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Security report for certificates.dev

Vue School · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Certificates.dev is an online certification platform focused on validating developer skills in modern web technologies such as Vue.js, JavaScript, Angular, Nuxt, React, and TypeScript. The platform is operated in partnership with Vue School and collaborates with framework creators and industry experts to ensure high-quality, relevant certification programs. The business targets developers seeking to enhance their career prospects through recognized certifications. Technically, the website is built on modern frameworks like Nuxt.js and Vue.js, hosted on Netlify with Cloudflare DNS, and offers a professional, responsive user experience. However, the security posture is currently weak due to the absence of a valid SSL certificate and outdated TLS configurations, which poses a critical risk. Privacy policies and terms of service are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, but cookie consent mechanisms are lacking. Overall, the platform is credible and professionally presented but requires urgent security improvements to protect user data and trust.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of certificates.dev. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
43/ 100 · High
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

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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 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';…

  2. 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

    • 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

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

Keep watching certificates.dev

This scan found 21 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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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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
97
Security headers
30
Email security
60
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
43
Average
69

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 company positions itself as a niche leader in developer certification, leveraging partnerships with key industry figures and framework creators to differentiate its offerings. Its business model revolves around paid certification exams supplemented by preparation materials and boot camps. The platform also offers bespoke certification development and recruitment services, indicating diversified revenue streams. The target market includes professional developers and organizations seeking certified talent. The presence of multiple marketing and analytics tools suggests a mature digital marketing strategy. The company appears medium-sized with a strong brand presence in the developer education sector.

Security posture

The website's security maturity is low due to the lack of a valid SSL certificate and disabled TLS protocols, which are critical for secure communications. While some security best practices like HSTS are implemented, the absence of modern TLS versions and OCSP stapling reduces security and performance. No explicit security policies or incident response contacts are provided, indicating gaps in security governance. The malformed CAA DNS records further suggest DNS configuration issues. These vulnerabilities could expose users to man-in-the-middle attacks and reduce trust. Immediate remediation is necessary to align with industry security standards.

Recommendations

  1. Obtain and deploy a valid SSL/TLS certificate supporting TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3 protocols.
  2. Enable OCSP stapling and session resumption to improve security and performance.
  3. Correct CAA DNS records to valid entries to restrict certificate issuance.
  4. Implement a cookie consent banner to comply with privacy regulations and enhance user trust.
  5. Publish a dedicated security policy and provide incident response contact information.
  6. Add additional security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options.
  7. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize privacy risks.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern JavaScript framework stack with Nuxt.js and Vue.js, ensuring a dynamic and responsive user experience. Hosting on Netlify and DNS via Cloudflare provide reliable infrastructure. Performance is moderate with a page load time of approximately 4.8 seconds and 45 resources loaded. The site is mobile optimized and accessible with good SEO practices including meta tags and Open Graph data. However, the lack of a valid SSL certificate and disabled TLS protocols are significant technical risks. The site uses multiple third-party analytics and marketing tools, indicating a mature digital marketing approach but also increasing the attack surface. Overall, the technical infrastructure is modern but requires security hardening.
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. 64/100Medium32 findingsView report
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