Security Headers — HTTP Header Audit

Check any website for missing or misconfigured HTTP security headers. Returns a grade from A+ to F with a list of which headers are present, which are absent, and why each matters for protection against XSS, clickjacking, MIME sniffing, and data leakage.

No API key required. Powered by securityheaders.com.

When to Use

• Audit a website before a security review or penetration test
• Verify that a newly deployed application has the correct security headers
• Check compliance with security baselines (OWASP, NIST, CIS)
• User asks "check security headers for X", "is example.com missing HSTS?", "grade the headers on my site"

How to Use

Check security headers for a URL

powershell
$target  = "https://taracod.com"
$encoded = [Uri]::EscapeDataString($target)
$url     = "https://securityheaders.com/?q=$encoded&followRedirects=on&hide=on"

$response = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -UseBasicParsing
# Extract grade from HTML badge
$grade = if ($response.Content -match 'class="[^"]*reportTitle[^"]*"[^>]*>[\s\S]*?label[^"]*"([^"]+)"') {
    $Matches[1] -replace 'label[- ]', '' -replace 'success', 'A' -replace 'warning', 'B/C' -replace 'danger', 'D/F'
} else { 'check manually' }

Write-Host "URL:   $target"
Write-Host "Grade: $grade"
Write-Host "Full report: $url"

Audit headers and list missing ones

powershell
$target   = "https://example.com"
$encoded  = [Uri]::EscapeDataString($target)
$response = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://securityheaders.com/?q=$encoded&followRedirects=on&hide=on" -UseBasicParsing
$html     = $response.Content

# Extract missing headers (rows marked as warnings/missing)
$pattern  = '<div[^>]*class="[^"]*missing[^"]*"[^>]*>([\s\S]*?)<\/div>'
$missing  = [regex]::Matches($html, $pattern) | ForEach-Object {
    $_.Groups[1].Value -replace '<[^>]+>', '' -replace '\s+', ' '
} | Where-Object { $_.Trim() }

Write-Host "Missing headers:"
$missing | ForEach-Object { Write-Host "  ✗ $($_.Trim())" }
Write-Host ""
Write-Host "Report: https://securityheaders.com/?q=$encoded&followRedirects=on"

Key security headers and what they do

Strict-Transport-Security  → Forces HTTPS; prevents downgrade attacks
Content-Security-Policy    → Restricts content sources; blocks XSS
X-Frame-Options            → Prevents clickjacking (deprecated by CSP)
X-Content-Type-Options     → Blocks MIME-sniffing attacks
Referrer-Policy            → Controls referrer data leakage
Permissions-Policy         → Restricts browser feature access (camera, location, etc.)

Examples

"Audit security headers for taracod.com" → Returns grade, lists present and missing headers with fix suggestions.

"Does github.com have Content-Security-Policy?" → Check the headers report — CSP row shows value if present.

"My site is getting an F — what headers am I missing?" → Audit returns the full missing-headers list with descriptions.

"Check HSTS on my production domain" → Look for Strict-Transport-Security in the report — check max-age value.

Cautions

• hide=on prevents results from appearing in the public "recent scans" feed — always use it
• followRedirects=on ensures the final destination URL is scanned, not just the redirect
• The tool scans what headers are sent — not what your server config says it should send
• Rate-limit: do not hammer the free service; add delays when scanning multiple URLs
• Grade is based on header presence, not perfect configuration — review values manually

Requirements

• None — no API key needed