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Security report for advertserve.com

AdvertServe · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

0–100, higher is better. How it is calculated

AdvertServe is a mature, cloud-hosted ad management platform targeting B2B and niche publishers with direct sales teams. The company offers a comprehensive suite of ad serving, targeting, tracking, and real-time reporting services, including video streaming and VAST/VPAID support. With a claimed 25+ years of experience and a customer base exceeding 30,000 sites globally, AdvertServe positions itself as a reliable and feature-rich solution in the ad tech industry. The platform emphasizes uptime reliability, AI-powered monitoring, and free technical support to differentiate itself in a competitive market. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Bootstrap, and integrates Google Fonts and Font Awesome for styling. It uses Google Tag Manager and Pingdom for analytics and performance monitoring. The site is mobile-optimized with good SEO practices and a clear navigation structure, providing an excellent user experience. However, some accessibility features could be enhanced. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses secure asynchronous ad tags. The contact form includes validation and anti-spam measures. Despite these strengths, the absence of WHOIS data for the domain is a notable concern, as it conflicts with the company's claimed long operational history. Additionally, the site lacks published security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms, which are important for trust and compliance. Overall, AdvertServe presents as a professional and trustworthy business with a strong technical foundation and good privacy compliance. The main risk lies in the domain registration opacity, which should be investigated further to ensure legitimacy. Strategic improvements in security transparency and WHOIS data clarity would enhance trust and reduce potential risks.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 100 · Medium
Checks completed
7of 7

NIS2 Art. 21(2)

  1. (a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
  2. (b) Incident handling: One indicator
  3. (c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
  4. (d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
  5. (e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
  6. (f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
  7. (g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
  8. (h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
  9. (i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
  10. (j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside

This scan rated NIS2 with an earlier keyword method that is no longer shown; rescan for the per-article view. Risk management, continuity, supply chain, training, MFA, management oversight (Art. 20) and incident reporting (Art. 23) need internal evidence, and Guard cannot tell whether NIS2 applies to this organisation.

GDPR is indicative only, based on publicly visible signals: Articles 7, 12, 13 and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Not a certification or legal assessment.

Priority findings

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

  3. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • High

      Weak Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching advertserve.com

This scan found 22 issues across 6 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
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Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

Results by check

Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.

How this score is calculated

The security score runs 0–100, higher is better. It is the plain average of the security checks that completed in this scan, each counted equally. A check that could not run is left out: it counts neither as a pass nor as a fail.

Counted in this score

SSL/TLS
72
Security headers
45
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
69

Not counted

  • NIS2 outside view: Re-weights evidence from the TLS, email, DNS, network and hygiene checks, so counting it would count that evidence twice. Shown on its own.
  • OffSeq Observations: An AI reading of the site, useful context but not reproducible evidence. Shown on its own.

Findings that cap the score at 49

Each of these is serious on its own, so while any is present the site cannot rate better than high risk, however good the other checks are.

  • The certificate is not trusted by browsers
  • The website is not served over HTTPS
  • A database, remote desktop, file-sharing or Telnet service is reachable from the internet
  • The page loads a script from a compromised source
  • The domain registration has expired
  • SPF authorises every server to send mail as the domain

Partial scans

When the site blocks Guard or most checks cannot run, the score covers only the checks that ran (usually DNS and email), is capped at 75 and is shown as partial, without a risk level.

Risk levels

  • Critical0–25
  • High26–49
  • Medium50–75
  • Low76–100

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

AdvertServe operates in the technology sector, specifically in ad serving and management solutions for publishers and advertisers. Its business model is SaaS-based, offering subscription plans with a 45-day free trial to attract new customers. The company targets B2B clients, particularly niche publishers with direct sales teams, emphasizing premium ad formats and advanced targeting capabilities. AdvertServe's competitive advantages include a long-standing market presence, global infrastructure with data centers and CDN, AI-driven uptime guarantees, and comprehensive technical support. The company leverages partnerships with major video player platforms and integrates RTB demand to maximize inventory fill rates. Growth indicators include a large installed base and continuous feature development. The ecosystem includes social media presence and a status page for transparency. However, the lack of visible WHOIS data and direct contact details may impact customer confidence.

Security posture

AdvertServe demonstrates a moderate to strong security posture with HTTPS enforced site-wide, secure asynchronous ad tags, and validated contact forms. The platform includes IVT filtering to block invalid traffic, enhancing ad reporting accuracy. However, the absence of published security policies, incident response procedures, and vulnerability disclosure programs indicates gaps in security transparency and readiness. No security headers were detected in the HTML content, which could improve protection against common web attacks. The lack of WHOIS data raises concerns about domain registration legitimacy, which is a critical trust factor. Overall, while the technical security measures are sound, organizational security practices and communication could be improved to meet higher compliance standards such as GDPR and NIS2.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  2. Implement and configure HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Investigate and resolve the missing WHOIS data to improve domain registration transparency and trust.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to comply with standards and improve user inclusivity.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
AdvertServe
Description
AdvertServe is a cloud hosted ad management platform for publishers and advertisers who require ad serving, targeting, tracking, and real-time reporting.
Key services
Ad serving, Targeting, Tracking, Real-time reporting, Video streaming, VAST/VPAID support, RTB inventory backfilling
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, jQuery, Font Awesome, Google Fonts, Google Tag Manager, Bootstrap
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure asynchronous ad tags
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Contact form with validation and anti-spam measures

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager), Pingdom Real User Monitoring
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Pingdom
Transparency
good

Site quality

Design
excellent
User experience
excellent
Content relevance
excellent
Navigation
excellent
Professionalism
excellent
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and no blocking mechanisms.
  2. Professional SaaS platform for ad serving with extensive features and long claimed history.
  3. No WHOIS data available, which is unusual and warrants further investigation.
  4. Good privacy and cookie policies with explicit consent mechanisms.
  5. Contact form collects standard sales inquiry data with validation and user feedback.
  6. No direct company emails or phone numbers found on the site; contact via form only.
  7. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  8. No explicit security policy or incident response information published.
  9. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  10. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern technology stack including HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript with jQuery, and Bootstrap framework for responsive design. It integrates Google Fonts and Font Awesome for typography and icons. Analytics and performance monitoring are handled via Google Tag Manager and Pingdom. The site is mobile-optimized and SEO-friendly with proper meta tags and structured data (JSON-LD) for enhanced search engine understanding. The contact form uses client-side validation and AJAX for submission, improving user experience. However, no CMS was detected, suggesting a custom or static site architecture. Hosting provider details are not disclosed. Performance is moderate with asynchronous loading of scripts. Technical debt appears low, but security header implementation and WHOIS data transparency are areas for improvement.
Standards and sources

Reference chips under each finding point to the standard, regulation or specification the finding relates to. They are taken from the official datasets below and mapped conservatively: a finding with no defensible link shows none. NIS2 and GDPR references mark where a finding is relevant evidence, not a compliance verdict. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 binds digital infrastructure and digital service providers; for other entities it is the most detailed public reading of the Article 21 measures. WCAG, EN 301 549, European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive references name the requirement an automated accessibility rule relates to; they are not a conformance verdict.

Retrieved 2026-10-25

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