Skip to main content

Is designinformer.com a Scam? Security Check Results - Smashing Magazine Reviews

designinformer.com favicon

Is designinformer.com Safe? Security Analysis for Smashing Magazine

Check if designinformer.com is a scam or legitimate. Free security scan and reviews.

TechnologyN/amedium
JavaScriptNetlifyTinaCMSSwellGoogle Analytics+2 more
Analyzed 9/6/2025Completed 8:26:09 PM
66
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

Smashing Magazine is a well-established online publication focused on web design, front-end development, UX, accessibility, and related topics. Founded in 2006, it serves a global audience of developers, designers, and front-end engineers by providing high-quality articles, eBooks, print books, events, and a job board. The site demonstrates a mature business model combining content publishing with product sales and memberships. Technically, the website is hosted on Netlify, uses TinaCMS for content management, and integrates modern web technologies including service workers and Google Analytics. The site is performant, mobile-optimized, and accessible with a professional design and clear navigation. Security posture is good with HTTPS enforced and no obvious vulnerabilities, though explicit security headers are not detected and no vulnerability disclosure policy is published. Privacy compliance is strong with clear privacy and cookie policies and GDPR adherence. However, WHOIS data is missing or unavailable, which raises concerns about domain registration transparency. Overall, the website is trustworthy and professional but would benefit from improved domain registration visibility and enhanced security policies.

Detected Technologies

JavaScriptNetlifyTinaCMSSwellGoogle AnalyticsService WorkerFontFace API

🧠AI Business Intelligence

Technology stack, business insights, and market analysis powered by AI.

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

Smashing Magazine occupies a strong niche in the web design and development media sector, leveraging a diversified revenue model including digital and print product sales, memberships, advertising, and events. Its target market includes professional developers and designers seeking authoritative content and resources. The company maintains partnerships with technology providers such as Netlify, TinaCMS, and Swell for hosting, CMS, and e-commerce respectively. The brand is consistent and well-recognized in its community, with active social media presence and a comprehensive content offering. Growth indicators include a broad product catalog and active job board. The lack of transparent WHOIS data is a minor risk factor but does not currently impact operational credibility.

Extracted Contact Information

Marketing Intelligence Data

Email Addresses (1)

a*****@smashingmagazine.com

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website enforces HTTPS and uses modern web security practices such as service workers for offline support. No sensitive data is exposed in the HTML content. However, the absence of explicit security headers like Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options reduces the overall security hardening. There is no publicly available vulnerability disclosure or incident response policy, which could hinder coordinated security incident management. Privacy policies and cookie consent mechanisms are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, indicating a mature privacy posture. No known vulnerabilities or malware indicators were detected in the content or scripts.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Implement and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

Smashing Magazine

Description:

Magazine on CSS, JavaScript, front-end, accessibility, UX and design. For developers, designers and front-end engineers.

Key Services:
ArticlesBooks (print and eBooks)EventsMembershipNewsletterJob BoardPodcastsAdvertising
Content Quality:

excellent

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
JavaScriptNetlifyTinaCMSSwellGoogle AnalyticsService WorkerFontFace API
Platforms:
Netlify
Performance:

fast

Mobile:

excellent

Accessibility:

good

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
85/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Service worker for offline support
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Google AnalyticsNetlify RUM
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:good

Advertising & Marketing

Marketing Tools:
Netlify RUM
Transparency Level:good

Website Quality Assessment

Design Quality:excellent
User Experience:excellent
Content Relevance:excellent
Navigation Clarity:excellent
Professionalism:excellent
Trustworthiness:high

Key Observations

1

Website is accessible and functional with a 404 error page for missing content.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

60/100
Score

Missing Content-Security-Policy header

HIGH

Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

Weak X-XSS-Protection configuration

LOW

Current value: "1"

Weak Referrer-Policy configuration

LOW

Current value: "no-referrer-when-downgrade"

Missing Permissions-Policy header

MEDIUM

Controls browser features and APIs

Sensitive data may be cached

LOW

Cache-Control header should include "no-store" for sensitive pages

👤GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.

GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment

53/100
Score

No Cookie Policy found

HIGH

GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

No Cookie Consent Banner found

HIGH

GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

No Data Protection Officer mentioned

LOW

Large organizations may need to designate a DPO under GDPR

Privacy policy may not be GDPR compliant

MEDIUM

Privacy policy lacks explicit GDPR compliance elements

GDPR Compliance Analysis

Privacy Policy85% confidence
Cookie Policy0% confidence
Contact Information Found90% confidence
emailphone

🛡️NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive compliance assessment.

NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive

2/100
Score

No information security framework found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity and information security measures

No vulnerability disclosure policy

MEDIUM

NIS2 encourages coordinated vulnerability disclosure

No security policy documentation found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity governance and risk management

No incident response procedures found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented incident response and business continuity plans

No business continuity planning found

MEDIUM

NIS2 emphasizes operational resilience and business continuity

No security contact information

HIGH

NIS2 requires clear incident reporting channels

No vulnerability reporting mechanism

MEDIUM

Clear vulnerability reporting supports coordinated disclosure

No NIS2 reference found

LOW

Consider explicitly mentioning NIS2 compliance efforts

Critical sector without clear security compliance

HIGH

Detected sectors: energy, transport, health, digital

📧Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation and email security assessment.

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

85/100
Score

No BIMI Record

LOW

BIMI displays brand logos in email clients

No MTA-STS Policy

MEDIUM

MTA-STS enforces TLS for email delivery

No TLS-RPT Record

LOW

TLS-RPT provides reporting for email TLS issues

SPF
Sender Policy Framework
DKIM
DomainKeys Identified Mail
DMARC
Domain-based Message Authentication
MX Records
Mail Exchange Records
BIMI
Brand Indicators
MTA-STS
Mail Transfer Agent Security
TLS-RPT
TLS Reporting
DNSSEC
DNS Security
SPF Details
Record:
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:servers.mcsv.net include:spf.mandrillapp.com include:em4186.swell.store -all
DNS Lookups:4/10
Policy:-all
DKIM Selectors Found
Selector:k1(1296-bit rsa)
Selector:s1(1440-bit rsa)
DMARC Details
Policy:reject
Subdomain Policy:reject
Aggregate Reports:22c84bb25c@rua.easydmarc.eu
Forensic Reports:22c84bb25c@ruf.easydmarc.eu

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

65/100
Score

SSL Certificate Expires Within 90 Days

MEDIUM

SSL certificate expires in 83 days

Weak SSL Key Length

HIGH

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

Mixed Content Detected

MEDIUM

1 resources loaded over insecure HTTP

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 2 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Certificate Details

Subject:*.smashingmagazine.com
Issuer:E8
Valid Until:11/29/2025 (83 days)
SANs:*.smashingmagazine.com, smashingmagazine.com

OCSP Status

OCSP Stapling Disabled

📊DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment.

DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment

85/100
Score

DNSSEC Not Enabled

MEDIUM

DNSSEC is not configured for this domain

CAA Records Not Configured

LOW

Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) records not found

DNS Records

A Records:15.197.167.90, 3.33.186.135
AAAA Records:2a05:d014:58f:6200::1f5, 2a05:d014:58f:6200::1f6
Name Servers:
dns1.p06.nsone.netDNS only
dns2.p06.nsone.netDNS only
dns3.p06.nsone.netDNS only
dns4.p06.nsone.netDNS only
MX Records:
5: alt2.aspmx.l.google.com
10: alt4.aspmx.l.google.com
10: alt3.aspmx.l.google.com
1: aspmx.l.google.com
5: alt1.aspmx.l.google.com
SOA:Serial: 1663285437, TTL: 3600s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:63ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:servers.mcsv.net include:spf.mandrillapp.com include:em4186.swell.store -all

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis.

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis

100/100
Score

Good Network Security Posture

LOW

No unnecessary services detected on common risky ports

🔧Technical Analysis

Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.

Technical Analysis

Comprehensive security assessment findings

Additional Findings

The website is built on a modern technology stack including JavaScript, service workers, and is hosted on Netlify with TinaCMS as the content management system. It uses Cloudinary for image hosting and Google Analytics for user tracking. The site is well-optimized for performance and mobile devices, with preloading of fonts and scripts. Accessibility features such as skip links and semantic HTML are present. The site uses a modular JavaScript approach and lazy loading for scripts to improve load times. No deprecated or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided content. The 404 error page is user-friendly and consistent with the overall site design.
Analyze Another Website