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Security report for howarddc.com

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

60/100

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 comprehensive suite of services including web development, branding and design, open source theme frameworks, and AI consulting. With a strong market position supported by high-profile clients such as Harvard, MIT, Facebook, and Marriott, HDC emphasizes quality, security, and partnership in its business model. The website reflects a professional and trustworthy brand with excellent content quality and user experience. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern integrations such as Google Tag Manager and Facebook Pixel, hosted behind Cloudflare DNS services, ensuring good performance and mobile optimization. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and domain transfer protections, though improvements can be made by enabling DNSSEC and adding security headers. Privacy compliance is currently lacking as no privacy or cookie policies are published, representing a compliance risk. Overall, the site is safe, professional, and credible, with moderate user tracking and marketing tools in use.

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 howarddc.com

This scan found 23 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.

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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
75
Security headers
15
Email security
50
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
60

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, targeting agencies and entrepreneurs with a service-based business model. The company leverages its expertise in web development and AI to differentiate itself in a competitive market. Its partnerships and open source contributions enhance its reputation and ecosystem presence. The firm is small-sized but well-established, founded in 1999, with a clear focus on quality and client satisfaction. The presence of testimonials and verified reviews further strengthens its market credibility. The company maintains physical offices in Denver and New York, supporting a US-based team model. Strategic partnerships with sites like Innovating with AI and EveryAlt indicate a commitment to education and accessibility, expanding its influence beyond direct client work.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security baseline with HTTPS enabled and domain transfer protections in place. However, the absence of DNSSEC and lack of explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options reduce the overall security posture. No incident response or security policy information is published, which limits transparency and preparedness indicators. The site does not expose sensitive data or use vulnerable libraries visibly. Tracking technologies like Facebook Pixel and Google Tag Manager are present, but privacy policies are missing, which could lead to compliance issues. Overall, the security maturity is moderate with room for improvement in policy publication and technical controls.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy to improve GDPR and privacy compliance.
  2. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security.
  3. Implement and configure security headers such as CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to strengthen web security.
  4. Add an incident response or security contact page with dedicated channels for reporting security issues.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to ensure minimal privacy impact and compliance.

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
WordPress, PHP, JavaScript, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, Vimeo embeds
Frameworks
Understrap (WordPress 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 in HTML

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 targeted to agency owners and entrepreneurs.
  3. Strong trust signals with client logos and testimonials.
  4. No privacy or cookie policies found, which is a compliance gap.
  5. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  6. Uses modern web technologies and embeds for video and analytics.
  7. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern WordPress CMS platform using the Understrap theme framework, which is open source and powers over 100,000 sites. The site uses JavaScript libraries for analytics and marketing, including Google Tag Manager and Facebook Pixel, and embeds video content via Vimeo. Hosting and DNS are managed through Cloudflare, providing CDN and DNS security benefits. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility considerations. Performance is fast with optimized images and minimal blocking scripts. Technical debt appears low, but the absence of DNSSEC and security headers suggests opportunities for modernization and risk reduction.
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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