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Security report for houzz.com.au

Houzz · Real Estate · Australia

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Email security and 1 other check.

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Houzz is a leading online platform serving both construction and design professionals as well as homeowners seeking inspiration and services for home renovation and design. The website offers a comprehensive collection of interior design ideas, professional directories, and software tools to facilitate project management and client engagement. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies including React, GraphQL, and various third-party integrations such as Salesforce and Calendly, ensuring a performant and responsive user experience. Security measures are robust with HTTPS enforcement and appropriate security headers, though explicit security policy and incident response information are not publicly available. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear privacy and cookie policies and consent mechanisms. Overall, Houzz demonstrates a mature digital presence with strong business credibility and technical infrastructure.

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

6 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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, Twitter, Google Ads

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

  2. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • High

      No SPF record found

      SPF helps prevent email spoofing

      What to do: Add SPF record: "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourmailprovider.com ~all"

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

Keep watching houzz.com.au

This scan found 17 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
69
Security headers
85
Email security
65
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
71

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

Houzz operates in the real estate and home improvement sector, targeting both professionals and homeowners. Its business model revolves around providing a marketplace and software solutions that connect users with service providers and products. The platform's extensive content library and professional network position it as a market leader. The company leverages partnerships with scheduling and CRM providers to enhance service delivery. Growth indicators include a large user base, active professional profiles, and ongoing feature enhancements. The presence of localized sites and multi-country support indicates a global strategy with regional adaptations.

Security posture

The website exhibits a strong security posture with mandatory HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and no visible exposure of sensitive data. The use of modern libraries and frameworks reduces the risk of known vulnerabilities. However, the absence of a dedicated security policy or incident response contact limits transparency. No critical vulnerabilities or malware indicators were detected in the analyzed content. The platform should consider publishing explicit security and incident response policies to enhance trust and compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and controls.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact channels to facilitate vulnerability reporting.
  3. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies for security vulnerabilities.
  4. Enhance transparency around data retention and privacy practices.
  5. Implement continuous monitoring and update security headers as needed.
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. It is the largest collection of interior design and renovation ideas on the Internet, including kitchens and bathrooms, with over 25 million photos and thousands of ideabooks from top designers.
Key services
Design and build software, Professional directory, Home renovation inspiration and ideas, Product marketplace
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, jQuery 3.1.1, Vimeo video player, Google Identity Services, Salesforce Embedded Service (chat), Prismic CDN for images, Cloudfront CDN
Frameworks
React (implied by bundle.js and modern JS usage), Apollo GraphQL (implied by gql endpoints)
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Content Security Policy
  • Referrer Policy
  • Use of modern JS libraries
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Ad networks
attn.tv
Tracking pixels
houzz.com/js/log
Marketing tools
Google Identity Services, Salesforce Embedded Service, Calendly
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. Use of modern web technologies and CDNs for performance.
  4. Good privacy and cookie policy implementation with consent mechanisms.
  5. No signs of WAF or content blocking.
  6. Extensive use of third-party integrations for marketing and scheduling.
Technical notes

Notes

Houzz's technical infrastructure is modern and robust, utilizing React and GraphQL for dynamic content delivery. The site is hosted on a scalable cloud platform with CDN support for fast content delivery. Performance metrics indicate fast loading times and good mobile optimization. Accessibility features are implemented to a good standard, supporting a wide range of users. The use of multiple third-party integrations for analytics, marketing, and scheduling is well managed. Opportunities exist to further enhance SEO and accessibility compliance. Technical risks are minimal but require ongoing management of third-party dependencies.
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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