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Security report for browser-update.org

Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 9 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

57/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Browser-Update.org is an established open source initiative founded in 2008 that provides a lightweight JavaScript tool to notify website visitors to update their web browsers for improved security and performance. The project is widely adopted, with over 227,000 sites using its notification system and more than 85 million visitors having updated their browsers through it. The website offers multilingual support, customization options, and detailed documentation, positioning itself as a trusted resource for webmasters aiming to enhance user security and experience. Technically, the site is built with standard web technologies including JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5, and is hosted behind Cloudflare DNS services. The site is performant, mobile-optimized, and accessible, though it lacks some modern security headers and DNSSEC is not enabled. The absence of tracking scripts and the open source nature of the project contribute positively to its digital maturity and transparency. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates good practices by not collecting personal data or tracking users. However, it lacks explicit privacy and cookie policies, security.txt files, and vulnerability disclosure information, which are important for compliance and trust. The WHOIS data is consistent and legitimate, with a long domain age and reputable registrar, enhancing trustworthiness. Overall, Browser-Update.org is a reliable and professional resource with a strong community presence. To improve, it should implement explicit privacy and cookie policies, enable DNSSEC, add security headers, and provide vulnerability disclosure details to strengthen compliance and security posture.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
50/ 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

9 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 Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

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

Keep watching browser-update.org

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.

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Recommended

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  • 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
65
Security headers
15
Email security
40
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
Average
57

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention browser-update.org, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for browser-update.org right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

Browser-Update.org operates as a niche open source project targeting website owners and developers who want to encourage visitors to use up-to-date browsers. Its competitive advantage lies in its unobtrusive notification system, extensive language support, and ease of integration. The project likely relies on community contributions and voluntary support rather than direct revenue streams. Its large user base and integration with multiple CMS platforms indicate strong market penetration within its segment. The project maintains a broad partnership ecosystem through plugins and integrations with popular CMS and frameworks, enhancing its reach and usability. Strategic observations suggest continued focus on security compliance and expanding customization could further solidify its market position.

Security posture

The website exhibits a moderate security maturity level. It benefits from HTTPS usage and Cloudflare DNS hosting but lacks DNSSEC and security headers such as Content Security Policy or HSTS. No evidence of tracking or personal data collection reduces privacy risks. The absence of published security policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms indicates gaps in formal security governance. These gaps could impact user trust and compliance with regulations like GDPR. The site’s open source nature and transparent codebase partially mitigate risks. Overall, the security posture is adequate but would benefit from formalizing policies and enhancing technical controls.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy to improve GDPR compliance and user trust.
  2. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  3. Implement standard security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options.
  4. Add a security.txt file and vulnerability disclosure policy to facilitate responsible reporting and incident response.
  5. Consider adding explicit contact information including security and incident response contacts to improve transparency.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Description
Browser-update.org is a tool to unobtrusively notify visitors that they should update their web browser in order to use your website. It is an initiative by websites to inform users to update their web browser.
Key services
Browser update notification script, Customization of notification messages, Localization in multiple languages, Statistics and blog content
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, CSS, HTML5
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • No tracking or personal data collection
  • Open source code for transparency
  • Notification script designed to be unobtrusive and secure

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is an open source project focused on browser update notifications
  2. No privacy or cookie policies explicitly found on the site
  3. Contact is available only via a contact page, no direct emails or phone numbers found
  4. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information present
  5. No explicit security headers detected in the HTML content
  6. Site uses Cloudflare DNS but DNSSEC is not enabled
  7. No tracking or analytics scripts detected
  8. Site content is well structured, multilingual, and user friendly
  9. No advertising or affiliate marketing detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a simple and effective technology stack centered on JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5, with no heavy frameworks detected. It is hosted using Cloudflare DNS services, providing reliable DNS resolution and potential DDoS protection. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with good performance characteristics. However, the lack of DNSSEC and security headers indicates some technical debt in security hardening. The site does not appear to use a CMS, relying on static or custom-built pages. There are no analytics or tracking scripts, which aligns with privacy-focused design but limits marketing insights. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid for its purpose but could be enhanced with modern security and compliance features.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 57/100 −2Medium35 findingsView report
  2. 59/100 +2Medium33 findingsView report
  3. 57/100Medium32 findingsView report
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