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Security report for upstatement.com

Upstatement · Technology · United States

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

80/100

Risk levelLow

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

Upstatement is a strategic digital studio founded in 2008, specializing in building digital products, large-scale platforms, editorial products, and brand design with a strong editorial mindset. The company serves established brands, historic institutions, visionary leaders, and mission-focused startups, boasting a notable client portfolio including Nike, Vogue, Microsoft, PBS News, MIT, and ESPN. Their market position is that of a reputable and experienced digital design and development partner with a focus on quality and storytelling. Technically, the website is built on Craft CMS, hosted by DreamHost, and employs modern web technologies including Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, HubSpot Analytics, and Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise for form security. The site is well-optimized for performance, mobile responsiveness, accessibility, and SEO, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS, uses reCAPTCHA Enterprise to protect forms, and has domain transfer protections in place. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, and explicit security headers are not detected, indicating room for improvement. Privacy and cookie policies are present and GDPR compliant, but no explicit security policy or incident response information is published. Overall, the website presents a low-risk profile with strong business credibility and technical maturity. Strategic recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, adding security headers, publishing a security policy, and establishing a vulnerability disclosure process to further enhance trust and security posture.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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

2 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

  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

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Keep watching upstatement.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
75
Security headers
85
Email security
75
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
80

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

Upstatement operates in the technology and media sectors as a medium-sized digital product studio with an editorial focus. Their business model centers on providing strategic design and development services to high-profile clients, leveraging storytelling and editorial insight as differentiators. The company targets established brands and mission-driven organizations, positioning itself as a premium partner for complex digital projects. Their revenue streams likely derive from project-based engagements and retainers. The presence of client testimonials and case studies indicates a strong partnership ecosystem and a focus on client satisfaction. The company demonstrates growth and stability with a domain age of over 15 years and a consistent brand presence.

Security posture

The security maturity of Upstatement's website is good, with HTTPS enforced and form protection via Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise. The domain is protected against unauthorized transfers, and no sensitive data is exposed in the HTML. However, the absence of DNSSEC and missing security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Content-Type-Options represent gaps that could be addressed. There is no publicly available security policy or incident response plan, which limits transparency. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file is present, reducing avenues for responsible vulnerability reporting. Overall, the site demonstrates a solid baseline security posture suitable for its business type but could improve in transparency and DNS security.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement and configure security headers including CSP, HSTS, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options.
  3. Publish a clear security policy and incident response plan on the website to improve transparency and trust.
  4. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to ensure no vulnerable libraries are used.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Upstatement
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Upstatement
Description
We build brands up. A digital product studio with an editorial mindset.
Key services
Digital products, apps, and services, Large-scale digital platforms, Digital editorial products, Brands and design systems
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, reCAPTCHA Enterprise, HubSpot Analytics, Cloudflare DNS
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of reCAPTCHA Enterprise for form protection
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, HubSpot Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
HubSpot Analytics
Marketing tools
HubSpot
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 digital design and development studio with a strong editorial focus.
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and visually appealing with good use of images and testimonials.
  3. Multiple client case studies and testimonials enhance trustworthiness.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools is evident.
  5. Contact form is protected by Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise.
  6. Privacy and cookie policies are present and GDPR compliant.
  7. No explicit security policy or incident response information found.
  8. No terms of service page detected.
  9. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  10. No phone numbers explicitly labeled as company contact found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Craft CMS and hosted by DreamHost, leveraging modern JavaScript libraries and analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and HubSpot Analytics. The site uses Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise for form protection, indicating attention to bot mitigation. Performance is fast with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. SEO is well implemented with comprehensive meta tags, Open Graph data, and structured JSON-LD data. The technical stack is modern and well-maintained, supporting a professional user experience. Opportunities exist to enhance security headers and DNS security to reduce technical risks.
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. 79/100Low27 findingsView report
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