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Security report for vscodium.com

VSCodium · Technology

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in Email security.

Security score

83/100

Risk levelLow

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

VSCodium is an open source community-driven project that provides freely-licensed, telemetry-free binaries of Microsoft's Visual Studio Code editor. It targets developers and users who prefer open source software without proprietary telemetry. The website offers comprehensive installation instructions across multiple platforms and package managers, emphasizing ease of access to MIT-licensed VS Code binaries. Technically, the site uses modern web technologies including AnchorJS, Font Awesome, and Google Fonts, and supports multiple platforms such as Windows, Mac OS, and Linux distributions via various package managers and container formats like Snap and Flatpak. Security-wise, the project disables telemetry in its binaries and uses code signing for Windows releases, but the website lacks explicit security headers and formal privacy or cookie policies, representing areas for improvement. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and well-structured, though it could enhance compliance and security posture by adding formal policies and headers.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

NIS2 outside view
60/ 100 · Medium
GDPR outside view
82/ 100 · Low
Checks completed
9of 9

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

The NIS2 figure counts only evidence anyone can see from the internet. 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. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • High

      No SPF record found

      vscodium.com publishes no SPF record, so receiving servers cannot tell which servers may send mail as this domain.

      What to do: Publish one TXT record listing your mail providers, for example "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourprovider.com -all". A domain that sends no mail should publish "v=spf1 -all".

    • High

      No DMARC record found

      There is no DMARC record at _dmarc.vscodium.com, so receivers have no instruction for mail that fails SPF and DKIM.

      What to do: Publish a TXT record at _dmarc.vscodium.com, starting with "v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@vscodium.com" and moving to p=quarantine or p=reject once reports look clean.

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

Keep watching vscodium.com

This scan found 14 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
92
Security headers
53
Email security
65
DNS health
95
Network security
100
Website hygiene
95
GDPR outside view
82
Average
83

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.
  • Accessibility: Accessibility is a separate readout from security, so it is reported but not scored. 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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention vscodium.com, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for vscodium.com right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

VSCodium occupies a niche market as a privacy-focused alternative to Microsoft's Visual Studio Code, leveraging the open source MIT license of the VS Code source code. Its business model is community-driven, distributing free binaries and relying on community contributions and third-party infrastructure. The project benefits from partnerships with services like GitHub, Snapcraft, Flatpak, and code signing providers such as SignPath. Its target audience includes privacy-conscious developers and open source advocates. The project demonstrates strong community engagement and transparent development practices but lacks formal business contact information and compliance documentation. Growth potential lies in expanding platform support and improving compliance visibility.

Security posture

The security posture of VSCodium is moderate. The project ensures telemetry is disabled in distributed binaries, enhancing user privacy. Code signing on Windows adds trustworthiness to the binaries. However, the website itself lacks security headers such as Content Security Policy and HSTS, and does not provide a privacy policy or cookie consent mechanism, which are important for GDPR compliance and user trust. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided, which could hinder timely security communication. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the website content. Overall, the security maturity is adequate for an open source project but could be improved with formal policies and enhanced web security configurations.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy on the website to improve GDPR compliance and user trust.
  2. Implement security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options to enhance web security.
  3. Provide clear contact information including security or abuse contact channels to facilitate incident response and vulnerability reporting.
  4. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party dependencies and scripts to mitigate potential security risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
VSCodium
Description
VSCodium is a community-driven, freely-licensed binary distribution of Microsoft’s editor VS Code, providing MIT-licensed binaries without telemetry.
Key services
Providing pre-built MIT-licensed VS Code binaries, Offering installation instructions and package manager support, Maintaining GitHub releases and community engagement
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, AnchorJS, Font Awesome, Google Fonts (Raleway), GitHub Shields, Snapcraft, Flatpak
Platforms
Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Snap Store, Flatpak
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • No telemetry in distributed binaries
  • Use of HTTPS links for downloads
  • Code signing on Windows via SignPath

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website provides clear and detailed installation instructions for multiple platforms
  2. No privacy or cookie policies found, which is a compliance gap
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly provided
  4. No forms or data collection mechanisms detected
  5. Strong emphasis on open source licensing and telemetry-free binaries
  6. Use of community and third-party services for hosting and code signing
  7. No advertising or tracking detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built with standard HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript, utilizing AnchorJS for anchor links, Font Awesome for icons, and Google Fonts for typography. It integrates badges from GitHub for release and license information. The site supports multiple installation methods across platforms, including package managers and container formats, indicating good technical maturity and community integration. Performance appears optimized with minimal external dependencies and fast loading. Mobile optimization is good with responsive design elements. However, no CMS or hosting provider information is evident. The absence of security headers and formal compliance documents suggests some technical debt in security and privacy implementation.
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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