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Security report for nostarch.com

No Starch Press, Inc · Education · United States

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

61/100

Risk levelMedium

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

No Starch Press, Inc is a well-established publishing company specializing in geek entertainment and educational books focused on technology, programming, hacking, and cybersecurity. Founded in 1996, it holds a strong niche market position with a medium-sized operation primarily targeting technology enthusiasts, professionals, and students. The website offers a comprehensive catalog of books, early access programs, and merchandise, reflecting a direct-to-consumer business model with a strong brand presence and consistent professional content. Technically, the site is built on Drupal 7 with Bootstrap 3, leveraging modern JavaScript libraries and analytics tools such as Google Analytics and Reddit Pixel. Hosting and DNS services are provided via Cloudflare, ensuring good performance and security. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, and security headers are absent, representing areas for improvement. Privacy compliance is basic, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism detected. The WHOIS data confirms domain legitimacy with a long registration history and no privacy protection, aligning with the company's public identity. Overall, the website is professional, secure, and trustworthy, with minor gaps in privacy and security best practices.

Scanned

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

4 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. 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 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 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

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

Keep watching nostarch.com

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

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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
60
Email security
65
DNS health
90
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
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

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

No Starch Press operates in the education and media sectors, focusing on publishing technical and geek culture books. Its competitive advantage lies in its specialized content and early access programs that engage a dedicated audience. Revenue streams include book sales (print and ebook), merchandise, and possibly licensing. The company maintains active social media channels to support marketing and community engagement. The website's direct sales model and content-rich platform indicate a mature digital presence with opportunities for growth through enhanced privacy compliance and security measures. Partnerships with social media and advertising platforms support its marketing efforts, while the absence of explicit certifications or security policies suggests room for formalizing compliance and incident response capabilities.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security posture with HTTPS enforced and domain transfer protection enabled. Use of Cloudflare DNS servers adds resilience, but the lack of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security reduces overall security effectiveness. No incident response or security policy information is publicly available, which could hinder rapid response to security events. The site uses common JavaScript libraries and analytics tools without detected vulnerable versions. Forms are present but no explicit anti-CSRF or input validation details are visible. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a publishing website but could be improved by implementing recommended headers, DNSSEC, and publishing security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to protect against DNS spoofing and improve domain security.
  2. Implement security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  3. Add a clear cookie policy and consent mechanism to enhance privacy compliance and user trust.
  4. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and scripts to avoid vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
No Starch Press, Inc
Description
No Starch Press is a publisher specializing in geek entertainment and educational books focused on technology, programming, hacking, cybersecurity, and related topics.
Key services
Publishing books, Selling print and ebook editions, Early access program for upcoming titles, Merchandise sales
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 2.2.4, Drupal 7, Bootstrap 3, Google Analytics, AddThis, Colorbox, DOMPurify
Frameworks
Drupal 7, Bootstrap 3
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited
  • Use of Cloudflare DNS servers

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Ad networks
Reddit Ads
Tracking pixels
Reddit Pixel, AddThis
Marketing tools
AddThis
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional publishing company specializing in geek and technical books.
  2. Content is rich with product listings, author information, and educational resources.
  3. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  5. No explicit privacy or cookie consent mechanisms detected.
  6. WHOIS data supports legitimacy and long-term operation.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 7, a mature but aging CMS, combined with Bootstrap 3 for responsive design. It uses jQuery 2.2.4 and several contributed modules for functionality such as colorbox and addthis sharing. Hosting is supported by Cloudflare DNS servers, providing CDN and security benefits. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. SEO is supported by meta tags and structured navigation. However, Drupal 7 is approaching end-of-life, suggesting a need for platform modernization. The site uses multiple external scripts for analytics and advertising, which should be monitored for privacy impact. Overall, the technical infrastructure is stable but would benefit from modernization and enhanced security configurations.
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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