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CyberBadger Labs · Research

Los Angeles Business Website Security

3,562 sites scanned · Los Angeles · August 2026 · passive, public data only · 2 scans tracked

We ran a passive, read-only security scan of 3,562 Los Angeles business websites, using only what any browser or mail server can already see. Most can be impersonated in email, and the typical independent business site scores a D. Here is what the outside of Los Angeles's small-business web looks like, and how to close the most common gaps.

86.7%
of independent Los Angeles businesses can be impersonated in email.

How Los Angeles grades out

Every site gets one A to F grade. The typical independent Los Angeles business scores a D.

C
D+
D
A 6.9%B 5.5%C 17.5%D+ 26.7%D 38.3%D- 2.1%F 3.2%
Typical grade by category
Email
F
Headers
B
TLS
A+
DNS
A+
Cookies
A+
Software
A+

The overall grade is held down by its weakest category. The rest of the region’s web is often in far better shape.

What we found, and how to fix it

Share of independent businesses with each gap, next to Los Angeles's 453 chains and franchises for comparison. Every one is fixable.

86.7%
Local
57.6%
Chains
Can be impersonated in email (no DMARC enforcement)
2,696 of 3,109 sites
How to fix this →
1%
Local
1.8%
Chains
Running software with a known CVE
30 of 3,109 sites
How to fix this →
77.2%
Local
69.1%
Chains
WordPress sites exposing their admin usernames
433 of 561 WordPress sites
How to fix this →
69.6%
Local
62.9%
Chains
No Content-Security-Policy header
2,164 of 3,109 sites
How to fix this →
50.3%
Local
46.8%
Chains
Missing core security headers
1,565 of 3,109 sites
How to fix this →
62.2%
Local
44.6%
Chains
No HSTS (browsers can be downgraded to HTTP)
1,935 of 3,109 sites
How to fix this →
38.5%
Local
31.3%
Chains
No SPF record
1,198 of 3,109 sites
How to fix this →
21%
Local
12.6%
Chains
Not enforcing HTTPS
653 of 3,109 sites
How to fix this →
3.7%
Local
1.8%
Chains
Expired or untrusted TLS certificate
116 of 3,109 sites
How to fix this →

Context: 18% of these sites run WordPress (561 of 3,109). Running WordPress is not a problem in itself; it just means the WordPress-specific gaps above apply.

What Los Angeles gets right

Security basics a good share of these businesses already have in place.

75.1%enforce HTTPS
92.5%have a valid, trusted certificate
13.2%enforce DMARC (quarantine or reject)
29.4%send a strong HSTS header
22.5%have a strict SPF record (-all)

How Los Angeles has changed

2 scans since July 2026. Lower is better on every line.

Spoofable email
86.7%▼ 0.2 pts
was 86.9%
No HTTPS
21%▲ 2.9 pts
was 18.1%
No HSTS
62.2%▲ 0.2 pts
was 62%
0%25%50%75%100%July 2026August 2026Spoofable emailNo HTTPSNo HSTS

Grade mix over time

D
C
July 2026
typ. D
D
C
August 2026
typ. D

Where does your site land?

Run the same free scan on your own website and get your grade, plus the exact fixes, in under a minute. No login.

Run a free security scan

Method & sources

  • Passive and read-only: public DNS records plus a single homepage request per site. No logins, no test emails, no active or intrusive testing.
  • Sites were drawn from OpenStreetMap within Los Angeles's administrative boundary, deduplicated by domain. 3,562 of 3,797 sites had a reachable website and were scored; the rest had no reachable website.
  • Of those, the headline figures cover the 3,109 independent businesses; the 453 chains and franchises (a domain at many locations, or carrying a brand tag) were set aside so the numbers reflect locally-owned businesses.
  • Figures are aggregate and anonymized: no individual business is named.

Data sources: © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Cite this report

CyberBadger Labs, "Los Angeles Business Website Security" (2026). n=3562 los angeles business websites. Data: © OpenStreetMap contributors.