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Security report for gomakethings.com

Go Make Things · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 9 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

50/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Go Make Things is a personal brand website operated by Chris Ferdinandi, a web developer specializing in front-end development and content creation. The site offers daily developer tips, maintains the Kelp UI project, produces YouTube videos, hosts a podcast, and provides consulting services. The business targets web developers and front-end professionals, positioning itself as a niche, trusted resource with a loyal audience. The website is well-designed, accessible, and mobile-optimized, reflecting a mature digital presence. Technically, it is built using the Hugo static site generator, hosted on DigitalOcean, and employs modern web standards including service workers and SVG icons. Security posture is good with HTTPS enforced and domain transfer protections, though DNSSEC is not enabled and security headers are missing. Privacy compliance is basic, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism or GDPR-specific disclosures. Overall, the site is trustworthy, professional, and safe for general audiences.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of gomakethings.com. View the latest report

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

9 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 gomakethings.com

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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
72
Security headers
25
Email security
70
DNS health
60
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
35
Average
50

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

The website operates as a small technology-focused personal brand business, generating value through content, consulting, and membership services. Its competitive advantage lies in the personal expertise and consistent content delivery by Chris Ferdinandi. Revenue streams likely include consulting fees, membership subscriptions, and possibly sponsorships or donations. The target customer segment is web developers seeking practical tips and front-end resources. The partnership ecosystem includes related domains like kelpui.com and a membership platform. Growth indicators include a strong social media presence and regular content updates. The business model is content-driven with a focus on community and education.

Security posture

The security maturity level is moderate to good. The site uses HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate and has domain transfer protections enabled. However, it lacks DNSSEC and important security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response policies are published, which limits transparency. No forms collecting sensitive data are present, reducing attack surface. Privacy compliance is minimal, with no cookie consent or GDPR-specific information. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a personal brand site but could be improved with additional headers and policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security.
  2. Implement and display a cookie consent banner to comply with privacy regulations.
  3. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  4. Publish a security policy and incident response contact information to enhance transparency.
  5. Consider GDPR compliance improvements including data subject rights and data retention disclosures.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Go Make Things
Description
Chris Ferdinandi is a web developer with ADHD, helping people build the web better. Offers daily developer tips, maintains Kelp UI, creates YouTube videos, hosts a podcast, and provides consulting and front-end development services.
Key services
daily developer tips, Kelp UI maintenance, YouTube content creation, Podcast hosting, Consulting and front-end development
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Hugo static site generator, CSS custom properties, Service Worker, SVG icons
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
excellent
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Client transfer prohibited domain status
  • Service worker registered

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a personal brand site for a web developer with a strong content focus.
  2. No forms collecting personal data detected on the main page.
  3. No privacy or cookie banners present, indicating limited tracking.
  4. Social media presence is strong with Mastodon, BlueSky, YouTube links.
  5. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy found.
  6. No phone numbers or physical addresses found.
  7. Site uses HTTPS and is hosted on DigitalOcean.
  8. No advertising or tracking scripts detected.
  9. Content is accessible and well-structured with good accessibility features.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using the Hugo static site generator, which provides fast performance and good SEO capabilities. Hosting on DigitalOcean ensures reliable infrastructure. The site uses modern CSS with custom properties and includes accessibility features such as skip links and screen reader focusable elements. Service workers are registered for offline support. No heavy JavaScript frameworks or analytics scripts were detected, contributing to fast load times and minimal tracking. The technical implementation is clean and modern, with opportunities to enhance security headers 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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 50/100Medium36 findingsView report
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