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Security report for pilotinstitute.com

Pilot Institute · Education · United States

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

Security score

67/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Pilot Institute is a reputable online education provider specializing in aviation training, including drone and airplane pilot certification courses. Established in 2019, it has grown to serve over 250,000 students with a strong market presence supported by positive reviews and a 4.9-star rating. The company offers expert-designed curriculums aimed at helping students pass FAA exams and achieve pilot licenses. Their business model centers on online course enrollment and learning management systems, targeting individuals seeking pilot certification and drone business skills. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern SEO and tracking tools such as Yoast SEO, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook SDK. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and performs moderately well. Security is solid with HTTPS enabled and no exposed sensitive data, though it lacks some advanced security headers and published security policies. Privacy compliance is partial, with a clear privacy policy but no cookie consent mechanism. Overall, the security posture is good but could be improved by implementing security headers, incident response disclosures, and cookie consent. The domain WHOIS data is consistent with the business claims, showing transparency and legitimacy. The website is safe for general audiences, with no adult or questionable content detected. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, publishing incident response and vulnerability disclosure policies, and improving privacy compliance mechanisms.

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

6 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 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 pilotinstitute.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.

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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Full report

€39.90one-time

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Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
25
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
67

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

Pilot Institute holds a strong position in the niche market of online aviation education, leveraging expert instructors and comprehensive courses to attract a large student base. Its competitive advantage lies in its satisfaction guarantee, extensive course offerings, and positive user feedback. The business model is subscription and enrollment-based, with additional revenue streams from merchandise and affiliate programs. The target customers are aspiring drone and airplane pilots, hobbyists, and professionals seeking FAA certification. Growth indicators include a large number of enrollments and active social media engagement. The company maintains a partner ecosystem with related domains for LMS, merchandise, and trust/review platforms, supporting a cohesive brand experience.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and no visible sensitive data leaks. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options reduces defense-in-depth. There is no publicly available security policy or incident response information, which could hinder transparency and trust in case of security events. Privacy compliance is partial, lacking a cookie consent mechanism which is important for GDPR adherence. No vulnerabilities or malicious indicators were detected in the content. Overall, the security maturity is good but can be enhanced by adopting best practices in headers, policies, and user privacy controls.

Recommendations

  1. Implement security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to strengthen browser security.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and preparedness.
  3. Add a cookie consent banner/mechanism to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  4. Establish and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize privacy risks and improve user trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Pilot Institute
Description
Pilot Institute offers courses on drones and airplanes from world-class experts. Pass the Part 107 or Private Pilot exam and take to the skies.
Key services
Part 107 Commercial Drone License Course, Private Pilot Made Easy Online Ground School, Drone and Airplane pilot training courses
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, Google Tag Manager, Facebook SDK, Google Maps API, JavaScript, CSS
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure login and enrollment links

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook SDK
Marketing tools
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 maintained
  2. Clear business focus on aviation training and certification
  3. Strong social media presence and positive user reviews
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity
  5. Lacks explicit cookie consent mechanism
  6. No published security or incident response policies
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by WordPress CMS with Yoast SEO plugin for search optimization. It uses Google Tag Manager and Facebook SDK for analytics and marketing. The site loads CSS and JS assets efficiently with minification and caching. Google Maps API is integrated for location services. The design is responsive and accessible, with good navigation clarity. Performance is moderate, with potential for improvement by optimizing third-party scripts. No critical technical debt or outdated libraries were detected. Hosting provider details are not explicit but the infrastructure supports a professional online education platform.
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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