Skip to main content

Security report for app.com

Asbury Park Press · Media · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

58/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Asbury Park Press operates as a regional news media publisher serving Monmouth and Ocean Counties in New Jersey, USA. The website provides comprehensive local news coverage including sports, business, obituaries, weather, and community events. It is positioned as a trusted local news source with a strong advertising-supported business model under the parent company Gannett. The site targets local residents and visitors seeking timely and relevant regional information. Technically, the website employs a modern web stack including Polymer web components, extensive JavaScript frameworks, and integrates multiple advertising and analytics platforms such as Google Analytics, Adobe Audience Manager, and various programmatic ad networks. The site is well-optimized for mobile devices and incorporates accessibility best practices, ensuring a good user experience across platforms. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS with strong SSL configuration and uses a consent management platform (OneTrust) to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. The presence of a responsible disclosure program indicates a proactive security posture. However, explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not prominently available. Overall, the website demonstrates a mature digital presence with good content quality, technical implementation, and privacy compliance. Strategic recommendations include enhancing visible security policies, publishing incident response contacts, and continuous auditing of third-party scripts to maintain security and trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
45/ 100 · High
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

5 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

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

    • Critical

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

    • 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

  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.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

  3. 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"

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

Keep watching app.com

This scan found 17 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.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

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
0
Security headers
40
Email security
90
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
45
Average
58

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

Asbury Park Press holds a strong market position as a regional news leader in New Jersey, leveraging Gannett's resources and infrastructure. Its business model relies heavily on advertising revenue, supported by a broad ecosystem of ad networks and marketing tools. The company targets local audiences interested in community news, sports, and events. The integration with LocalIQ and other marketing platforms suggests diversified revenue streams including local advertising and sponsored content. The website's content and branding are consistent and professional, supporting its credibility and audience engagement. The partnership ecosystem includes major ad tech providers and content recommendation engines like Taboola, enhancing monetization and user engagement.

Security posture

The website exhibits a solid security posture with enforced HTTPS and use of a reputable consent management platform ensuring GDPR compliance. Security best practices such as no visible sensitive data exposure and absence of vulnerable libraries are observed. The site lacks explicit security policy pages and incident response contact information, which are recommended for transparency and readiness. The responsible disclosure program is a positive indicator of security culture. Continuous monitoring and updating of third-party scripts and ad networks are essential to mitigate supply chain risks. Overall, the security maturity is good but can be improved with clearer policy disclosures and incident handling procedures.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page detailing security practices and controls.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact channels such as security@ or abuse@ emails.
  3. Implement and explicitly document security headers like CSP, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and ad network integrations to prevent vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance transparency on data retention and user privacy practices to strengthen trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Asbury Park Press
Description
The home page for Monmouth County and Ocean County, NJ: breaking and in-depth local news, sports, business, obituaries, multimedia, databases, weather, Jersey Shore events, classifieds and more.
Key services
Local news reporting, Sports coverage, Business news, Obituaries, Multimedia content, Weather updates, Event listings, Classifieds
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Polymer, Web Components, OneTrust Consent Management, Prebid.js, Google Tag Manager, Adobe Audience Manager, Amazon APS, Criteo, IAS, Taboola, Teads, TripleLift, TrustX, Undertone, Yahoo SSP, Yieldmo, LiveIntent, Gannett Atoms Library
Frameworks
Polymer
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Consent management with OneTrust
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries
  • Secure cookie consent mechanism

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Adobe Audience Manager, Chartbeat, Simplereach, GCI Analytics
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
AppNexus, Amazon APS, Criteo, OpenX, Rubicon, Sonobi, TripleLift, TrustX, Undertone, Yahoo SSP, Yieldmo, Teads
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Adobe Audience Manager, IAS
Marketing tools
OneTrust Consent Management, Taboola, LiveIntent
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a regional news portal for Monmouth and Ocean Counties, NJ.
  2. Strong integration of advertising and analytics technologies.
  3. Comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with consent management.
  4. No visible security or content blocking issues.
  5. Good mobile optimization and accessibility features.
  6. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found in the HTML content.
  7. Responsible disclosure program present indicating security awareness.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern and complex technical infrastructure including Polymer web components, extensive JavaScript libraries, and multiple third-party integrations for advertising and analytics. Hosting appears to be managed via Gannett's CDN and possibly AWS infrastructure. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. The site employs advanced consent management and programmatic advertising technologies, indicating a mature digital marketing strategy. Opportunities exist to streamline third-party dependencies and improve explicit security header implementations. Technical risks mainly relate to the complexity of ad networks and tracking scripts which require ongoing management to avoid performance degradation or security issues.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with app.com. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review app.com.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.