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Security report for canonical.com

Canonical Ltd · Technology · N/a

Low risk. 1 critical or high finding in GDPR outside view.

Security score

80/100

Risk levelLow

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

Canonical Ltd is a well-established technology company founded in 1996, specializing in providing trusted open source solutions for enterprises. Their flagship product is Ubuntu, a popular Linux distribution, alongside a broad portfolio of cloud, container, IoT, and developer tools. The company positions itself as a leader in open source innovation with a strong emphasis on security, compliance, and enterprise-grade support. Their market presence is reinforced by a large product ecosystem and partnerships, targeting enterprises seeking scalable, secure, and cost-effective open source infrastructure and applications. Technically, the website demonstrates a mature digital infrastructure with modern web technologies, optimized performance, and mobile responsiveness. The use of lazy loading, Google Tag Manager, and structured navigation indicates a focus on user experience and marketing analytics. However, explicit privacy and cookie policies are not clearly found in the provided content, which is a gap in privacy compliance. From a security perspective, the domain is well-registered with consistent WHOIS data and domain age supporting legitimacy. The site references recognized security certifications such as CIS, DISA-STIG, and FIPS, and offers enterprise security subscriptions like Ubuntu Pro. While HTTPS and domain status protections are in place, the absence of explicit security headers and incident response information suggests room for improvement. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and content-rich, serving a global enterprise audience. The main risks relate to privacy compliance and transparency around incident response. Strategic recommendations include publishing comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms, enabling DNSSEC, and providing clear vulnerability disclosure channels.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of canonical.com. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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

1 finding rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

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

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

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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
85
Security headers
80
Email security
60
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
80

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

Canonical operates in the technology sector with a focus on open source software and cloud infrastructure. Their business model combines free open source offerings with paid subscriptions for security, compliance, and support services. The company targets enterprise customers across industries such as cloud providers, telecommunications, IoT, and AI. Their competitive advantage lies in the broad Ubuntu ecosystem, certified hardware partnerships, and a comprehensive portfolio of cloud-native and container solutions. The presence of partner programs and case studies indicates a mature partner ecosystem. Growth indicators include extensive job openings and continuous product innovation. The company maintains a strong brand with consistent messaging and a professional online presence.

Security posture

Canonical demonstrates a mature security posture with domain registration protections and references to industry-standard certifications. The website uses HTTPS and employs domain status locks to prevent unauthorized changes. However, the lack of visible security headers and explicit incident response or vulnerability disclosure information limits transparency. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the provided content. The use of Google Tag Manager and tracking pixels introduces moderate user tracking but is common for enterprise sites. Overall, the security posture is strong but could be enhanced by publishing detailed security policies and enabling DNSSEC.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with explicit user consent mechanisms to improve GDPR compliance.
  2. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  3. Implement and publish security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options.
  4. Provide clear incident response and vulnerability disclosure information, including dedicated security contact channels.
  5. Increase transparency around data retention policies and tracking practices to build user trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Canonical Ltd
Description
Drive innovation in your enterprise with trusted open source from Canonical — simple, cost-effective, and supported.
Key services
Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, MAAS (Bare metal provisioning), Snapcraft (App store for Linux), OpenStack private cloud provisioning, MicroCloud, Ubuntu Pro (Security & compliance subscription), Enterprise-grade support, Livepatch, Kubernetes solutions
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Lazysizes (lazy loading), Google Tag Manager
Platforms
Ubuntu, Snapcraft
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced (implied by canonical URL and modern site)
  • Use of clientDeleteProhibited, clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited domain statuses
  • Security certifications referenced

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Google DoubleClick
Tracking pixels
Google DoubleClick tracking pixel
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and navigation
  2. Strong focus on open source enterprise solutions
  3. Comprehensive product and solution offerings
  4. No explicit privacy or cookie policy found on homepage content provided
  5. Contact primarily via contact forms; no explicit emails or phone numbers found in provided content
  6. Use of modern web technologies and performance optimizations
  7. Presence of Google Tag Manager and DoubleClick tracking pixels indicates marketing and analytics usage
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built with modern HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript technologies, including lazy loading for images and Google Tag Manager for analytics. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessible navigation. Performance appears fast with preconnect and preload hints for fonts and assets. No CMS was explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or static site architecture. Hosting is likely managed by Canonical or their registrar MarkMonitor. The technical implementation supports a professional user experience with minimal technical debt. Opportunities exist to enhance security headers and privacy 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. 80/100 +2Low22 findingsView report
  2. 78/100Low23 findingsView report
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