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Security report for helpscout.net

Help Scout · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Help Scout is a technology company specializing in customer support software, offering a shared inbox, help center, and live chat solutions to businesses. Positioned as a medium-sized SaaS provider, it targets customer support teams seeking efficient communication tools. The website reflects a mature digital presence with professional design and clear messaging aligned with its business model. Technically, the site leverages modern frameworks such as Gatsby and React, integrates HubSpot forms for lead capture, and employs analytics tools like Mixpanel and Google Tag Manager, indicating a well-structured and performance-optimized infrastructure. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement and security headers, though explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not publicly detailed. Privacy compliance is well addressed with comprehensive privacy and cookie policies including consent mechanisms. Overall, the site is trustworthy and professional, though domain registration transparency is limited due to missing WHOIS data, which slightly impacts trust. Strategic recommendations include publishing detailed security policies and incident response information to enhance transparency and trust.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of helpscout.net. View the latest report

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

5 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 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 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 helpscout.net

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

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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
30
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
68

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

Help Scout operates in the competitive customer support software market, providing SaaS solutions that streamline customer communication. Its business model focuses on subscription-based services targeting small to medium enterprises and customer support teams. The company demonstrates strong branding consistency and trust signals such as SOC 2 certification and customer testimonials. The website's integration with marketing and analytics tools suggests active customer acquisition and engagement strategies. While the domain WHOIS data is unavailable, the company's physical address and contact emails reinforce legitimacy. The absence of partner or subsidiary domains in the analysis indicates a focused operational scope. Help Scout's market positioning as a reliable and user-friendly support platform is supported by its clear service offerings and professional online presence.

Security posture

The website exhibits a solid security posture with HTTPS enabled and multiple security headers implemented, reducing common web vulnerabilities. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. Forms are secured with validation mechanisms, and privacy policies indicate GDPR compliance. However, the lack of a publicly available security policy and incident response contact information limits transparency in security governance. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files were found, which could be improved to foster responsible vulnerability reporting. The missing WHOIS data raises minor concerns about domain registration transparency but does not directly impact website security. Overall, the security maturity is good, with room for enhancement in policy disclosure and incident response readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page detailing security practices and controls.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact information, including security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  3. Implement and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Enhance transparency by disclosing Data Protection Officer contact details to strengthen GDPR compliance.
  5. Regularly review and audit third-party scripts and analytics tools to mitigate potential security risks.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Help Scout Inc.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Help Scout
Description
Help Scout's shared inbox, help center, and live chat software gives your team the tools you need to easily manage customer communications.
Key services
Shared Inbox, Help Center, Live Chat Software
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Gatsby, React, HubSpot Forms, Google Tag Manager, Mixpanel, GrowSumo
Frameworks
React, Gatsby
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security headers
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with validation

Analytics and tracking

Services
Mixpanel, Google Analytics (via GTM)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Mixpanel
Marketing tools
HubSpot
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 professional design
  2. No WAF or security challenge detected
  3. WHOIS data unavailable, limiting domain trust verification
  4. Strong privacy and cookie policies present with consent mechanisms
  5. No explicit security policy or incident response contacts found
  6. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools
  7. No suspicious or malicious content detected
  8. Good SEO and accessibility practices observed
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern technology stack featuring Gatsby and React, enabling fast performance and excellent mobile optimization. Integration with HubSpot forms facilitates lead capture and marketing automation. Analytics are handled via Mixpanel and Google Tag Manager, supporting data-driven decision-making. The site demonstrates good SEO practices with comprehensive meta tags and Open Graph data. Accessibility features are present, contributing to a positive user experience. No technical debt or outdated libraries were identified in the provided HTML content. Hosting details are not explicitly available, but the use of CDN services for images and scripts suggests a scalable infrastructure. Overall, the technical implementation supports the business goals effectively with opportunities to further enhance security transparency and incident management.
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. 44/100High18 findings · partial scanView report
  2. 71/100 +5Medium31 findingsView report
  3. 66/100Medium28 findingsView report
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