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Security report for ap.org

The Associated Press · Media · United States

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

82/100

Risk levelLow

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

The Associated Press (AP) is a globally recognized news agency providing unbiased journalism through video, photo, text, audio, and data services. The website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive content targeting a broad audience including media professionals and the general public. The site is built on WordPress with modern SEO and analytics integrations, ensuring high performance and accessibility. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement, security headers, and cookie consent mechanisms, although explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not publicly detailed. Overall, the domain and website present a trustworthy and professional media platform with strong compliance to privacy regulations.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
88/ 100 · Low
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

2 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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

  2. 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 ap.org

This scan found 16 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

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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
79
Security headers
60
Email security
85
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
88
Average
82

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention ap.org, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
6,946
Employees
23
Customers
6,659
Third parties
264
Weak passwords
15%

Latest record dated 2026-06-18 · 58 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for ap.org.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –apvideohub.ap.org2026-06-18
  • –apvideohub.ap.org2026-05-26
  • –apvideohub.ap.org2026-05-25
  • –newsroom.ap.org2026-05-20
  • –login.ap.org2026-05-13

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)Monitor on Breach(opens in a new tab)

Brand lookalikes

Add-on

Domains that imitate ap.org and could be used for phishing or spoofed email, tracked in OffSeq Breach.

Tracked
76
Registered
76
Resolving
76
High or critical
0

Last checked 2026-06-19

Masked preview

  • aq•••.orgMediumbitsquatting
  • at•••.orgMediumbitsquatting
  • ip•••.orgMediumbitsquatting

See the full lookalike list

A one-off add-on that lists up to 20 of the highest-risk lookalikes of ap.org with registration, mail-server, certificate and DNS signals.

Select it in the checkout above.

Lookalike data refreshes continuously. Monitoring on Breach alerts you when a variant is registered, gains a mail server or starts serving HTTPS.

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)Monitor on Breach(opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

AP holds a leading position in the global media industry, offering a wide range of news services. Its business model centers on content syndication and multimedia news delivery. The website's integration with major analytics and marketing tools indicates a data-driven approach to audience engagement. The absence of direct contact emails or phone numbers suggests a controlled communication channel primarily via contact forms and social media. The brand's consistency and extensive reach underscore its market dominance and credibility.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a high level of security maturity with HTTPS, multiple security headers, and a cookie consent framework compliant with GDPR. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analysis. However, the lack of a dedicated security policy or vulnerability disclosure page limits transparency in incident response readiness. The use of privacy protection in WHOIS is justified and common for such an entity. Recommendations include publishing explicit security policies and incident response contacts to enhance trust and preparedness.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and compliance.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact information, such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  3. Implement and publish a vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Maintain and regularly update privacy and cookie policies to reflect evolving regulations.
  5. Enhance transparency around data retention and user privacy to strengthen user trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Associated Press
Description
Video, photo, text, audio data news agency providing unbiased journalism, in-depth analysis, and real-time updates globally.
Key services
Video news, Photojournalism, Text news articles, Audio news, Data news services
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO, Google Tag Manager, LinkedIn Insight Tag, OneTrust Cookie Consent, Gravity Forms
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security headers
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager, LinkedIn Insight, Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
LinkedIn Insight, Salesforce Marketing Cloud pixel
Marketing tools
LinkedIn Insight, OneTrust Cookie Consent
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 no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is professionally presented with comprehensive metadata and structured data.
  3. Strong privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms are implemented.
  4. No direct company contact emails or phone numbers found in the main HTML; contact is via forms and social media.
  5. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools is evident.
  6. No security.txt or explicit vulnerability disclosure found.
  7. WHOIS data is privacy protected or unavailable, which is typical for large organizations.
  8. No suspicious or malicious domains linked.
  9. Website is safe for general audiences with no adult content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by WordPress CMS with Yoast SEO for optimization and integrates Google Tag Manager, LinkedIn Insight, and Salesforce Marketing Cloud for analytics and marketing. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and good accessibility features. Performance is fast with modern web standards and fonts. The use of OneTrust for cookie consent indicates compliance with privacy laws. No deprecated or vulnerable libraries were detected. Hosting provider details are not explicit but the infrastructure supports enterprise-grade performance and security.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 83/100 +21Low24 findingsView report
  2. 62/100Medium24 findingsView report
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