How to fix passive scan only on Squarespace

Steps for Squarespace

1. Squarespace is a fully managed SaaS platform with no self-hosted staging; create a free trial store as a staging proxy: squarespace.com → Get Started → use the same template.
2. On the trial site, use Settings → Permissions → set Site Visibility to 'Password Protected' to prevent public indexing.
3. Run OWASP ZAP in Spider/Passive mode against the trial URL to inventory pages and identify any exposed sensitive endpoints or missing security headers (Squarespace controls headers centrally).
4. Active injection testing on Squarespace core is not applicable (Squarespace manages the backend); focus DAST efforts on any custom JavaScript injected via Settings → Advanced → Code Injection.
5. Review all custom code blocks and third-party embed scripts for XSS risks — remove or sanitise any that accept user input.
6. Report infrastructure-level findings to Squarespace Support; keep all Squarespace Extensions updated via the Extensions marketplace.

What is passive scan only?

Passive security scans — like the checks run on your HTTP headers, TLS certificate, cookies, and email DNS records — are a great first step, but they can only see what your store broadcasts to any visitor. They cannot test whether your login form is vulnerable to brute-force attacks, whether your checkout accepts malicious input, or whether an authenticated user can access another customer's data. Active security testing (called DAST — Dynamic Application Security Testing) actually interacts with your live or staging site the way a real attacker would, probing for those deeper vulnerabilities. Tools like OWASP ZAP (free) or commercial equivalents send crafted requests to your store and report weaknesses that a passive scan will never find.

A security breach on an ecommerce store can expose customer payment data, personal information, and order history — leading to regulatory fines (GDPR, PCI DSS), chargebacks, loss of payment processor access, and permanent damage to customer trust. Many of the most damaging attack types — SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), broken authentication, insecure direct object references — are invisible to passive scanning but are caught routinely by DAST tools. Running active tests before each release means you find and fix vulnerabilities before attackers do, protecting your revenue, your customers, and your brand reputation. Skipping this step is one of the top reasons stores appear in breach reports despite having "green" passive security scores.

See the complete Passive scan only guide for every platform and the full background.