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Security report for html5up.net

AJ · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

61/100

Risk levelMedium

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

HTML5 UP is a niche provider of high-quality, fully responsive HTML5 and CSS3 website templates, designed and maintained by an individual or small team identified as AJ. The website offers a large catalog of free templates under a Creative Commons license, targeting web developers and designers seeking customizable and modern site templates. The business model includes a paid subscription service, Pixelarity, which provides attribution-free templates and support. Technically, the website is well-implemented using modern web standards, including HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, with integration of social media widgets and analytics tools. The site is mobile optimized and performs well. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enforced and domain registration stable, but lacks advanced security headers and explicit incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies. Privacy compliance is basic, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism. Overall, the website is trustworthy, professional, and serves its target audience effectively.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of html5up.net. View the latest report

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

8 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  2. 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 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';…
  3. 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 html5up.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.

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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
65
Security headers
30
Email security
60
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
61

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention html5up.net, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
198
Employees
0
Customers
150
Third parties
48
Weak passwords
24%

5 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for html5up.net.

Select it in the checkout above.

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

HTML5 UP occupies a strong position in the free web template market, leveraging a Creative Commons licensing model to attract a broad user base. Its competitive advantage lies in the quality and responsiveness of its templates and the additional paid service Pixelarity, which monetizes attribution-free usage and support. The target customers are developers and designers who value free, customizable templates. The business operates primarily online with a small team and no evident parent or subsidiary companies. Partnerships include Pixelarity, which complements the free offerings. The website's high download counts and social media presence indicate healthy growth and engagement. The business model is sustainable through a freemium approach, balancing free access with paid premium services.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level. HTTPS is properly implemented, and domain registration is stable with clientTransferProhibited status, reducing risk of unauthorized transfers. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options reduces defense-in-depth. No explicit incident response or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are published, which could delay mitigation of security issues. Privacy compliance is minimal, lacking cookie consent mechanisms and GDPR-specific disclosures. No sensitive data exposure or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. Overall, the security posture is adequate for the business type but could be improved to enhance trust and compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers (CSP, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options) to mitigate common web attacks.
  3. Add a cookie policy and consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and improve user trust.
  4. Publish a security.txt file and vulnerability disclosure policy to facilitate responsible reporting and incident response.
  5. Provide explicit incident response contact information (e.g., security@ or abuse@ email) to improve transparency and readiness.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
AJ
Description
Provides fully responsive, customizable, and free HTML5 and CSS3 site templates designed by @ajlkn, released under Creative Commons license.
Key services
Free responsive HTML5/CSS3 site templates, Live demos of templates, Paid subscription for attribution-free templates and support (Pixelarity)
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Facebook SDK, Twitter widgets, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Marketing tools
Twitter widgets, Facebook SDK
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website provides a large catalog of free responsive HTML5/CSS3 templates.
  2. Strong social media presence via Twitter (@ajlkn).
  3. No explicit privacy or cookie consent mechanisms detected.
  4. No direct company contact emails or phone numbers found; contact primarily via social media and subscription form.
  5. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy found.
  6. Website uses modern web technologies and is mobile optimized.
  7. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
  8. Domain registration and hosting are stable and reputable.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern tech stack with HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, integrating third-party SDKs for Facebook and Twitter, and analytics via Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. The site is hosted with Cloudflare DNS and registrar services, ensuring reliable uptime and performance. The HTML is well-structured with proper meta tags for SEO and social sharing (Open Graph and Twitter cards). The site is fully responsive and mobile optimized. No CMS or backend platform was detected, suggesting a static or custom-built site. Performance is fast with minimal blocking scripts. Technical risks include lack of DNSSEC and missing security headers, which could be addressed to reduce attack surface. Overall, the technical implementation is solid with room for security enhancements.
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. 60/100Medium34 findingsView report
  2. 60/100 −1Medium34 findingsView report
  3. 61/100Medium33 findingsView report
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