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Security report for kakao.com

Kakao · Technology · South Korea

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

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Kakao is a leading South Korean technology conglomerate specializing in a broad range of digital services including communication platforms, financial technology, mobility, entertainment, and e-commerce. The company maintains a strong market position with multiple subsidiaries and a comprehensive portfolio of services targeting both general consumers and business users. The website reflects a mature digital presence with excellent content quality, clear navigation, and professional branding. Technically, the site leverages modern JavaScript frameworks such as Nuxt.js and integrates popular analytics and marketing tools like Google Tag Manager and Facebook Pixel, indicating a high level of digital maturity. Security posture is robust with HTTPS enforced and no visible vulnerabilities, although explicit security headers and incident response information could be more transparent. Privacy policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, but cookie consent mechanisms are not prominently displayed. Overall, the website and business demonstrate high credibility and trustworthiness with minor areas for improvement in security transparency and privacy consent.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of kakao.com. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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 kakao.com

This scan found 28 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

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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
62
Security headers
25
Email security
60
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
63

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

Kakao operates in multiple sectors including technology, media, telecommunications, and e-commerce, serving a diverse audience from individual consumers to enterprises. Its business model is based on providing integrated digital services such as messaging (KakaoTalk), payments (KakaoPay), banking (KakaoBank), mobility (KakaoT), and entertainment (KakaoPage, Melon). The company benefits from a strong ecosystem of subsidiaries and partner domains, enhancing its market reach and service diversity. Strategic partnerships and a focus on ESG initiatives further strengthen its competitive advantage. The website's content and linked domains confirm a well-established corporate structure with active investor relations and customer support channels.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security foundation with HTTPS enabled and no exposed sensitive information. Use of security-related scripts and tracking pixels is managed professionally. However, explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options are not clearly visible in the provided data and should be verified. There is no public vulnerability disclosure or incident response contact information, which could be improved to enhance transparency and readiness. Privacy policies are comprehensive and indicate GDPR compliance, but cookie consent mechanisms are lacking. Overall, the security posture is strong but could benefit from enhanced header implementation and clearer incident response channels.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and explicitly document security headers like CSP, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to strengthen browser security.
  2. Add a visible cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and improve user trust.
  3. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting and improve security transparency.
  4. Provide clear incident response contact information, such as a dedicated security email address, to enhance readiness and trust.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking pixels to ensure they do not introduce vulnerabilities or privacy risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Kakao
Description
기술과 사람으로 더 나은 세상을 만듭니다
Key services
KakaoTalk, Daum, KakaoPay, KakaoBank, KakaoMap, KakaoT, KakaoPage, Melon, KakaoCloud, KakaoMobility
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Vue.js (implied by Nuxt.js usage), Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, Kakao SDK, Tiara JS, DKaptcha
Frameworks
Nuxt.js (Vue.js SSR)
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security-related scripts
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel
Marketing tools
Facebook Pixel
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 no blocking detected.
  2. Content is primarily in Korean with English language toggle available.
  3. Strong corporate branding and consistent design.
  4. Multiple official social media and partner links present.
  5. No exposed sensitive data or security issues detected in HTML.
  6. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found in HTML; customer support is via external dedicated portals.
  7. Privacy and terms policies are comprehensive and easily accessible.
  8. No explicit cookie consent banner detected, which may be an area for improvement.
  9. Use of modern JavaScript frameworks and tracking technologies.
  10. WHOIS data is unavailable publicly, possibly due to privacy protection.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using modern web technologies, notably Nuxt.js (a Vue.js framework) for server-side rendering, which enhances performance and SEO. It integrates third-party SDKs such as Kakao SDK and DKaptcha for functionality and security. Analytics and marketing tools include Google Tag Manager and Facebook Pixel, enabling detailed user behavior tracking. The site is well-optimized for mobile devices and accessibility, with clear navigation and structured content. No CMS is explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary solution. Hosting provider details are not available from the data. Overall, the technical infrastructure is modern, performant, and aligned with best practices, with opportunities to improve security header implementation and privacy consent mechanisms.
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. 63/100 +2Medium36 findingsView report
  2. 61/100 −3Medium37 findingsView report
  3. 64/100Medium34 findingsView report
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