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Security report for scribbr.com

Scribbr · Education · N/a

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

78/100

Risk levelLow

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

Scribbr is a well-established online academic support platform founded in 2014, offering a suite of services including proofreading, plagiarism checking, citation generation, and AI-powered writing tools. The website targets students and academic writers globally, providing comprehensive resources and tools to improve academic writing quality. The platform demonstrates strong market positioning with millions of monthly users and positive trust indicators such as extensive Trustpilot reviews and professional editorial teams. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern frameworks like Bootstrap and integrates advanced analytics and consent management tools, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent mechanisms in place, though some security headers could be improved. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear policies and GDPR adherence. Overall, the site presents a professional, trustworthy, and user-friendly experience with excellent content quality and navigation.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 100 · Low
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

3 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 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. 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 SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching scribbr.com

This scan found 16 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
65
Security headers
55
Email security
82
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
78

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

Scribbr operates in the education sector, focusing on academic writing support services. Its business model revolves around providing paid proofreading and editing services alongside free tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers, creating multiple revenue streams. The company leverages a global audience of students and academic professionals, supported by a multilingual website and extensive knowledge base. Partnerships and subdomains for jobs, help, and editor portals indicate a structured operational ecosystem. The presence of advanced AI tools and continuous content updates suggest ongoing innovation and growth potential. The company maintains a strong brand presence and trust through transparent policies and social media engagement.

Security posture

The website exhibits a good security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent mechanisms implemented. However, explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options are not clearly present, representing an area for enhancement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. The absence of a dedicated security policy or incident response page indicates room for improvement in transparency and preparedness. Compliance with GDPR is evident, but additional certifications or security frameworks are not mentioned. Overall, the security posture is solid but could benefit from formalized policies and enhanced header configurations.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to strengthen browser security.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and readiness for security incidents.
  3. Introduce a vulnerability disclosure program and security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries to ensure no vulnerable components are in use.
  5. Enhance data retention and privacy policy details to further align with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Scribbr
Description
Improve your paper with our Proofreading & Editing Service, Plagiarism Checker, Citation Generator, and extensive Knowledge Base.
Key services
Proofreading & Editing, Plagiarism Checker, Citation Generator, AI Detector, AI Proofreader, Paraphrasing Tool, AI Humanizer, Grammar Checker, Summarizer
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Bootstrap, Google Tag Manager, Amplitude Analytics, Cookiebot, WordPress
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Amplitude, Google Analytics (via GTM)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Amplitude Analytics, Cookiebot
Marketing tools
Amplitude, Cookiebot
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 navigation
  2. Strong focus on academic writing support services
  3. Multiple language versions available
  4. Comprehensive legal and privacy documentation present
  5. Use of modern web technologies and analytics
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious content
  7. No WHOIS data available, possibly due to privacy protection or query limitations
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS with Bootstrap framework and uses jQuery for frontend interactions. It integrates Google Tag Manager and Amplitude for analytics, alongside Cookiebot for cookie consent management, indicating a modern and compliant technical stack. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. The site uses multiple external domains for services and content delivery but maintains a consistent and professional design. There is no explicit hosting provider information, but the use of HTTPS and modern scripts suggests a reliable hosting environment. Opportunities exist to optimize security headers and enhance performance metrics further.
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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