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Security report for houzz.co.nz

Houzz · Real Estate · New Zealand

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS and GDPR outside view.

Security score

61/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Houzz is a leading online platform that serves both construction and design professionals as well as homeowners seeking inspiration and services for home renovation and design. The website offers a comprehensive suite of tools including professional directories, project showcases, and software solutions tailored for the construction and design industry. The platform maintains a strong market position with a large global presence and consistent branding across multiple regional domains. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies such as JavaScript frameworks, CDN hosting, and integrates with third-party services like Salesforce and Calendly to enhance user engagement and operational efficiency. Security measures are robust, with HTTPS enforcement, security headers, and CSRF protections in place, although no explicit public security policy or incident response information is found. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear privacy and cookie policies, including consent mechanisms aligned with GDPR requirements. Overall, the website demonstrates a high level of professionalism, technical maturity, and business credibility, making it a trustworthy platform for its target audience.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
Checks completed
6of 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. 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.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  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

    • 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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Facebook, Google Ads

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

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

Keep watching houzz.co.nz

This scan found 11 issues across 5 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

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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
0
Security headers
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
61

Not counted

  • Email security: did not complete in this scan.
  • 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

Houzz operates as a large-scale platform connecting homeowners with a wide range of professionals in the home design and renovation sector. Its business model leverages user-generated content, professional listings, and software subscriptions to generate revenue. The company targets both end consumers and professionals, offering tailored services and marketing tools. The presence of detailed professional profiles, user reviews, and extensive project galleries indicates a mature ecosystem with strong user engagement. Strategic partnerships and regional domains support its global reach. The platform's integration with scheduling and marketing tools like Calendly and Salesforce suggests a focus on lead generation and customer relationship management. The business shows signs of continuous growth and adaptation to market needs, including experimentation with pricing and onboarding flows.

Security posture

The website exhibits a strong security posture with mandatory HTTPS usage and comprehensive security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security. There is no evidence of exposed sensitive data or use of vulnerable libraries in the provided content. The presence of CSRF tokens and secure form handling indicates attention to secure data processing. However, the absence of a publicly accessible security policy or incident response contact information is a gap in transparency. No security vulnerabilities or malware indicators were detected in the analyzed content. Overall, the site follows best practices for web security, but could improve by publishing explicit security and incident response policies.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response information to enhance transparency and trust.
  2. Consider implementing and publishing a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosures.
  3. Maintain regular updates of all third-party libraries and dependencies to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  4. Enhance user privacy controls and provide clear data retention policies.
  5. Continue monitoring and optimizing performance and accessibility to maintain high user experience standards.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Houzz
Description
Houzz provides powerful software for construction and design professionals and offers homeowners inspiration, products, and professionals to design their dream home.
Key services
Design inspiration, Professional directory, Home renovation software, Product marketplace
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, jQuery 3.1.1, Vimeo video player, Google Identity Services, Salesforce Embedded Service (Live Chat), Calendly integration
Frameworks
Custom Houzz frontend framework
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security headers
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of CSRF tokens

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (implied), Salesforce Analytics (implied)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
attn.tv
Tracking pixels
Google Analytics (implied), Facebook Pixel (implied), Salesforce Live Agent
Marketing tools
Calendly, Google Identity Services, Salesforce Embedded Service
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a comprehensive platform for home design and professional services.
  2. Strong presence of professional profiles and project showcases.
  3. Robust privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and good performance optimization.
  5. Integration with multiple third-party services for marketing and analytics.
  6. No signs of WAF or content blocking.
  7. Security best practices are well implemented.
Technical notes

Notes

Houzz's technical infrastructure is built on a modern JavaScript-based frontend with integration of third-party services such as Vimeo for video playback, Google Identity Services for authentication, Salesforce for live chat, and Calendly for scheduling. The site uses CDN hosting for static assets, ensuring fast content delivery globally. Performance metrics indicate fast load times and good optimization. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features. The use of custom CMS and structured data supports SEO and content management. Technical risks are minimal, with no critical issues detected. Opportunities exist to further enhance technical documentation and automate security monitoring.
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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