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Security report for fatcow.com

FatCow Web Hosting · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

66/100

Risk levelMedium

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

FatCow Web Hosting is a well-established provider of small business web hosting and domain registration services, now operating under the umbrella of iPage by Network Solutions, a Newfold Digital brand. The website serves as a login portal for customers to access their control panel and webmail services. It targets small business owners and website administrators seeking reliable hosting solutions. The company offers a range of services including web hosting, domain registration, email hosting, WordPress hosting, e-commerce, and marketing services, positioning itself as a comprehensive provider in the web hosting industry. Technically, the website employs a modern technology stack including Bootstrap 3, jQuery, YUI, and integrates third-party services such as Google Tag Manager, Sift for fraud detection, AudioEye for accessibility, and Genesys for live chat support. The site is hosted on infrastructure managed by iPage/Network Solutions, ensuring moderate performance and good mobile optimization. Accessibility and SEO practices are well implemented, contributing to a positive user experience. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses secure login forms with POST methods. It includes cookie consent mechanisms and privacy policies that indicate GDPR compliance. While explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy are not detected, the use of script integrity attributes and cross-origin policies reflect good security hygiene. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found in the analysis. However, recommendations include implementing additional security headers and publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy. Overall, the website demonstrates a strong security posture, good privacy compliance, and professional business credibility. The lack of WHOIS data for the subdomain is typical and does not detract from the legitimacy of the site, which aligns with the parent company’s branding and services. Strategic recommendations focus on enhancing security headers, transparency, and incident response readiness to further strengthen trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • 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

  2. 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.

    • High

      Weak Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1

  3. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • High

      Weak SPF Policy

      SPF record has permissive policy allowing any server to send email

      What to do: Use -all or ~all qualifier for better email security

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

Keep watching fatcow.com

This scan found 28 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

  • 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
62
Security headers
55
Email security
50
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
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

FatCow operates in the competitive web hosting market, leveraging its affiliation with iPage and Newfold Digital to maintain a solid market position. Its business model centers on providing hosting and domain services to small and medium-sized businesses, with revenue streams from hosting plans, domain registrations, email services, and marketing tools. The company benefits from a broad partnership ecosystem including SiteLock for security and Genesys for customer engagement. Growth indicators include integration of modern technologies and comprehensive service offerings. The company’s operations reflect a mature digital presence with clear branding and customer support channels.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, secure form handling, and privacy compliance mechanisms. The integration of third-party security and fraud detection tools like Sift enhances risk management. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represents an area for improvement. Incident response contact information is not prominently displayed, and no vulnerability disclosure policy is found, which could limit transparency and responsiveness to security issues. Overall, the site maintains good security hygiene but would benefit from enhanced header policies and formalized disclosure practices.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  2. Publish a security.txt file or equivalent vulnerability disclosure policy to facilitate responsible reporting and improve transparency.
  3. Enhance visibility and accessibility of incident response contact channels to improve security incident management.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and dependencies to minimize risk from vulnerable libraries.
  5. Continue to improve privacy compliance by detailing data retention policies and user rights in accessible documentation.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
FatCow Web Hosting
Description
Small business web hosting offering additional business services such as: domain name registrations, email accounts, web services, online community resources and various small business solutions.
Key services
Web hosting, Domain registration, Email hosting, WordPress hosting, E-commerce services, Marketing services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Bootstrap 3, jQuery, YUI (Yahoo User Interface), Genesys Web Messenger, Google Tag Manager, Sift, AudioEye accessibility, Modernizr
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Platforms
Web hosting platform by iPage/Network Solutions
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure login forms with POST method
  • Use of integrity and crossorigin attributes on scripts
  • Cookie consent banner implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Sift
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager), Sift
Marketing tools
Genesys Chat
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a login portal for FatCow control panel and webmail services.
  2. Content is professionally structured with clear navigation and branding.
  3. Multiple security and privacy policies are linked and accessible.
  4. Live chat support is integrated via Genesys platform.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious content detected.
  6. WHOIS data for subdomain is unavailable, which is typical for subdomains.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a solid technical foundation using Bootstrap 3 and jQuery, supplemented by YUI components and modern JavaScript libraries. It integrates multiple third-party services for analytics, fraud detection, accessibility, and customer support, indicating a mature digital infrastructure. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. The use of script integrity attributes and crossorigin settings enhances security. Opportunities exist to modernize the tech stack by upgrading legacy libraries and improving security header implementation. Overall, the technical environment supports reliable business operations with room for modernization.
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. 67/100Medium35 findingsView report
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