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Security report for deviantart.net

DeviantArt · Media · N/a

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

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

DeviantArt is a large, well-established online social community platform focused on artists and art enthusiasts worldwide. It provides a space for creation, sharing, and engagement with art content. The domain is long-standing, registered since 2000, and positioned as a leading platform in the media industry for creative communities. The provided HTML content is a 404 error page, indicating the requested resource is not found, limiting direct content analysis. The site branding is consistent with custom fonts and icons, reflecting a professional digital presence. Technically, the site uses custom web fonts and is hosted on AWS infrastructure as inferred from DNS records. The page is mobile optimized with responsive design elements, though the content is minimal due to the error page status. No advanced frameworks or CMS are detected in the provided HTML snippet. Security posture shows some gaps such as lack of DNSSEC and absence of visible security headers in the HTML. Privacy and cookie policies are not present on this page, indicating potential compliance gaps. Security evaluation reveals no WAF or blocking mechanisms, and no explicit vulnerabilities are visible in the HTML. The domain registration is consistent and trustworthy, with domain status flags preventing unauthorized changes. However, the lack of DNSSEC and missing security policies suggest areas for improvement. Overall, the site is safe with no adult or explicit content detected. The 404 page limits the ability to fully assess the website's content and compliance. The overall risk is moderate due to missing privacy and security policies and minimal content on this page. Strategic recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, publishing comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms, implementing security headers, and enhancing transparency around security and incident response to improve trust and compliance.

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

8 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 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

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

Keep watching deviantart.net

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

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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
77
Security headers
15
Email security
62
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
Average
65

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

DeviantArt operates as a major online social community platform for artists, offering services centered on art creation, sharing, and community engagement. Its market position as the largest art community platform provides competitive advantages through network effects and brand recognition. The business model is based on user-generated content and community interaction, likely monetized through advertising, premium memberships, or partnerships. Target customers include artists, art enthusiasts, and creative professionals globally. The company shows indicators of maturity with a large user base and long domain history. The partnership ecosystem is not evident from the provided data. Strategic observations suggest focusing on enhancing security and privacy compliance to maintain user trust and regulatory adherence.

Security posture

The current security posture is moderate with foundational protections such as domain status locks and HTTPS implied but not explicitly confirmed in the HTML. The absence of DNSSEC is a notable gap in DNS security. No security headers or incident response contacts are visible, indicating limited transparency in security practices. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the provided content. Compliance with GDPR or other data protection regulations cannot be confirmed due to missing privacy and cookie policies. Incident response readiness and security culture indicators are not evident. Overall, the security maturity level is basic with room for significant improvement in policy publication and technical controls.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with clear GDPR compliance and consent mechanisms.
  3. Implement and verify security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, and X-Frame-Options.
  4. Establish and publicly disclose incident response and vulnerability disclosure policies with dedicated contact channels.
  5. Conduct a security audit to identify and remediate any hidden vulnerabilities and improve overall security posture.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
DeviantArt
Description
DeviantArt is the world's largest online social community for artists and art enthusiasts, allowing people to connect through the creation and sharing of art.
Key services
Art creation, Art sharing, Community engagement
Content quality
basic
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Custom web fonts (woff2, woff), AWS DNS hosting
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
40/100

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

Design
basic
User experience
basic
Content relevance
poor
Navigation
poor
Professionalism
basic
Trustworthiness
moderate

Key observations

  1. The provided HTML is a 404 error page indicating the requested content is not found.
  2. No privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies are present on this page.
  3. No contact information or forms are present in the HTML.
  4. No scripts or analytics libraries detected in the provided HTML.
  5. The site uses custom fonts and branded icons indicating consistent branding.
  6. External links point to DeviantArt subdomains and ICANN for domain status explanation.
  7. No security headers or meta tags indicating security policies were found in the HTML.
  8. The domain is long-established and registered with GoDaddy.com, LLC.
  9. DNSSEC is not enabled, which is a recommended security improvement.
  10. No evidence of WAF or blocking mechanisms detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses custom web fonts loaded via WOFF2 and WOFF formats, indicating modern font delivery techniques. DNS is hosted on Amazon AWS name servers, suggesting reliable cloud infrastructure. The HTML is valid and includes responsive design elements for mobile optimization. However, no advanced JavaScript frameworks or CMS platforms are detected in the provided snippet. Performance is likely moderate given the minimal content on the error page. SEO optimization is basic with standard meta tags and Open Graph tags present but no structured data like JSON-LD. Accessibility features are minimal but present through responsive design and semantic HTML. Technical risks include lack of DNSSEC and missing security headers, which could impact security and trust.
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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