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Is gohugo.io a Scam? Security Check Results - Hugo Authors Reviews

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Is gohugo.io Safe? Security Analysis for Hugo Authors

Check if gohugo.io is a scam or legitimate. Free security scan and reviews.

TechnologyUnited Statesmedium
Go (programming language)JavaScriptAlpine.jsTailwindCSSSass+2 more
Analyzed 9/7/2025Completed 6:58:24 AM
63
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

Hugo is a mature and popular open-source static site generator project founded in 2014, widely recognized for its speed and flexibility. The website serves a technical audience of developers and content creators, offering comprehensive documentation, community forums, and theme resources. The project is supported by reputable sponsors and maintains an active presence on GitHub and social media platforms. Technically, the site is built using modern web technologies including Go, Alpine.js, TailwindCSS, and integrates services like Algolia Search and Google Tag Manager for enhanced user experience and analytics. The website is fast, mobile-optimized, and accessible, reflecting a high level of digital maturity. Security-wise, the site uses HTTPS and domain transfer protections but lacks DNSSEC and published security policies, which are recommended for further strengthening. Privacy compliance is limited due to the absence of privacy and cookie policies, representing an area for improvement. Overall, the site is trustworthy and professional, with a strong community and business credibility.

Detected Technologies

Go (programming language)JavaScriptAlpine.jsTailwindCSSSassAlgolia SearchGoogle Tag Manager

🧠AI Business Intelligence

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

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

Hugo occupies a strong position in the static site generator market, leveraging its speed and flexibility as key competitive advantages. Its open-source business model is supported by community engagement and sponsorships from companies like Linode, JetBrains, and CloudCannon. The target customers are developers and organizations needing fast, flexible website generation, including documentation, corporate, and project sites. Frequent releases and active forums indicate healthy growth and engagement. The partnership ecosystem enhances the project's sustainability and reach. Strategic observations include the need to improve compliance documentation and security transparency to maintain trust as the project scales.

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website demonstrates a good security posture with HTTPS enforcement, clientTransferProhibited domain status, and use of script integrity attributes. However, the lack of DNSSEC, security.txt, and published incident response contacts limits its security maturity. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the content. Privacy compliance gaps exist due to missing privacy and cookie policies. Incident response readiness is unclear. The security culture appears focused on best practices but could benefit from formalized policies and disclosures to align with GDPR and NIS2 requirements.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

Hugo Authors

Description:

Hugo is one of the most popular open-source static site generators. With its amazing speed and flexibility, Hugo makes building websites fun again.

Key Services:
Static site generationMultilingual supportAdvanced templatingImage processingAsset pipelineEmbedded web server
Content Quality:

excellent

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
Go (programming language)JavaScriptAlpine.jsTailwindCSSSassAlgolia SearchGoogle Tag Manager
Frameworks:
Hugo (static site generator)Alpine.js
Platforms:
GitHubCloudflare DNS and registrar
Performance:

fast

Mobile:

excellent

Accessibility:

good

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
85/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced (implied by URL https://)
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of integrity attributes on scripts and stylesheets

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager)
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:basic

Advertising & Marketing

Marketing Tools:
Algolia Search
Transparency Level:basic

Website Quality Assessment

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

Key Observations

1

Website is a well-established open-source project site.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

65/100
Score

Missing Content-Security-Policy header

HIGH

Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

Weak Referrer-Policy configuration

LOW

Current value: "origin-when-cross-origin"

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

35/100
Score

No Privacy Policy found

HIGH

GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

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

Third-party services without privacy policy

HIGH

Detected services: Google Analytics, Twitter

GDPR Compliance Analysis

Privacy Policy0% confidence
Cookie Policy0% confidence
Contact Information Found90% confidence
phone

🛡️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, digital

📧Email Security

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

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

70/100
Score

No DKIM record found

MEDIUM

DKIM adds cryptographic signatures to emails

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:mailgun.org ~all
DNS Lookups:1/10
Policy:~all

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

75/100
Score

SSL Certificate Expires Within 90 Days

MEDIUM

SSL certificate expires in 82 days

Weak SSL Key Length

HIGH

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

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 2 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Certificate Details

Subject:gohugo.io
Issuer:E7
Valid Until:11/29/2025 (82 days)
SANs:gohugo.io, www.gohugo.io

OCSP Status

OCSP Stapling Disabled

📊DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment.

DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment

70/100
Score

DNSSEC Not Enabled

MEDIUM

DNSSEC is not configured for this domain

CAA Records Not Configured

LOW

Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) records not found

Domain Delete Lock Not Enabled

LOW

Domain can be deleted without additional verification

No DMARC Record

MEDIUM

DMARC policy not configured

Domain Registration Details

Domain Age
10 years(mature)
Expiry Risk
none(374 days)
Protection Level
basicDNSSEC OFF

DNS Records

A Records:63.176.8.218, 35.157.26.135
AAAA Records:2a05:d014:58f:6200::259, 2a05:d014:58f:6200::258
Name Servers:
andy.ns.cloudflare.com
ruth.ns.cloudflare.com
MX Records:
1: aspmx.l.google.com
10: aspmx2.googlemail.com
10: aspmx3.googlemail.com
5: alt1.aspmx.l.google.com
5: alt2.aspmx.l.google.com
SOA:Serial: 2381678926, TTL: 1800s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:109ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 include:mailgun.org ~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, performant tech stack centered around the Hugo static site generator written in Go. It uses Alpine.js for interactivity, TailwindCSS for styling, and integrates Algolia for search and Google Tag Manager for analytics. The site is well-structured with valid HTML and CSS, optimized for fast loading and mobile responsiveness. Hosting and DNS are managed via Cloudflare, providing reliable infrastructure. The site shows no signs of technical debt or outdated libraries. Opportunities exist to improve security configurations and compliance documentation to reduce risk and enhance trust.
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