Penetration Testing · · 6 min read

How to Test If Your Website Is Secure (Free Methods)

website security free tools security headers SSL test

You can test your website security for free using five methods: check security headers at securityheaders.com, test SSL configuration at ssllabs.com, try accessing /.env and /.git paths directly, search Google for exposed admin panels using "inurl:admin site:yourdomain.com" and use the Sherlock Forensics free hack assessment tool. These checks catch surface-level issues. For everything underneath, there is us.

Five Free Checks You Can Run Right Now

You do not need to hire a security firm to find out if your website has obvious problems. These five free methods take less than 10 minutes combined and will tell you whether your site has the most common configuration issues that attackers look for first.

These are the same checks we run at the start of every penetration test. If your site fails any of them, an attacker already knows.

1. Test Your Security Headers

Go to securityheaders.com and enter your domain. The tool scans your HTTP response headers and grades them from A+ to F.

Security headers tell browsers how to handle your content. Missing headers leave your site vulnerable to clickjacking, cross-site scripting and protocol downgrade attacks. The critical headers to check:

  • Content-Security-Policy: Controls what resources browsers can load. Missing CSP allows XSS attacks.
  • Strict-Transport-Security: Forces HTTPS connections. Without it, attackers can downgrade connections to HTTP and intercept traffic.
  • X-Frame-Options: Prevents clickjacking by controlling whether your site can be embedded in iframes.
  • X-Content-Type-Options: Prevents MIME type sniffing that can lead to XSS.

If you score below a B, you have work to do. Most headers can be added in a few lines of server configuration.

2. Test Your SSL/TLS Configuration

Go to ssllabs.com/ssltest and enter your domain. This tool performs a deep analysis of your SSL/TLS setup and grades it from A+ to F.

What to look for in the results:

  • Certificate validity and chain completeness
  • Support for outdated protocols like TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 (these should be disabled)
  • Weak cipher suites that enable decryption
  • Missing HSTS headers

Anything below an A means your encrypted connections have weaknesses that a motivated attacker can exploit.

3. Check for Exposed Files

Open your browser and try navigating to these paths on your website:

  • yourdomain.com/.env
  • yourdomain.com/.git
  • yourdomain.com/.git/config
  • yourdomain.com/wp-config.php.bak
  • yourdomain.com/phpinfo.php

If any of these return content instead of a 404 error, you have a serious problem. The .env file typically contains database credentials, API keys and other secrets. The .git directory contains your entire source code history. Both are common findings in penetration tests and both are trivially exploitable.

These files should never be accessible from the web. Configure your server to block access to dotfiles and backup files.

4. Search for Exposed Admin Panels

Open Google and search for:

site:yourdomain.com inurl:admin

Then try:

site:yourdomain.com inurl:login

And:

site:yourdomain.com filetype:sql OR filetype:env OR filetype:log

These Google dorks reveal pages that Google has indexed but that you may not have intended to be public. Admin panels, login pages, database dumps and log files appear in search results more often than you would expect.

If you find anything unexpected, remove it from public access immediately and request removal from Google's index.

5. Use Our Free Hack Assessment Tool

Sherlock Forensics offers a free initial assessment that checks your domain for common vulnerabilities, exposed services and configuration issues. It runs automated checks against your public-facing infrastructure and provides a summary of findings.

This is not a penetration test. It is a surface scan that identifies the most obvious issues. Think of it as a smoke detector, not a fire inspection. If the smoke detector goes off, you know you need a deeper look.

Request Free Assessment

These Catch the Surface. For Everything Underneath, There Is Us.

The five checks above test what is publicly visible: headers, certificates, exposed files and indexed pages. They catch maybe 10% of what a professional penetration test finds.

What they do not test:

  • Authentication and authorization logic
  • SQL injection and other input-based attacks
  • Business logic flaws
  • API security
  • Session management
  • File upload vulnerabilities
  • Server-side request forgery
  • Privilege escalation paths

If your free checks came back clean, that is a good start. It means you have the basics covered. But the basics are not what sophisticated attackers exploit. They exploit the logic, the assumptions and the edge cases that no automated scanner can test.

A full penetration test from Sherlock Forensics starts at $5,000 CAD and covers everything the free tools miss. Quick audits for smaller sites start at $1,500 CAD.

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FAQ

Website Security Testing Questions

How can I check if my website is secure for free?
Use securityheaders.com to test HTTP headers, ssllabs.com for SSL/TLS, manually check for exposed files like /.env and /.git, search Google for indexed admin panels and use our free hack assessment tool. These catch surface-level issues but do not replace a professional pentest.
What is the difference between a free check and a pentest?
Free checks test publicly visible configuration. A penetration test goes deeper into authentication, authorization, business logic, API security and injection vulnerabilities. Free checks catch about 10% of what a pentest finds.
What are security headers and why do they matter?
Security headers are HTTP response headers that instruct browsers how to handle your content securely. Missing headers allow clickjacking, XSS and protocol downgrade attacks. Test yours free at securityheaders.com.