Skip to main content

Security report for dequeuniversity.com

Deque Systems · Technology · United States

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

Security score

66/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Deque University, operated by Deque Systems, is a well-established provider of digital accessibility training and certification preparation, founded in 2010. The website offers a comprehensive curriculum including online courses, instructor-led training, and scholarships targeted at accessibility professionals and organizations. The platform positions itself as a leading resource in the accessibility education market, supported by its role as an IAAP Approved Certification Preparation Provider. Technically, the website employs a modern technology stack including jQuery, DataTables, Google Tag Manager, and analytics tools such as Google Analytics and LinkedIn Insights. It is hosted on Amazon AWS infrastructure and built on the MODX CMS platform. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices, with a professional and consistent design. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and implements cookie consent mechanisms, but lacks some advanced security headers and a published security policy or incident response contact. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. The WHOIS data confirms domain legitimacy and consistency with the business identity. Overall, the website presents a low risk profile with strong business credibility and privacy compliance. Strategic improvements include enabling DNSSEC, publishing a security policy, adding security headers, and establishing a vulnerability disclosure process to further enhance security posture and trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 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

7 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, LinkedIn

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

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

Keep watching dequeuniversity.com

This scan found 22 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.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
77
Security headers
75
Email security
40
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
66

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

Deque University operates in the technology and education sectors, focusing on digital accessibility training. Its business model is subscription and course-based e-learning supplemented by instructor-led training and scholarships. The company targets accessibility professionals, developers, and organizations seeking compliance and skill development. Market positioning is strong due to its IAAP certification provider status and comprehensive course offerings. The company leverages partnerships with IAAP and maintains a professional online presence with clear contact information and legal policies. Growth indicators include scholarship programs and AI-powered accessibility tools like axe Assistant. The partnership ecosystem includes IAAP and Deque's main corporate site, supporting a robust accessibility education ecosystem.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent implemented. However, it lacks explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and HSTS, and no dedicated security or incident response policies are published. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found in the analysis. The absence of a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file indicates room for improvement in transparency and incident handling readiness. Overall, the security posture is good but could be enhanced by adopting additional best practices and formalizing security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  3. Implement security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  4. Establish and publish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Regularly review and update third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize privacy and security risks.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Deque Systems
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Deque Systems
Description
Deque University offers training and on-demand reference materials for digital accessibility, including online courses, instructor-led training, and accessibility certification preparation.
Key services
Online accessibility courses, Instructor-led accessibility training, Accessibility certification preparation, Accessibility reference library, Scholarships for people with disabilities
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, DataTables, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, LinkedIn Insights, Crazy Egg, FontAwesome
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
excellent
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent banner with accept/decline
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No vulnerable libraries detected in scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, LinkedIn Insights, Crazy Egg
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Crazy Egg, LinkedIn Ads
Tracking pixels
LinkedIn Insights, Crazy Egg
Marketing tools
HubSpot (hs-scripts.com)
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 not blocked by any WAF or security mechanism.
  2. Strong focus on digital accessibility education and certification.
  3. Comprehensive cookie consent and privacy policies present.
  4. Use of modern tracking and analytics tools with privacy considerations.
  5. No signs of suspicious or malicious content or domains.
  6. Good technical implementation with room for security header improvements.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the MODX CMS platform and hosted on Amazon AWS infrastructure, leveraging modern JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and DataTables. It integrates multiple analytics and marketing tools including Google Analytics, LinkedIn Insights, Crazy Egg, and HubSpot scripts. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with a clean and professional design. Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization. The technical stack is modern and well-maintained, though security headers and DNS security could be improved. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the business goals effectively with opportunities for further modernization and 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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with dequeuniversity.com. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review dequeuniversity.com.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.