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Security report for youradchoices.ca

Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (DAAC) · Non-profit · Canada

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (DAAC) operates the AdChoices self-regulatory program, providing transparency and consumer control over interest-based advertising in Canada. The organization is a small non-profit entity founded in 2012, with a strong market position as the leading authority on online advertising transparency in Canada. Their website serves as an educational platform targeting both consumers and businesses, offering tools, opt-out mechanisms, and accountability information. Technically, the site is built on Squarespace, leveraging modern web technologies and analytics tools, with good mobile optimization and SEO practices. Security posture is strong with HTTPS and HSTS enabled, though there is room for improvement in publishing explicit security policies and enabling DNSSEC. Overall, the site demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and compliance with privacy regulations.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of youradchoices.ca. View the latest report

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 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

  3. 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

      SPF helps prevent email spoofing

      What to do: Add SPF record: "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourmailprovider.com ~all"

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

Keep watching youradchoices.ca

This scan found 27 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
62
Security headers
35
Email security
50
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
63

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

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 youradchoices.ca, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for youradchoices.ca 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

DAAC's market positioning is solid within the Canadian advertising ecosystem, supported by partnerships with major advertising associations and a recognized award for non-profit leadership. Their business model focuses on self-regulation and consumer empowerment rather than commercial advertising. The presence of bilingual content and multiple social media channels indicates a mature digital presence. The organization benefits from a clear governance structure and accountability via Ad Standards. Growth indicators include active webinars and educational initiatives. The partnership ecosystem is robust, linking to relevant industry bodies and political ad transparency programs.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, HSTS, and no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. Use of CAPTCHA on forms enhances security against automated abuse. However, the absence of a published security policy or incident response contact limits transparency in security governance. DNSSEC is not enabled, which is a recommended enhancement. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file is present, which could improve trust and incident handling. Overall, the security measures are appropriate for a non-profit informational site but could be enhanced for greater assurance.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to improve domain security and prevent DNS spoofing.
  2. Publish a formal security policy and incident response information on the website.
  3. Implement a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  4. Add additional security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Content-Type-Options.
  5. Regularly review and update third-party scripts and analytics tools to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (DAAC)
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (DAAC)
Description
AdChoices is the self-regulatory program for online interest-based advertising helping to provide notice, transparency, and accountability from the advertising sector online to consumers.
Key services
AdChoices program administration, Consumer education on interest-based advertising, Opt-out tools for consumers, Accountability and complaint handling via Ad Standards
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Squarespace CMS, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, jQuery, Typekit Fonts, YouTube embeds
Platforms
Squarespace
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • HSTS enabled
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No vulnerable libraries detected
  • Secure forms with CAPTCHA (reCAPTCHA site key present)

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Transparency
excellent

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-maintained non-profit informational site about the AdChoices program in Canada.
  2. Content is bilingual (English and French) with clear navigation and language switching.
  3. Strong presence of official branding and social media links.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  6. Good privacy and cookie policy implementation with consent mechanisms.
  7. No visible security policy or incident response info, which is common for non-profit informational sites.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is hosted on Squarespace, a reputable platform providing managed hosting and CMS capabilities. The tech stack includes Google Analytics and Tag Manager for tracking, jQuery for scripting, and Typekit for fonts. Performance is moderate, typical for CMS-based sites with embedded media and external scripts. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design and accessibility considerations. SEO is well implemented with meta tags, Open Graph, and structured data. Technical risks are minimal but include reliance on third-party scripts and lack of DNSSEC. The site is well maintained with modern web standards.
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. 63/100Medium35 findingsView report
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