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Security report for goodreads.com

Goodreads, Inc. · Media · N/a

Low risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

79/100

Risk levelLow

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

Goodreads, Inc. operates a leading online platform dedicated to book discovery, reading tracking, and community engagement for readers worldwide. As the world's largest site for readers and book recommendations, it offers services including personalized book suggestions, social networking features, author programs, and advertising opportunities. The platform is integrated with Amazon's ecosystem, leveraging Amazon authentication and hosting infrastructure, which supports its large user base and content volume. Technically, Goodreads employs modern web technologies such as React and JavaScript frameworks, ensuring a responsive and performant user experience across devices. The site demonstrates good SEO and accessibility practices, with comprehensive metadata and structured data enhancing discoverability. Security-wise, the site enforces HTTPS, uses secure authentication methods, and includes CSRF protections, though explicit security headers and incident response contacts are not publicly detailed. Privacy compliance is strong, with clear policies and cookie consent mechanisms aligned with GDPR requirements. Overall, Goodreads presents a professional, trustworthy, and mature digital presence with a high level of content quality and user engagement.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 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

4 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 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 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

  3. 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

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

Keep watching goodreads.com

This scan found 16 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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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
82
Security headers
60
Email security
87
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
79

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

Goodreads holds a dominant position in the online book community sector, benefiting from Amazon's ownership and resources. Its business model combines community-driven content with advertising and author/publisher promotional services, creating multiple revenue streams. The platform targets avid readers, authors, and publishers globally, fostering engagement through personalized recommendations and social features. The integration with Amazon enhances user convenience and cross-platform synergy. Goodreads' extensive content and active user base provide competitive advantages, while its partnerships with authors and advertisers expand its ecosystem. The absence of direct contact information on the homepage suggests a focus on digital self-service and automated support channels. Strategic growth likely focuses on enhancing user experience, expanding advertising capabilities, and leveraging Amazon's infrastructure.

Security posture

Goodreads demonstrates a solid security posture with mandatory HTTPS, secure sign-in options including Amazon and Apple authentication, and CSRF token usage in forms. However, the lack of explicit security headers visible in the HTML and absence of a public vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file indicate areas for improvement. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided content. The site does not publicly disclose incident response contacts, which could hinder timely reporting and resolution of security issues. Privacy policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, reflecting a mature approach to data protection. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be enhanced by publishing more transparent security practices and incident response information.

Recommendations

  1. Publish and clearly advertise a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  2. Ensure all recommended security headers (CSP, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options) are implemented and verifiable.
  3. Provide explicit security incident response contact information accessible to users and security researchers.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries to avoid potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance transparency around data retention policies and user privacy controls to strengthen GDPR compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Goodreads, Inc.
Description
Find and read more books you’ll love, and keep track of the books you want to read. Be part of the world’s largest community of book lovers on Goodreads.
Key services
Book discovery and recommendations, User book tracking, Community discussions, Author program, Advertising platform
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, React, CKEditor, WebFont Loader
Frameworks
React
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure authentication options (Amazon, Apple sign-in)
  • CSRF tokens present in forms

Analytics and tracking

Services
Amazon CSA
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Amazon Advertising
Tracking pixels
Amazon CSA (Customer Service Analytics)
Marketing tools
Amazon Advertising platform
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 with rich content and interactive features.
  2. Strong integration with Amazon services and authentication.
  3. Comprehensive privacy and terms policies are present and easily accessible.
  4. No direct company contact emails or phone numbers found on the homepage.
  5. No explicit security incident or vulnerability disclosure information found.
  6. Use of modern web technologies and frameworks.
  7. No adult or questionable content detected.
  8. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern JavaScript stack with React, supported by Amazon's hosting and content delivery infrastructure. It uses asynchronous script loading and web font loaders to optimize performance. The site includes integration with third-party services such as Twitter widgets and Apple sign-in. SEO is well addressed with canonical links, Open Graph metadata, and structured data markup. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with clear navigation and search functionality. No CMS is explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary platform. Performance appears fast with minimal blocking scripts. Opportunities exist to improve technical documentation of security headers and to formalize vulnerability disclosure processes.
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. 79/100 +1Low25 findingsView report
  2. 78/100Low25 findingsView report
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