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Is hacktoberfest.com a Scam? Security Check Results - DigitalOcean, LLC

hacktoberfest.com Security Report Summary

hacktoberfest.com received a security score of 58 out of 100 in Guard's comprehensive security analysis, classified as "Elevated Risk". This report covers DigitalOcean, LLC's website security posture. DigitalOcean, LLC operates in the Technology industry in United States.

Hacktoberfest.com is the official website for Hacktoberfest 2025, a globally recognized month-long event promoting open-source contributions. Sponsored primarily by DigitalOcean and Major League Hacking (MLH), the platform serves developers, maintainers, and open-source enthusiasts by providing event information, registration, and community engagement opportunities. The site reflects a mature and well-established brand with a strong market position in the open-source community event space. Technically, the website is built on a modern React and Next.js framework, hosted likely on DigitalOcean infrastructure with DNS managed by Cloudflare. The site demonstrates excellent performance, mobile optimization, and SEO practices. However, there is room for improvement in security headers and explicit cookie consent mechanisms to enhance privacy compliance. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses domain registration protections to prevent unauthorized changes. No critical vulnerabilities or suspicious content were detected. The absence of explicit security and incident response policies on the site is noted but does not significantly detract from the overall security posture. Overall, hacktoberfest.com is a trustworthy, professional, and well-maintained platform with strong business credibility and community trust. Strategic improvements in privacy consent and security headers would further solidify its compliance and security stance.

The security scan identified 32 findings across security headers, SSL/TLS, DNS health, email security, GDPR compliance, and NIS2 compliance analysis modules.

Technologies detected: React, Next.js, Cloudflare DNS, Google Fonts.

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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Is hacktoberfest.com Safe? Security Analysis for DigitalOcean, LLC

https://hacktoberfest.com

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

TechnologyUnited Stateslarge
ReactNext.jsCloudflare DNSGoogle Fonts
Analyzed 10/7/2025Completed 4:30:28 PM8mo ago
58
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

Below Technology avg (72)

10,000+

Domains scanned

500+

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

Reg. No. 40203410806 • VAT LV40203410806

Support: guard@offseq.com+371 2256 5353

AI Summary

Hacktoberfest.com is the official website for Hacktoberfest 2025, a globally recognized month-long event promoting open-source contributions. Sponsored primarily by DigitalOcean and Major League Hacking (MLH), the platform serves developers, maintainers, and open-source enthusiasts by providing event information, registration, and community engagement opportunities. The site reflects a mature and well-established brand with a strong market position in the open-source community event space. Technically, the website is built on a modern React and Next.js framework, hosted likely on DigitalOcean infrastructure with DNS managed by Cloudflare. The site demonstrates excellent performance, mobile optimization, and SEO practices. However, there is room for improvement in security headers and explicit cookie consent mechanisms to enhance privacy compliance. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses domain registration protections to prevent unauthorized changes. No critical vulnerabilities or suspicious content were detected. The absence of explicit security and incident response policies on the site is noted but does not significantly detract from the overall security posture. Overall, hacktoberfest.com is a trustworthy, professional, and well-maintained platform with strong business credibility and community trust. Strategic improvements in privacy consent and security headers would further solidify its compliance and security stance.

Detected Technologies

ReactNext.jsCloudflare DNSGoogle Fonts

12 urgent findings need attention

12 high

  • + 4 more findings in the full report below
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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

8 findings

15/100

GDPR Compliance

3 findings

58/100

NIS2 Compliance

9 findings

2/100

Email Security

6 findings

45/100

🧠AI Business Intelligence

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

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

Hacktoberfest.com operates as a community-driven event platform backed by DigitalOcean and MLH, targeting developers and open-source contributors worldwide. Its business model centers on community engagement, sponsorship, and promotion of open-source software. The event has grown significantly since its inception in 2010, indicating strong market traction and brand recognition. Partnerships with major technology companies and community organizations enhance its ecosystem and competitive advantage. The platform does not directly monetize through sales but leverages sponsorship and brand positioning to support DigitalOcean's broader business objectives.

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website exhibits a solid security foundation with HTTPS enforced and domain registration protections in place. However, the lack of DNSSEC and missing security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security represent areas for enhancement. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. The absence of a public security policy or incident response contact reduces transparency but is common for event-focused sites. Overall, the security posture is good but could benefit from formalized policies and technical header improvements to align with best practices and compliance requirements.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Enable DNSSEC on the domain to protect against DNS spoofing and improve DNS security.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

DigitalOcean, LLC

Description:

Hacktoberfest is a month-long celebration of open-source projects, their maintainers, and the entire community of contributors. It encourages participation in open source through pull/merge requests and community events.

Key Services:
Open source contribution eventCommunity engagementSponsorship and support for open source projectsEvents and hackathons
Content Quality:

excellent

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
ReactNext.jsCloudflare DNSGoogle Fonts
Frameworks:
Next.js
Platforms:
DigitalOcean
Performance:

fast

Mobile:

excellent

Accessibility:

good

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
85/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Domain status includes clientDeleteProhibited, clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited

Analytics & Tracking

Tracking Level:minimal
Privacy Compliance:good

Advertising & Marketing

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 professionally maintained event site for Hacktoberfest 2025.

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🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

15/100
Score

Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

HIGH

Forces HTTPS connections

Missing X-Frame-Options header

HIGH

Prevents clickjacking attacks

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

Missing X-XSS-Protection header

MEDIUM

Legacy XSS protection (deprecated but still recommended)

Missing Referrer-Policy header

LOW

Controls referrer information sent with requests

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

58/100
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

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
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, banking, digital

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📧Email Security

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

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

45/100
Score

No SPF record found

HIGH

SPF helps prevent email spoofing

No DMARC reporting

LOW

DMARC aggregate reports not configured

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
DMARC Details
Policy:reject

🏆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 89 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:hacktoberfest.com
Issuer:WE1
Valid Until:1/5/2026 (89 days)
SANs:hacktoberfest.com, *.hacktoberfest.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

Domain Registration Details

Domain Age
15 years(mature)
Expiry Risk
none(2797 days)
Protection Level
strongDNSSEC OFF

DNS Records

A Records:172.64.146.13, 104.18.41.243
AAAA Records:2a06:98c1:3105::ac40:920d, 2a06:98c1:3109::6812:29f3
Name Servers:
mckinley.ns.cloudflare.com
seamus.ns.cloudflare.com
MX Records:
10: alt4.aspmx.l.google.com
5: alt2.aspmx.l.google.com
1: aspmx.l.google.com
10: alt3.aspmx.l.google.com
5: alt1.aspmx.l.google.com
SOA:Serial: 2385310021, TTL: 1800s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:80ms

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 hacktoberfest.com compare?

See how hacktoberfest.com 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

The website is built using Next.js, a modern React framework, indicating a contemporary and scalable technical infrastructure. Hosting appears to be on DigitalOcean with DNS managed by Cloudflare, providing robust performance and reliability. The site uses Google Fonts and several JavaScript chunks for modular loading, optimizing performance. The design is responsive and accessible, with good SEO metadata including Open Graph and Twitter cards. No CMS was detected, suggesting a custom-built solution tailored for the event. The technical stack is modern and well-implemented, with minor opportunities for security and privacy enhancements.
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39.90 €one-time • Incl. 21% VAT

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

Domainhacktoberfest.com
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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