# BeaverCheck Audit Report — https://www.duckduckgo.com **Date:** April 12, 2026 **URL:** https://www.duckduckgo.com **Overall Grade:** C (75/100) **Report:** https://beavercheck.com/results/5bbcead7-d370-4a2d-8912-469a86c4f4c9 ## Top Findings 1. **[CRITICAL]** Content-Security-Policy header is missing — Security > Security Headers 2. **[CRITICAL]** No Content-Security-Policy header found — Security > Content Security Policy 3. **[CRITICAL]** 1 link(s) with no accessible text — Accessibility > Link & Button Quality 4. **[CRITICAL]** 15 image-only link(s) without alt text — Accessibility > Link & Button Quality 5. **[CRITICAL]** Soft 404: server returns HTTP 200 for non-existent pages — Accessibility > 404 Error Page --- ## Lighthouse Scores | Category | Score | |----------|-------| | Performance | 36 | | Accessibility | 91 | | Best Practices | 100 | | SEO | 92 | --- ## Security ### Security Headers (F — 25/100) *2 of 10 headers properly configured* - **[WARNING]** HSTS is missing includeSubDomains — Without includeSubDomains, subdomains can still be accessed over HTTP. - **[WARNING]** X-Content-Type-Options header is missing — This header prevents MIME-type sniffing, which can lead to XSS attacks. Set it to 'nosniff'. - **[WARNING]** X-Frame-Options header is missing — This header prevents clickjacking by controlling who can embed your page in a frame. Set it to DENY or SAMEORIGIN. - **[WARNING]** Referrer-Policy header is missing — Controls how much referrer information is sent with requests. Set to 'strict-origin-when-cross-origin' or stricter. - **[WARNING]** Permissions-Policy header is missing — Controls which browser features (camera, microphone, geolocation) are allowed. Set it to restrict unused features. - **[CRITICAL]** Content-Security-Policy header is missing — CSP is the most important header for preventing XSS attacks. See the CSP section for detailed analysis. - **[WARNING]** Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy header is missing — COOP isolates your browsing context, preventing cross-origin side-channel attacks. Set to 'same-origin'. - **[WARNING]** Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy header is missing — COEP prevents loading cross-origin resources without explicit permission. Required for SharedArrayBuffer and high-resolution timers. - **[PASS]** X-Powered-By header is not present - **[PASS]** Server header is present without version info ### Content Security Policy (F — 0/100) *No enforcing CSP policy found* - **[CRITICAL]** No Content-Security-Policy header found — CSP is the most effective defense against XSS attacks. Add a Content-Security-Policy header to restrict resource loading. ### TLS & Certificates (A+ — 100/100) *TLS 1.3, 7 checks passed* - **[PASS]** TLS 1.3 is used - **[PASS]** Strong cipher suite is used - **[INFO]** HTTP/2 is not negotiated — HTTP/2 provides multiplexing and header compression for better performance. - **[PASS]** Certificate is valid (expires in 252 days) - **[PASS]** Certificate chain has 3 certificates - **[PASS]** Certificate uses modern signature algorithm - **[PASS]** Certificate covers 2 domain(s) - **[PASS]** Certificate is issued by a trusted CA ### Cookie Security (A+ — 100/100) *No cookies set — no cookie security risks* - **[PASS]** No cookies set — no cookie security risks --- ## Advanced Security ### Subresource Integrity (A+ — 100/100) *No external resources* - **[PASS]** No external resources to protect ### JS Library Vulnerabilities (A+ — 100/100) *No known vulnerabilities* - **[PASS]** No known JavaScript library vulnerabilities detected ### Information Leakage (A — 85/100) *Potential exposures found* - **[WARNING]** /phpinfo.php is publicly accessible — Debug or admin endpoint is accessible. This may expose server internals or provide attack vectors. - **[INFO]** No security.txt found — Consider adding a security.txt at /.well-known/security.txt. ### Email Security (F — 30/100) *No DMARC* - **[WARNING]** No DMARC record found — Without DMARC, email receivers have no policy for handling authentication failures. ### Permissions-Policy (D — 40/100) *No header set* - **[WARNING]** No Permissions-Policy header — Consider adding a Permissions-Policy header to restrict browser feature access from embedded content. ### CORS Configuration (B — 80/100) *No CORS headers* - **[PASS]** No CORS headers present — secure default --- ## Performance ### Page Weight Budget (D — 54/100) *2.1 MB transferred, 105 requests* - **[INFO]** Page weighs 4.1 MB (2.1 MB transferred) - **[WARNING]** JavaScript is 807 KB — consider code splitting or lazy loading — Large JavaScript bundles delay interactivity. Split code by route or defer non-critical scripts. - **[INFO]** Fonts are 218 KB — consider subsetting or using system fonts — Subset fonts to include only used characters, or switch to system font stacks. - **[WARNING]** 105 HTTP requests — consider bundling or reducing — Each request adds latency. Bundle small files, use sprites, or eliminate unnecessary requests. - **[INFO]** Estimated 0.44 g CO2 per page load ### Third-Party Impact (D — 50/100) *100% third-party, 0 ms blocking* - **[WARNING]** Third-party code accounts for 100% of page weight (2.1 MiB of 2.1 MiB) - **[PASS]** Third-party blocking time is low (0 ms) ### Text Compression (A+ — 100/100) *All text resources are compressed* - **[PASS]** All text resources are compressed ### Image Optimization (C — 60/100) *36 images, 0 KB saveable* - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/media/google-p... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. ### JS Execution Cost (F — 20/100) *5995ms total JS execution* - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/framewo...: 3404ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** Unattributable: 924ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/: 492ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/pages/%...: 393ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/pages/_...: 351ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** Third-party scripts: 5995ms (100% of total) ### Font Loading (A+ — 100/100) *5 fonts (218 KB)* - **[INFO]** 5 font(s) use font-display: swap (FOUT risk but functional) ### JS Bundles (C — 60/100) *34 scripts, 277 KB unused* - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/2912-e3...: 63 KB unused (88%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/598-7ab...: 51 KB unused (87%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/7500-ac...: 33 KB unused (86%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/9489-16...: 33 KB unused (62%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/pages/_...: 27 KB unused (29%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[INFO]** Total unused JavaScript: 277 KB ### Resource Caching (A+ — 100/100) *All resources properly cached* - **[PASS]** No caching issues found ### Critical Rendering Path (A+ — 100/100) *No render-blocking resources* - **[PASS]** No render-blocking resources detected ### Resource Hints (A+ — 100/100) *27 hints, 0 missing preconnects* - **[PASS]** Page uses 27 resource hint(s) ### Render-Blocking Resources (A+ — 100/100) *No render-blocking resources detected* - **[PASS]** No render-blocking resources detected in ### Third-Party Resources (A+ — 100/100) *No third-party resources detected* --- ## Content Quality ### Links (A+ — 100/100) *189 links checked, 189 healthy, 0 broken* - **[PASS]** 189 of 189 links are healthy ### Mixed Content (A+ — 100/100) *No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS.* - **[PASS]** No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS ### Open Graph (A+ — 100/100) *Open Graph tags are well configured for social sharing.* ### Structured Data (C — 40/100) *No structured data (JSON-LD) found.* - **[INFO]** No structured data (JSON-LD) found — Adding structured data helps search engines understand your content and can enable rich results. --- ## Infrastructure ### DNS Records (A — 85/100) *1 A records, 23 ms lookup* - **[PASS]** Resolves to 1 IPv4 address(es) - **[INFO]** Single A record — no DNS redundancy — Multiple A records provide failover if one server goes down. - **[INFO]** No IPv6 (AAAA) records - **[WARNING]** CNAME record at zone apex — A CNAME at the zone apex can break MX and NS records. Use ALIAS/ANAME or A records instead. - **[PASS]** 8 nameserver(s) configured - **[PASS]** 1 mail exchanger(s) configured - **[INFO]** CAA records not checked — CAA record lookup requires a specialized DNS resolver. This check will be available in a future update. - **[PASS]** SPF record present in TXT - **[PASS]** DNS resolution time: 23 ms ### Redirect Chain (A — 90/100) *1 redirect(s), 123 ms total* - **[PASS]** Single redirect - **[INFO]** WWW normalization redirect ### IPv6 Readiness (C — 60/100) *No IPv6 support* - **[INFO]** No IPv6 (AAAA) records found — IPv6 support is increasingly important for global accessibility. About 40% of internet users have IPv6 connectivity. ### Crawlability (A+ — 100/100) *robots.txt present, sitemap with 26 URLs* - **[PASS]** robots.txt is present - **[PASS]** sitemap.xml is present - **[PASS]** sitemap.xml is valid XML - **[PASS]** sitemap.xml contains 26 entries - **[PASS]** robots.txt references sitemap ### URL Variants (B — 75/100) *www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS* - **[CRITICAL]** Both www and non-www versions serve content - **[PASS]** HTTP correctly 301-redirects to HTTPS ### Domain Intelligence (A — 90/100) *duckduckgo.com — via NameCheap, Inc., 18 years, 8 months old, hosted on Microsoft Azure* - **[WARNING]** Domain expires in 71 days — Consider enabling auto-renewal to prevent accidental expiration. - **[INFO]** DNSSEC is not enabled — DNSSEC protects against DNS spoofing attacks. While not required, enabling DNSSEC adds an additional layer of security. Contact your DNS provider to enable it. - **[PASS]** Registrar: NameCheap, Inc. - **[PASS]** Hosting: Microsoft Azure --- ## Compliance ### WCAG Compliance (A+ — 100/100) *No testable criteria* ### Cookie Consent & Privacy (B — 80/100) *No consent signals detected* - **[WARNING]** No privacy policy link detected — A privacy policy page is recommended for transparency and may be legally required. - **[INFO]** No terms of service link detected - **[INFO]** No cookie consent banner detected - **[INFO]** This is an automated check, not legal advice — BeaverCheck detects technical indicators of consent management. This does not constitute a legal compliance assessment. Consult a privacy professional for GDPR/CCPA compliance. ### Language & i18n (A — 90/100) *Lang attribute present* - **[PASS]** attribute is present - **[PASS]** value is valid - **[INFO]** No Content-Language HTTP header - **[INFO]** Language signals are inconsistent — The attribute and Content-Language header should agree. ### Readability & Typography (A+ — 100/100) *Font sizes and tap targets checked* ### Viewport Configuration (A+ — 100/100) *Viewport properly configured* - **[PASS]** Viewport meta tag is present - **[PASS]** width=device-width is set - **[PASS]** User zooming is allowed ### Third-Party Trackers (C — 55/100) *2 trackers detected* - **[INFO]** 2 third-party trackers detected — Found 2 analytics, 0 advertising, 0 marketing, 0 tag manager trackers. - **[WARNING]** Trackers detected but no cookie policy found — This page loads 2 trackers but no cookie policy was detected. GDPR requires disclosure when using tracking cookies. - **[WARNING]** Trackers detected but no privacy policy found — Most data protection regulations require a privacy policy when collecting user data via trackers. --- ## Legal ### Legal Page Ecosystem (C — 60/100) *2 of 7 expected legal pages detected* - **[PASS]** Privacy Policy detected — Found at https://duckduckgo.com/privacy. - **[PASS]** Terms of Service detected — Found at /terms, linked from footer. - **[INFO]** Cookie Policy not detected — No link matching common Cookie Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Cookie Policy, especially those collecting user data. - **[INFO]** Accessibility Statement not detected — No link matching common Accessibility Statement URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Accessibility Statement, especially those collecting user data. - **[INFO]** DMCA / Copyright Notice not detected — No link matching common DMCA / Copyright Notice URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a DMCA / Copyright Notice, especially those collecting user data. - **[INFO]** Refund / Returns Policy not detected — No link matching common Refund / Returns Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Refund / Returns Policy, especially those collecting user data. - **[INFO]** Acceptable Use Policy not detected — No link matching common Acceptable Use Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Acceptable Use Policy, especially those collecting user data. ### Copyright Notice (A+ — 100/100) *© 2026 DuckDuckGo Protection* - **[PASS]** Copyright notice is up to date — Copyright notice is up to date: © 2026 DuckDuckGo Protection - **[PASS]** Copyright holder: DuckDuckGo Protection ### Regulatory Indicators *1 regulatory indicator(s) detected* - **[INFO]** This is a technical scan, not a legal assessment — BeaverCheck detects technical indicators that may suggest regulatory relevance. This is not a compliance audit and should not be relied upon for legal decisions. Consult qualified legal counsel for compliance assessments. - **[INFO]** GDPR indicators detected (strong confidence) — Indicators suggesting GDPR may be relevant: Text mentions: data protection; Privacy policy page found. EU General Data Protection Regulation — governs collection and processing of personal data of EU residents. ### Third-Party Data Sharing *0 third-party service(s) detected* - **[INFO]** Data inventory for transparency purposes — This inventory identifies third-party services that receive data from your site visitors. Under regulations like GDPR (Article 30), maintaining records of data processing activities is commonly considered a best practice. This automated scan provides a starting point — it may not capture all data flows. - **[INFO]** No recognized third-party data-sharing services detected — This page does not appear to load external tracking, analytics, or advertising scripts. ### Compliance Badges (B — 70/100) *1 compliance badge(s) detected* - **[PASS]** TRUSTe / TrustArc badge detected — Found via body text: 'truste'. Note: the presence of a badge does not verify the certification is current or valid. --- ## Availability ### CDN & Delivery (D — 50/100) *No CDN detected* - **[WARNING]** No CDN detected — A CDN can significantly improve load times for users around the world by caching content at edge nodes closer to them. ### HTTP Caching (A — 90/100) *max-age=31536000 (52 weeks)* - **[PASS]** Cache-Control header is set - **[PASS]** Effective TTL: 52 weeks (max-age=31536000) - **[INFO]** No ETag or Last-Modified header — Conditional requests (304 Not Modified) are not possible without validators. ### Transport Security (A — 90/100) *HTTP/3, HSTS, and TLS version analysis* - **[INFO]** HTTP/3 (QUIC) not advertised — HTTP/3 eliminates head-of-line blocking. If your CDN supports it, consider enabling it. - **[PASS]** HSTS enabled (base policy) - **[INFO]** HSTS missing includeSubDomains — Without includeSubDomains, HSTS only protects the exact domain. - **[PASS]** TLS 1.3 in use (fastest handshake, 1-RTT) --- ## Accessibility ### Landmark Structure (C — 65/100) *17 landmarks* - **[PASS]**
landmark present - **[WARNING]** Multiple
landmarks (2 found) — A page should have only one
landmark. - **[PASS]** 2