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Security report for chriscoyier.net

Chris Coyier · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

61/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Chris Coyier's website serves as a personal and professional hub showcasing his work as a web designer, developer, educator, and business owner. The site highlights his co-founding roles in CodePen and the ShopTalk Show podcast, as well as his long-term involvement with CSS-Tricks. The website targets web development professionals and enthusiasts, providing educational content and community engagement. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with Jetpack enhancements, hosted with reputable providers, and uses HTTPS for secure communications. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, and no advanced security headers are detected, indicating room for security improvements. Privacy compliance is lacking due to absence of privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the site is well-maintained, trustworthy, and professionally presented, but could benefit from enhanced security and compliance measures.

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

7 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 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

    • 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 chriscoyier.net

This scan found 25 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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  • 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
42
Security headers
30
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
Average
61

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 website positions Chris Coyier as a key influencer and educator in the web development space, leveraging his personal brand and long-standing domain ownership. Revenue streams likely include content monetization, platform co-ownership (CodePen), and podcasting. The target audience includes web designers, developers, and educators seeking knowledge and community. Partnerships with CodePen and ShopTalk Show strengthen his market presence. The business model is content and community-driven with a focus on education and software platform development. Growth indicators include active content publishing and social media engagement. The ecosystem includes related domains and media properties under his control.

Security posture

The current security posture is moderate. HTTPS is properly implemented, and domain registration protections are in place. However, the lack of DNSSEC and security headers reduces the overall security robustness. No published security policies or incident response contacts are available, which may impact trust and compliance. User tracking is moderate via Jetpack and Gauges, but privacy policies are missing, indicating compliance gaps. No critical vulnerabilities or suspicious indicators were found in the analysis.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies to improve GDPR and privacy compliance.
  4. Add a security.txt file and vulnerability disclosure policy to facilitate responsible security reporting.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize privacy risks and improve transparency.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Chris Coyier
Description
Personal website of Chris Coyier, a web designer, developer, educator, and business owner. Co-founder of CodePen and ShopTalk Show podcast. Formerly ran CSS-Tricks for 15 years.
Key services
Web design and development education, Content publishing (blogging), Podcasting, Co-founder of CodePen platform
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Jetpack plugin, Cloudflare DNS, PHP, JavaScript, CSS
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status includes clientDeleteProhibited, clientRenewProhibited, clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited

Analytics and tracking

Services
Jetpack Stats, Gauges
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Gauges, Jetpack Stats
Marketing tools
Jetpack Instant Search
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a personal/professional site of a known web developer and educator.
  2. Content is rich and relevant to web development community.
  3. No privacy or cookie policies found, which is a compliance gap.
  4. No explicit security policies or incident response information published.
  5. Use of WordPress CMS with Jetpack plugin for enhanced features.
  6. HTTPS is enabled but DNSSEC is not configured.
  7. No security headers detected in provided data.
  8. Multiple social media and external links to reputable domains.
  9. No signs of adult or questionable content.
  10. Moderate user tracking via Jetpack Stats and Gauges.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a mature and widely supported technology stack centered on WordPress with Jetpack plugins, ensuring ease of content management and feature extensibility. Hosting is managed via GoDaddy for domain registration and Cloudflare for DNS, providing reliable infrastructure. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and SEO practices. Accessibility is basic but could be improved. The site uses modern JavaScript and CSS techniques, but some technical debt may exist due to legacy WordPress components. Opportunities exist to modernize security configurations and enhance 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. 61/100Medium33 findingsView report
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