Skip to main content

Security report for flagcounter.com

Boardhost.com, Inc. · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

58/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Flag Counter is a niche technology service operated by Boardhost.com, Inc., providing free website visitor counters that display flags representing visitor countries. The service targets website owners and bloggers who want to visualize visitor geography easily. The website is modest but functional, offering customization options and optional registration for enhanced features. The technical infrastructure includes JavaScript, jQuery, and Google reCAPTCHA for form security, hosted by Boardhost.com. The site uses HTTPS and has a stable domain registered since 2008, indicating maturity and legitimacy. However, the site lacks advanced security headers and cookie consent mechanisms, which are areas for improvement. Overall, the security posture is moderate with good basic protections but room for enhancement.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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. 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. 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';…
  3. 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

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

Keep watching flagcounter.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.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. See sample alerts.

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
42
Security headers
15
Email security
60
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
58

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention flagcounter.com, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
696
Employees
0
Customers
655
Third parties
41
Weak passwords
37%

28 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for flagcounter.com.

Select it in the checkout above.

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

The business operates in the technology sector, focusing on providing free visitor analytics tools with a simple business model relying on free usage and optional registration. The market position is niche with limited direct competition in free flag counters. Revenue streams are not explicit but may include advertising or premium features. The target customers are small website owners and bloggers globally. The company is small-sized, founded in 2008, and owned by Boardhost.com, Inc. The partnership ecosystem includes Boardhost.com as the parent company. The website content and branding are consistent and professional, with trust signals such as testimonials and privacy policy links.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a basic security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and Google reCAPTCHA protecting form submissions. However, it lacks DNSSEC, security headers like Content-Security-Policy, and explicit security or incident response policies. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files are present. Data protection officer contact is not provided. The absence of cookie consent mechanisms despite tracking scripts indicates partial GDPR compliance. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could be improved to meet higher compliance and protection standards.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Add a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with privacy regulations.
  4. Publish a security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and scripts to avoid vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Boardhost.com, Inc.
Description
Flag Counter provides free website visitor counters that display flags from visitors' countries, allowing website owners to track and visualize visitor geography.
Key services
Free flag counters, Visitor geographic analytics, Customizable counter widgets
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, jQuery, Google reCAPTCHA
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
65/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA for form submission

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google reCAPTCHA
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website offers a free service for website visitor counters with geographic flag visualization.
  2. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  3. Use of Google reCAPTCHA indicates some security awareness.
  4. No explicit cookie consent mechanism found despite use of tracking scripts.
  5. WHOIS data shows domain is stable and not privacy protected.
  6. No direct company contact emails or phone numbers found; contact via form only.
  7. No advanced security policies or certifications displayed.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a traditional tech stack with JavaScript and jQuery, supplemented by Google reCAPTCHA for bot protection. Hosting is provided by Boardhost.com, indicating a small-scale infrastructure. Performance is moderate with no explicit optimization for mobile or accessibility beyond basic levels. SEO is basic with standard meta tags but no advanced structured data or Open Graph tags detected. The site lacks a CMS indication and uses custom scripts. Technical debt appears low but modernization opportunities exist, especially in security and privacy compliance.
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 flagcounter.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 flagcounter.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.