Overview
Findings
Actions
Details
Related
AI-Generated Summary
What this means
w3.org scored 80/100, demonstrating a strong security posture. Minor improvements are noted below.
Critical gaps in: Security Headers. Positive signals: MX Records & Mail Provider, DNS CAA Records, TLS Configuration all passed.
3 action items identified, including 0 critical. The issues are configuration gaps, not architectural problems. A focused remediation effort of 2–5 days could address all findings.
How w3.org compares
Grade distribution across 2445 companies we've scanned. w3.org scores better than 64% of them.
75
A+
24
A
180
A-
187
B+
71
B
342
B-
118
C+
112
C
308
C-
114
D+
93
D
226
D-
595
F
w3.org — Grade B- (80/100)
2445 companies scanned
Security checks
Each check inspects a different part of w3.org's public security setup. Green means healthy, yellow needs attention, red is a problem.
Security Headers
2/5 security headers present. Missing: X-Frame-Options, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy. This exposes the application to clickjacking, MIME-sniffing, and other client-side attacks.
MTA-STS & TLS Reporting
Issues: No MTA-STS configured — email in transit is vulnerable to TLS downgrade attacks. Sending servers cannot verify that your mail server requires TLS; No TLSRPT record — TLS delivery failures won't be reported to domain owner.
DNS Configuration
Strengths: 2 nameservers configured (jamie.ns.cloudflare.com., pranab.ns.cloudflare.com.); 2 MX records present; Zone transfers properly restricted. Issues: DNSSEC not configured — DNS responses can be spoofed.
DMARC / Email Security
Strengths: SPF record present with soft-fail (~all); DKIM configured (selectors: s1). Issues: DMARC policy is 'none' (monitoring only, no enforcement).
MX Records & Mail Provider
Strengths: Mail handled by pan.w3.org; 2 MX record(s) configured; Multiple MX records provide redundancy; All MX records share the same priority (5) — round-robin load balancing (no primary/backup distinction).
DNS CAA Records
Strengths: CAA records configured (14 record(s)); Authorized CAs: amazon.com, comodoca.com, digicert.com; cansignhttpexchanges=yes, letsencrypt.org, pki.goog; cansignhttpexchanges=yes, sectigo.com, ssl.com; Violation reporting (iodef) configured.
TLS Configuration
TLSv1.3 negotiated with TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256-bit). Strong configuration with no deprecated protocols or weak ciphers detected.
TLS Protocol Support
Strengths: TLS 1.3 supported; TLS 1.2 supported; TLS 1.3 supported (strongest). Protocol support: TLS 1.3: Yes, TLS 1.2: Yes, TLS 1.1: No, TLS 1.0: No.
HSTS Header
HSTS enabled: max-age=15552000s (180 days). includeSubDomains present. preload present.
Known Breaches
No known breaches found in public disclosure databases.
Cookie Security
No cookies set on the homepage response. No cookie security flags to evaluate.
security.txt (RFC 9116)
Strengths: security.txt found with 1 field(s); Contact: mailto:[email protected]. Issues: Missing 'Expires' field (required by RFC 9116); Not PGP signed (recommended for authenticity).
CVE Exposure
Detected technologies: cloudflare. (cloudflare detected but excluded from CVE matching — upstream infrastructure). All detected technologies are upstream CDN/proxy infrastructure. No application-level software versions exposed.
Certificate Hygiene
Strengths: Certificate valid, 65 days remaining; Issued by Google Trust Services. Note: Wildcard certificate in use (*.domain) — covers all subdomains. Common practice; worth noting that compromise would affect all subdomains.
Recommended actions
3 items
Steps to improve w3.org's security grade, ranked by impact.
1
Add missing security headers (X-Frame-Options, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy)
3 of 5 recommended security headers are missing on w3.org: X-Frame-Options, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy. These headers protect against clickjacking, MIME-sniffing, and unauthorized browser feature access. Adding them is a server configuration change with no application code changes required.
Compliance impact
PCI-DSS 4.0Req 6.4.1
Security headers are required application controls
OWASPSecure Headers
Recommended baseline for web applications
How to fix this
1
Add: X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN (use DENY only if you never embed your pages in iframes)
2
Add: Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin
3
Add: Permissions-Policy: camera=(), microphone=(), geolocation=()
4
Verify with: curl -sI https://w3.org | grep -iE 'content-security|x-frame|x-content|referrer|permissions'
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2
Strengthen email authentication configuration
Email authentication is partially configured for w3.org but has gaps. Actions needed: upgrade DMARC policy from 'none' to 'quarantine' or 'reject'. Until DMARC enforcement is active, spoofed emails may still reach recipients.
Compliance impact
NIST CSFPR.AC-7
Email authentication is a required access control
How to fix this
1
Upgrade DMARC policy to p=quarantine (then p=reject after monitoring)
2
Verify with: nslookup -type=txt _dmarc.w3.org
3
Enable DNSSEC on your domain
Without DNSSEC, DNS responses for w3.org can be spoofed, potentially redirecting users to malicious sites. This requires coordination with your domain registrar to publish DS records.
Compliance impact
NIST 800-53SC-20
Secure name/address resolution service
How to fix this
1
Check if your DNS provider supports DNSSEC (Cloudflare, Route53, etc.)
2
Enable DNSSEC signing in your DNS provider dashboard
3
Add the DS record to your registrar for .org TLD
4
Verify: dig +dnssec w3.org
At a glance
Key data points from the scan.
TLS Version
TLSv1.3
TLSv1.3 negotiated with TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256-bit). Strong configuration with no deprecated protocols or weak ciphers detected.
DMARC Policy
p=none
Strengths: SPF record present with soft-fail (~all); DKIM configured (selectors: s1). Issues: DMARC policy is 'none' (monitoring only, no enforcement).
SPF Record
Present
v=spf1 mx ip4:34.238.48.92 ip4:34.199.101.240 ip6:2600:1f18:7d7a:2700::/56 include:_spf.google.com ~
Security Headers
2/5 present
Missing: X-Frame-Options, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy
HSTS
Enabled
HSTS enabled: max-age=15552000s (180 days). includeSubDomains present. preload present.
SSL Certificate
Valid
Strengths: Certificate valid, 65 days remaining; Issued by Google Trust Services. Note: Wildcard certificate in use (*.domain) — covers all subdomains. Common practice; worth noting that compromise would affect all subdomains.
DNSSEC
Not enabled
Strengths: 2 nameservers configured (jamie.ns.cloudflare.com., pranab.ns.cloudflare.com.); 2 MX records present; Zone transfers properly restricted. Issues: DNSSEC not configured — DNS responses can be spoofed.