown on its own.
  • OffSeq Observations: An AI reading of the site, useful context but not reproducible evidence. Shown on its own.

Findings that cap the score at 49

Each of these is serious on its own, so while any is present the site cannot rate better than high risk, however good the other checks are.

  • The certificate is not trusted by browsers
  • The website is not served over HTTPS
  • A database, remote desktop, file-sharing or Telnet service is reachable from the internet
  • The page loads a script from a compromised source
  • The domain registration has expired
  • SPF authorises every server to send mail as the domain

Partial scans

When the site blocks Guard or most checks cannot run, the score covers only the checks that ran (usually DNS and email), is capped at 75 and is shown as partial, without a risk level.

Risk levels

  • Critical0–25
  • High26–49
  • Medium50–75
  • Low76–100

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

The organization targets educators, students, and youth across the United States, leveraging a strong partnership ecosystem including donation platforms and an official bookstore. Its competitive advantage lies in its extensive resource library and community-driven content. The website reflects a medium-sized entity with a clear mission and growth indicators through active social media and content updates. Revenue streams likely include donations and merchandise sales. The platform's strategic positioning as a trusted educational resource supports its market presence.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS and domain registration protections but lacks DNSSEC and visible security headers, which are recommended for enhanced security. No privacy or cookie policies were found, indicating compliance gaps with GDPR and other privacy regulations. Tracking technologies such as Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity are used, but no explicit consent mechanisms were detected. Incident response and vulnerability disclosure information are absent, suggesting areas for improvement in security transparency and readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with GDPR compliance details.
  2. Enable DNSSEC to strengthen domain security against DNS spoofing.
  3. Implement security headers like Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and HSTS.
  4. Add clear contact information including security incident response contacts.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools for privacy and security compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
826 Digital
Description
Inventive resources to ignite a love of writing. Free writing prompts, lessons, and resources for grades K-12.
Key services
Free writing prompts, Lessons and projects, Resource library, Community gallery, Video lessons and writing inspiration
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.7.2, jQuery 3.7.1, Bootstrap, Owl Carousel, AOS (Animate On Scroll), Google Fonts (Rubik, Source Serif Pro), Yoast SEO plugin, Microsoft Clarity, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
65/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status includes clientDeleteProhibited, clientRenewProhibited, clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited

Analytics and tracking

Services
Microsoft Clarity, Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Microsoft Clarity
Marketing tools
Yoast SEO
Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-established educational resource platform for youth writing.
  2. Content is rich with free resources, lessons, and community engagement.
  3. No explicit privacy or cookie policies found, which is a compliance gap.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and SEO best practices.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  6. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on the homepage content.
  7. Social media presence is active and linked.
  8. Security posture is moderate but can be improved with additional headers and DNSSEC.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress with modern front-end technologies including Bootstrap, Owl Carousel, and AOS for animations. It uses Google Fonts and integrates analytics and tag management tools. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and SEO practices via Yoast SEO. Hosting is provided by GoDaddy with domain control nameservers. Technical debt appears low, but improvements in accessibility and security headers could enhance robustness. The site is well-structured with JSON-LD structured data supporting SEO and rich snippets.
Standards and sources

Reference chips under each finding point to the standard, regulation or specification the finding relates to. They are taken from the official datasets below and mapped conservatively: a finding with no defensible link shows none. NIS2 and GDPR references mark where a finding is relevant evidence, not a compliance verdict. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 binds digital infrastructure and digital service providers; for other entities it is the most detailed public reading of the Article 21 measures. WCAG, EN 301 549, European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive references name the requirement an automated accessibility rule relates to; they are not a conformance verdict.

Retrieved 2026-10-25

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