HTTP security headers are your website's first line of defense against many common web attacks.
Why Security Headers Matter
- Protect against client-side attacks
- Require minimal server resources
- Work across all browsers
- Can be implemented without code changes
Essential Security Headers
Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS)
Forces browsers to only connect via HTTPS, preventing man-in-the-middle attacks and SSL stripping.
Content-Security-Policy (CSP)
Controls which resources can be loaded on your page, preventing XSS attacks and unauthorized resource loading.
X-Frame-Options
Prevents your site from being embedded in iframes on other domains, protecting against clickjacking attacks.
X-Content-Type-Options
Prevents browsers from MIME-sniffing a response away from the declared content type.
Referrer-Policy
Controls how much referrer information is sent when navigating to other pages.
Implementation Examples
Apache .htaccess:
Header always set X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" Header always set X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" Header always set X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block"
Security Grades
- Grade A: 6-7 security headers present
- Grade B: 5 headers present
- Grade C: 4 headers present
- Grade D: 3 headers present
- Grade F: 0-2 headers present
Using Our HTTP Headers Checker
Our free tool analyzes any website's security headers and provides a security score with detailed recommendations.
