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Is hackmd.io a Scam? Security Check Results - HackMD

hackmd.io Security Report Summary

hackmd.io received a security score of 75 out of 100 in Guard's comprehensive security analysis, classified as "Moderate Risk". This report covers HackMD's website security posture. HackMD operates in the Technology industry in Taiwan.

HackMD is a collaborative Markdown editor platform founded in 2015 and based in Taiwan. It offers real-time document editing and sharing capabilities targeted at teams, developers, researchers, educators, and communities. The platform supports integrations such as GitHub and provides features like templates, book mode, and UML graph visualization, positioning itself as a versatile tool for knowledge sharing and collaboration. The business model is primarily freemium SaaS with paid tiers for teams and enterprises, serving a global user base including notable organizations like the Ethereum Foundation. Technically, HackMD employs modern web technologies including React and Next.js, hosted on AWS infrastructure. The website demonstrates excellent performance, mobile optimization, and SEO practices. Security is robust with HTTPS enforcement, CSRF protections, and domain transfer restrictions, although DNSSEC is not enabled. Privacy and terms policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, with active use of analytics tools such as Google Tag Manager and Plausible Analytics. Security posture is strong with no detected vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. However, explicit incident response contacts and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not publicly evident, representing an area for improvement. The WHOIS data is transparent and consistent with the business identity, supporting legitimacy and trustworthiness. Overall, HackMD presents a professional, secure, and user-friendly platform with a strong market position in collaborative documentation tools. Strategic recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, publishing explicit security headers, and establishing clear incident response and vulnerability disclosure channels to further enhance security and trust.

The security scan identified 23 findings across security headers, SSL/TLS, DNS health, email security, GDPR compliance, and NIS2 compliance analysis modules.

Technologies detected: React, Next.js, JavaScript, WebAssembly (possible for UML rendering), AWS DNS hosting.

About this security scan

Guard performs automated security assessments of websites by analyzing SSL/TLS certificates, HTTP security headers, DNS configuration, email authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), GDPR compliance indicators, NIS2 directive compliance, network exposure, and AI-powered business intelligence. Each report provides domain-specific findings, risk scores, and actionable recommendations.

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TechnologyTaiwanmedium
ReactNext.jsJavaScriptWebAssembly (possible for UML rendering)AWS DNS hosting
Analyzed 10/9/2025Completed 2:15:39 PM5mo ago
75
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

Above Technology avg (72)

10,000+

Domains scanned

500+

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SEQ SIA

Lastadijas 12 k-3, Riga, Latvia, LV-1050

Reg. No. 40203410806 • VAT LV40203410806

Support: guard@offseq.com+371 2256 5353

AI Summary

HackMD is a collaborative Markdown editor platform founded in 2015 and based in Taiwan. It offers real-time document editing and sharing capabilities targeted at teams, developers, researchers, educators, and communities. The platform supports integrations such as GitHub and provides features like templates, book mode, and UML graph visualization, positioning itself as a versatile tool for knowledge sharing and collaboration. The business model is primarily freemium SaaS with paid tiers for teams and enterprises, serving a global user base including notable organizations like the Ethereum Foundation. Technically, HackMD employs modern web technologies including React and Next.js, hosted on AWS infrastructure. The website demonstrates excellent performance, mobile optimization, and SEO practices. Security is robust with HTTPS enforcement, CSRF protections, and domain transfer restrictions, although DNSSEC is not enabled. Privacy and terms policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, with active use of analytics tools such as Google Tag Manager and Plausible Analytics. Security posture is strong with no detected vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. However, explicit incident response contacts and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not publicly evident, representing an area for improvement. The WHOIS data is transparent and consistent with the business identity, supporting legitimacy and trustworthiness. Overall, HackMD presents a professional, secure, and user-friendly platform with a strong market position in collaborative documentation tools. Strategic recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, publishing explicit security headers, and establishing clear incident response and vulnerability disclosure channels to further enhance security and trust.

Detected Technologies

ReactNext.jsJavaScriptWebAssembly (possible for UML rendering)AWS DNS hosting

6 urgent findings need attention

6 high

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Guard tracks your live infrastructure daily: certificate expiry, DNS & mail authentication drift, uptime changes, subdomain inventory, and unexpected tracker or content shifts. A full timeline captures every diff so you can prove remediation and spot regressions instantly.

Security drift alerts

Risk score drops, new high-severity issues, and header hardening gaps

Compliance watch

GDPR / NIS2 posture changes with governance evidence snapshots

Infrastructure surface

Unexpected open services, SSL expiry, DNS & email authentication changes

Content & tracker intelligence

Marketing tech shifts, analytics drift, and AI recommendation updates

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Security Headers

4 findings

60/100

GDPR Compliance

3 findings

68/100

NIS2 Compliance

8 findings

17/100

Email Security

4 findings

80/100

🧠AI Business Intelligence

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

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

HackMD occupies a competitive niche in the collaborative documentation and Markdown editor market, leveraging real-time editing and integrations to attract a diverse audience from startups to established institutions. Its freemium SaaS model allows broad adoption with monetization through team and enterprise plans. The company benefits from strong community engagement and endorsements from reputable organizations, enhancing its market credibility. The partnership ecosystem includes social media channels and community platforms like Discord. Growth indicators include a large user base (1 million users, 30k teams) and global reach (170 countries). The company maintains consistent branding and professional content, supporting sustained market presence.

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced, clientTransferProhibited domain status, and CSRF tokens in forms. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. Privacy policies and cookie consent mechanisms are in place, indicating compliance with GDPR. However, the absence of explicit incident response contact information and a security.txt file suggests room for improvement in vulnerability management and incident handling transparency. DNSSEC is not enabled, which could be a potential DNS security enhancement. Overall, the security culture appears proactive but could benefit from formalized disclosure and response processes.

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:

HackMD

Description:

HackMD provides a real-time collaborative Markdown editor for teams and individuals to create, share, and edit documents seamlessly.

Key Services:
Real-time Markdown editingDocument collaborationGitHub integrationTemplates and book modeUML graph visualization
Content Quality:

excellent

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
ReactNext.jsJavaScriptWebAssembly (possible for UML rendering)AWS DNS hosting
Frameworks:
Next.js
Platforms:
Web
Performance:

fast

Mobile:

excellent

Accessibility:

good

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
85/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status
  • CSRF tokens in forms
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Google Tag ManagerPlausible Analytics
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:good

Advertising & Marketing

Tracking Pixels:
Plausible Analytics
Marketing Tools:
Plausible Analytics
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 fully accessible with rich content and no blocking.

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🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

60/100
Score

Missing X-Content-Type-Options header

MEDIUM

Prevents MIME type sniffing

Missing Content-Security-Policy header

HIGH

Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

Weak Referrer-Policy configuration

LOW

Current value: "same-origin"

Missing Permissions-Policy header

MEDIUM

Controls browser features and APIs

👤GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.

GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment

68/100
Score

No Cookie Policy found

HIGH

GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

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

17/100
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

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📧Email Security

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

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

80/100
Score

Complex SPF record

LOW

Too many include statements can cause lookup limits

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:amazonses.com include:zoho.com include:servers.mcsv.net include:mail.zendesk.com include:mailgun.org include:_spf.google.com ~all
DNS Lookups:6/10
Policy:~all
DKIM Selectors Found
Selector:google(1296-bit rsa)
Selector:k1(1296-bit rsa)
Selector:s1(1440-bit rsa)
DMARC Details
Policy:reject
Aggregate Reports:dmarc@hackmd.io

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

100/100
Score

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 2 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Certificate Details

Subject:hackmd.io
Issuer:Amazon RSA 2048 M03
Valid Until:3/5/2026 (147 days)
SANs:hackmd.io, *.hackmd.io

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

Domain Delete Lock Not Enabled

LOW

Domain can be deleted without additional verification

Domain Registration Details

Domain Age
10 years(mature)
Expiry Risk
low(25 days)
Protection Level
basicDNSSEC OFF

DNS Records

A Records:99.83.179.177, 75.2.77.152
AAAA Records:2406:da14:88d:a100:24d1:b5c8:693d:2454, 2406:da14:88d:a101:e2a3:a4a9:2153:c8e9, 2406:da14:88d:a102:eafa:3cdf:5690:ad2a
Name Servers:
ns-1444.awsdns-52.org
ns-1925.awsdns-48.co.uk
ns-221.awsdns-27.com
ns-845.awsdns-41.net
MX Records:
10: alt3.aspmx.l.google.com
5: alt2.aspmx.l.google.com
1: aspmx.l.google.com
10: alt4.aspmx.l.google.com
5: alt1.aspmx.l.google.com
SOA:Serial: 1, TTL: 86400s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:44ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 include:amazonses.com include:zoho.com include:servers.mcsv.net include:mail.zendesk.com include:mailgun.org include:_spf.google.com ~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

How does hackmd.io compare?

See how hackmd.io stacks up against similar websites in the same industry.

🔧Technical Analysis

Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.

Technical Analysis

Comprehensive security assessment findings

Additional Findings

HackMD's technical infrastructure is modern and robust, utilizing React and Next.js frameworks for a performant and responsive web experience. Hosting on AWS DNS services provides reliable availability. The website is optimized for mobile devices and accessibility, with comprehensive meta tags supporting SEO. The use of CSRF tokens in forms indicates attention to secure data handling. Analytics integration is balanced with privacy compliance. No CMS was detected, suggesting a custom-built platform. Performance is fast with efficient resource loading and preloading strategies. Technical risks are minimal but could be further mitigated by enabling DNSSEC and enhancing security headers.
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Marketing Intelligence

Contact emails, phone numbers & warm leads

49.90 €one-time • Incl. 21% VAT

Plan Comparison

FeaturePDF ReportMarketing+
Full security analysis
Professional PDF export
Email delivery
Lifetime access + unlock code
Contact emails & phones
Marketing outreach data

Already purchased?

Order summary

Domainhackmd.io
Access tierFull report or marketing add-on

Digital reports are delivered immediately after payment. By continuing you acknowledge the withdrawal waiver described in our Returns & Refunds policy.

VisaMastercardApple PayGoogle Pay

Secure payments processed via EveryPay. Prices in EUR; Incl. 21% VAT.

SEQ SIA

Lastadijas 12 k-3, Riga, Latvia, LV-1050

Reg. No. 40203410806 • VAT LV40203410806

Support: guard@offseq.com+371 2256 5353

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