Product guide
DNS Security Posture Report Guide
The DNS Security Posture Report is a Market Index reference report that puts DNS posture scores side by side for every published list: S&P 500 companies, colleges, hospitals and non-profits, with the average, median and grade mix of each.
The short answer
Use the report to answer questions such as whether colleges or hospitals handle email authentication better, or how far the typical charity trails the typical S&P 500 company. Each list keeps its own page for organization-level detail; this report is the summary across them.
The report is an Advanced feature that needs the paid plan, like Domain Visualizer Advanced and Website Recon Advanced. Without it, the page shows a prompt to sign in or see plans instead of the report.
What the report shows
The report reads top to bottom like a reference publication, with an “On this page” list beside it on wide screens:
- Key findings: how many organizations are scored, the overall average and share graded A or better, and a few plain sentences on which vertical leads, which trails and how far apart they are.
- Scores by vertical: one row per published vertical with Organizations (how many are on its published lists; an organization on two lists of one vertical counts once), Scored (how many have a verified DNS score), the Average and Median on the Market Index 0 to 100 scale (the Security Posture grade of the DNS checks), and the share graded A or better and graded F. Security Posture also grades the website and other areas, so its grade for the same organization can differ.
- Grade distribution: a bar per vertical split by letter, from A+ to F, so you can see the spread as well as the middle. Plus and minus grades count with their letter, so A- is counted as A and B+ as B.
- Breakdown by category: each vertical’s largest categories with their size and average score: sectors for public companies, Carnegie classification for colleges, ownership for hospitals and cause group for non-profits.
- Methodology and About this report: how the numbers are built, the edition and a citation line.
How the numbers are built
Every organization counts with its latest verified score under the current scoring model. Unscored organizations are counted in Organizations but left out of the averages, so compare Scored with Organizations before reading much into a young list: the colleges, hospitals and non-profits are re-scored about once a month, and hospitals and charities only once a domain has been added for them.
The report is rebuilt at most once an hour and the time it was built is shown at the end of the report. Only lists switched on for the public site appear, so a vertical that is still being prepared is simply absent.
Reading it well
- Compare medians as well as averages: a few badly configured domains pull an average down more than a median.
- Look at the grade bar before the average. Two verticals with the same average can have very different shares of F grades.
- Use the category tables to find where a gap comes from, then open that vertical’s page and sort by score to find the organizations behind it.
FAQ
Who can see the report?
Visitors on the paid plan, by default. Everyone else sees a sign-in or plans prompt in place of the report.
Why are some verticals missing from the report?
A vertical appears only once one of its lists is published on the public site. Until then it is left out entirely rather than shown with partial numbers.
Is this investment or procurement advice?
No. It is experimental reference data about DNS configuration, and it says nothing about the organizations beyond their domains.