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Security report for codecourse.com

Codecourse Ltd. · Education · United Kingdom

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

Codecourse Ltd. is a UK-based educational platform specializing in practical developer screencasts focused on Laravel, Livewire, Inertia, and Vue.js technologies. The company targets web developers seeking hands-on learning through real-world projects and tutorials. Their business model revolves around subscription-based and individual course sales, offering a rich library of content with a strong emphasis on modern PHP and JavaScript frameworks. The platform is well-branded, with consistent messaging and positive user testimonials, positioning it as a niche leader in Laravel education. Technically, the website leverages a modern tech stack including Laravel, Livewire, Inertia.js, Vue.js, and Alpine.js, hosted behind Cloudflare. However, performance is suboptimal with slow load times and a high number of resources. Mobile optimization and SEO are good, but accessibility is basic. The site lacks a valid SSL certificate and HTTPS support, which is a critical security deficiency. No security headers or advanced security mechanisms are detected, and cookie consent mechanisms are absent, indicating partial privacy compliance. From a security perspective, the absence of HTTPS and TLS protocols severely impacts the site's security posture, exposing users to potential risks. No incident response or security policies are publicly available, and no direct contact emails for security or abuse are found. While the platform uses minimal user tracking via Fathom Analytics, privacy compliance is basic and could be improved. Overall, the site demonstrates a moderate level of digital maturity but requires urgent security enhancements. Strategically, Codecourse should prioritize implementing HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate, enable modern security headers, and introduce cookie consent to align with GDPR requirements. Enhancing performance and accessibility will improve user experience and SEO. Establishing clear security policies and incident response contacts will bolster trust and compliance. These steps will strengthen Codecourse's market position and protect its user base effectively.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
25/ 100 · Critical
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 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 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 codecourse.com

This scan found 19 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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Full report

€39.90one-time

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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
40
Email security
50
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
25
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

Codecourse operates in the specialized niche of developer education, focusing on Laravel and modern web technologies. Its competitive advantage lies in practical, project-based learning content authored by a recognized founder, Alex Garrett-Smith. Revenue streams include paid courses and subscriptions, supplemented by free mini-courses to attract users. The target customers are web developers, particularly those invested in PHP and JavaScript ecosystems. Growth indicators include a diverse course catalog, active newsletter, and social media engagement. The partnership ecosystem includes GitHub for code hosting and Cloudflare for hosting and DNS. Strategic observations highlight the importance of improving security and privacy compliance to maintain credibility and expand market reach.

Security posture

The current security maturity of Codecourse is low due to the lack of HTTPS and valid SSL certificates, which is a critical vulnerability exposing users to data interception risks. The absence of security headers and HSTS further weakens the security posture. No evidence of incident response readiness or published security policies is found, indicating potential gaps in security culture and governance. Privacy compliance is partial, with privacy and terms pages present but no cookie consent mechanism. The use of minimal tracking via Fathom Analytics is privacy-friendly but lacks transparency on data retention. Overall, the security posture requires immediate remediation to protect user data and comply with regulations.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a valid SSL/TLS certificate and enforce HTTPS site-wide immediately.
  2. Configure security headers including HSTS, Content Security Policy, and X-Frame-Options.
  3. Introduce a cookie consent banner to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  4. Publish a comprehensive security policy and incident response plan with clear contact channels.
  5. Optimize website performance by reducing resource count and improving load times.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern Laravel-based stack with Livewire, Inertia.js, Vue.js, and Alpine.js, indicating a high level of technical sophistication. Hosting and DNS are managed via Cloudflare, providing CDN and security benefits. However, the site suffers from slow load times (~29.7 seconds) and a large number of resources (200), which negatively impact user experience. Accessibility is basic, and SEO is well addressed with proper meta tags and Open Graph data. The lack of HTTPS and security headers represents a significant technical risk. There is no detected CMS, suggesting a custom or framework-based implementation. Overall, the infrastructure is modern but requires optimization and security hardening to reduce technical debt and operational risks.
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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