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Security report for randomuser.me

Technology · Iceland

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

60/100

Risk levelMedium

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

RandomUser.me is a niche technology service providing a free, open-source API for generating random user data, including profile photos and personal information placeholders. The service targets developers and software engineers who need realistic dummy data for testing and development purposes. The website is well established, with a domain age since 2013, and maintains a consistent brand presence with open-source transparency and active social media engagement. The business model relies on sponsorships, donations, and advertising revenue via Google Adsense. Technically, the site uses modern JavaScript, jQuery, and integrates Google Analytics and Adsense for tracking and monetization. Hosting and DNS services are provided via Cloudflare, ensuring good performance and availability. The site is mobile optimized and provides clear API usage instructions, though accessibility features are basic. No CMS or major frameworks are detected, indicating a lightweight custom implementation. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses WHOIS privacy protection appropriately. However, it lacks visible security headers such as CSP or HSTS, and does not publish a privacy policy or cookie consent mechanism, which are compliance gaps. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided, limiting transparency for security issues. The site does not expose sensitive data or show signs of vulnerabilities in the provided content. Overall, RandomUser.me is a credible and useful developer tool with moderate security posture and some compliance shortcomings. Strategic improvements in privacy documentation, security headers, and incident response transparency would enhance trust and compliance. The site is safe for general audiences and does not contain adult or questionable content.

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

8 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 randomuser.me

This scan found 25 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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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
15
Email security
85
DNS health
60
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

RandomUser.me occupies a specialized niche in the developer tools market, offering a free API for generating random user data. Its competitive advantage lies in its open-source nature, ease of use, and integration with authorized user photos. The business model is primarily donation and ad-supported, targeting developers needing placeholder data for testing. The company maintains a small but consistent presence with active GitHub and Twitter accounts. Partnerships include RandomAPI.com, which offers customized data generation services, indicating an ecosystem approach. Growth potential exists in expanding API features and improving compliance to attract enterprise users.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a basic to moderate security maturity level. HTTPS is enforced, and WHOIS privacy protection is used appropriately. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security reduces defense-in-depth. No published security policy, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are present, which limits transparency and readiness. The use of third-party scripts like Google Analytics and Adsense introduces tracking but no evident vulnerabilities. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a low-risk developer utility but should be enhanced to meet higher compliance standards and protect user privacy.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  2. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism to improve GDPR and privacy compliance.
  3. Create and maintain a security.txt file with incident response contacts and vulnerability disclosure guidelines.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and SEO optimization to improve user experience and reach.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Description
Random user generator is a FREE API for generating placeholder user information. Get profile photos, names, and more. It's like Lorem Ipsum, for people.
Key services
Random user data generation API, User photos, User profile information, Open-source API
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, jQuery, Google Analytics, Google Adsense, Cloudflare DNS
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of privacy protection for WHOIS

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Adsense
Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
moderate

Key observations

  1. Website is a free API service for generating random user data.
  2. Content is developer-focused with clear API usage instructions.
  3. No privacy or cookie policy found, which is a compliance gap.
  4. Use of Google Adsense and Google Analytics indicates monetization and tracking.
  5. No security.txt or incident response info published.
  6. WHOIS privacy protection is used but justified.
  7. No explicit security headers detected in provided data.
  8. Website is accessible with no WAF blocking or challenge.
  9. No forms collecting personal data found on the main page.
  10. Social media presence on Twitter is active and linked.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a lightweight custom technical stack primarily based on JavaScript and jQuery, with Google Analytics and Adsense for tracking and monetization. Hosting and DNS are managed via Cloudflare, providing good performance and reliability. The site is mobile optimized and structured with clear navigation. However, no major frameworks or CMS are detected, which may limit scalability. The absence of security headers and privacy compliance mechanisms indicates technical debt in security and compliance areas. Opportunities exist to modernize the stack with improved security practices, accessibility, and SEO 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

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