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Security report for hdc.dev

Howard Development & Consulting · Technology · United States

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

Security score

59/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Howard Development & Consulting (HDC) is a specialized web development firm focused on serving high-end creative agencies and ambitious entrepreneurs. The company offers a range of services including handcrafted web development, branding and design, open source theme frameworks, and AI consulting. With a US-based team and a history dating back to 1999, HDC positions itself as a trusted partner delivering secure, high-performance websites for notable clients such as Harvard Law School and The World Bank. The website reflects a professional and consistent brand image, targeting agency owners and entrepreneurs seeking reliable web solutions. Technically, the website is built on WordPress using modern themes and frameworks, with integrations for Google Tag Manager and Facebook Pixel for analytics and marketing. Hosting and DNS are managed via Cloudflare, ensuring good performance and security. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with fast loading times and clear navigation. However, some security best practices such as enabling DNSSEC and publishing security headers are missing. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS and has domain transfer protections in place, but lacks published privacy and cookie policies, which impacts GDPR compliance. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is available, indicating room for improvement in transparency and security readiness. Tracking technologies are used without visible consent mechanisms, which may pose privacy compliance risks. Overall, HDC demonstrates a strong business credibility and technical maturity with a solid market position. Strategic recommendations include implementing comprehensive privacy and cookie policies, enhancing security headers, enabling DNSSEC, and publishing incident response and vulnerability disclosure policies to improve compliance and trust.

Scanned

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 hdc.dev

This scan found 24 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

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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
75
Security headers
15
Email security
50
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
59

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

HDC operates in the technology sector, specifically in web development and AI consulting. The company leverages a service-based business model targeting agencies and entrepreneurs, emphasizing fixed fees and US-based support. Their competitive advantage lies in combining technical expertise with entrepreneurial experience, offering flexible and high-quality services. The company has a strong partnership ecosystem including open source projects and educational initiatives. Growth indicators include a large client base powering over 100,000 websites and endorsements from prestigious clients. The company maintains a professional online presence with clear contact channels and trust signals such as verified reviews and testimonials.

Security posture

The security posture of HDC is moderate to good. The website enforces HTTPS and uses Cloudflare for DNS and CDN services, which provides baseline security and performance benefits. Domain registration status includes clientTransferProhibited, preventing unauthorized transfers. However, the absence of DNSSEC reduces DNS security. No security headers were detected in the HTML content, which could expose the site to certain web-based attacks. There is no publicly available privacy policy or cookie consent mechanism, which is a compliance gap under GDPR and other privacy regulations. Incident response and vulnerability disclosure policies are not published, limiting transparency and preparedness. Tracking technologies are present without explicit user consent, posing privacy risks. Overall, while foundational security measures are in place, improvements are needed to meet higher compliance and security standards.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with GDPR compliance details.
  2. Implement DNSSEC to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  3. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  4. Establish and publish incident response and vulnerability disclosure policies to improve transparency and readiness.
  5. Implement explicit cookie consent mechanisms to comply with privacy regulations and improve user trust.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Howard Development & Consulting, LLC
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Howard Development & Consulting
Description
The web dev firm that helps agency owners and ambitious entrepreneurs harness the future of the web. Focuses on partnerships with high-end creative agencies and ambitious entrepreneurs, delivering web development, security, and performance.
Key services
Web Development, Branding & Design, Open Source Theme Framework, AI Consulting
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Vimeo embeds, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, WordPress
Frameworks
WordPress Twenty Twenty-Four theme, Understrap (open source theme framework)
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited
  • No exposed sensitive data detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured.
  2. Content is rich and relevant to the business domain.
  3. No privacy or cookie policies found, which is a compliance gap.
  4. Contact information is clearly presented with multiple channels.
  5. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure found.
  6. Use of modern tracking and analytics tools without explicit consent mechanisms.
  7. Strong trust signals from client logos and testimonials.
  8. No signs of suspicious or malicious content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress using the Twenty Twenty-Four theme and the Understrap open source theme framework. It integrates modern JavaScript libraries and embeds videos via Vimeo. Analytics and marketing tools include Google Tag Manager and Facebook Pixel, enabling user tracking and retargeting. Hosting and DNS are managed through Cloudflare, providing CDN and security benefits. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and good accessibility features. Performance is fast with optimized images and structured content. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers indicates technical debt in security hardening. The site lacks visible privacy and cookie compliance mechanisms, which are important for regulatory adherence. Overall, the technical infrastructure is modern and robust but can be improved 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

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