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Security report for costco.ca

Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd. · Retail · Canada

Partial score · DNS & email only

66/100

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

Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd. operates a large membership-based wholesale retail business serving Canadian consumers. The website offers a broad range of products including electronics, furniture, appliances, and more, with a focus on delivering warehouse pricing and direct home delivery. The company is a subsidiary of the global Costco Wholesale Corporation and holds a strong market position in the Canadian retail sector. The website is professionally designed, mobile-optimized, and provides a seamless user experience in French Canadian language. Technically, the site leverages modern frameworks such as Next.js and React, with performance monitoring and cookie consent tools integrated to ensure compliance and usability. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced, security headers present, and session management implemented. However, explicit security policies and incident response information are not publicly disclosed, which could be improved. Overall, the site is trustworthy and aligns with the business's reputation and scale.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 100 · Medium
Checks completed
6of 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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  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 costco.ca

This scan found 10 issues across 5 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

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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
0
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
66

Not counted

  • Security headers: did not complete in this scan.
  • 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

Costco Canada operates in the retail sector with a membership warehouse club business model, targeting Canadian consumers seeking bulk and discounted products. The company benefits from the strong brand and operational scale of its parent, Costco Wholesale Corporation. The website supports online shopping and membership management, indicating a hybrid retail and e-commerce approach. Partnerships with financial institutions like CIBC enhance payment processing capabilities. The company maintains a consistent brand presence and offers comprehensive product categories, supporting a broad customer base. Growth indicators include digital maturity and integration of compliance tools. Strategic observations suggest continued investment in digital experience and privacy compliance to maintain competitive advantage.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and cookie consent mechanisms. Session management is handled securely with cookie-based tokens and session expiration checks. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the analyzed content. However, the absence of publicly available security policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure programs limits transparency and may impact trust for security-conscious users. GDPR compliance indicators are present, but explicit data protection officer contact details are missing. Overall, the security posture is strong but could be enhanced by publishing detailed security and incident response information.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and compliance.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file.
  3. Provide contact information for a Data Protection Officer or privacy contact.
  4. Enhance transparency around incident response procedures and reporting channels.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and tracking tools to minimize vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd.
Description
Magasinez sur Costco.ca pour les appareils électroniques, les ordinateurs, les meubles, les articles d’extérieur, les électroménagers, les bijoux et plus encore, et profitez des bas prix d’entrepôt sur des articles de marque, livrés directement à votre porte.
Key services
Wholesale retail, Online shopping, Membership services
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Next.js, JavaScript, XMLHttpRequest, Transcend cookie consent, Boomerang (performance monitoring)
Frameworks
Next.js, Material UI
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • Session management with cookies
  • Use of security headers

Analytics and tracking

Services
Boomerang
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Boomerang, Transcend cookie consent, OneTrust
Marketing tools
OneTrust, Boomerang
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible and functional
  2. Content is in French Canadian language
  3. Strong use of modern web technologies
  4. Good privacy and cookie compliance
  5. No signs of phishing or malware
  6. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerabilities detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern technology stack including React and Next.js frameworks, supported by Material UI components for consistent styling. Performance monitoring is implemented via Boomerang, and cookie consent is managed through Transcend and OneTrust scripts. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility considerations. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and canonical URLs. Hosting details are not explicitly disclosed but usage of Akamai CDN and Akamai-related domains suggests enterprise-grade hosting infrastructure. The technical implementation is robust, supporting a fast and reliable user experience with good compliance to web standards.
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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