Block Club Chicago is a well-established nonprofit news organization dedicated to providing reliable, nonpartisan coverage of Chicago's diverse neighborhoods. Founded in 2018, it serves a medium-sized audience primarily composed of local residents and stakeholders interested in community news, investigative journalism, and cultural events. The organization operates a modern WordPress-based website with a strong focus on content quality and user experience, supported by a professional design and clear navigation. The business model includes subscriptions, donations, and merchandise sales, with payment processing handled by PayPal.
Scanned ·
NIS2 and GDPR posture
GDPR outside view
58/ 100 · Medium
Checks completed
7of 7
NIS2 Art. 21(2)
a(a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
b(b) Incident handling: One indicator
c(c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
d(d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
e(e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
f(f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
g(g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
h(h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
i(i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
j(j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside
Partly checked
One indicator
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
7 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.
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 Strict-Transport-Security header
Forces HTTPS connections
What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"
This scan found 28 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.
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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
42
Security headers
15
Email security
55
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
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
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 blockclubchicago.org, from OffSeq Breach.
No leaked records found
Breach holds no records for blockclubchicago.org right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.
Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.
Business context
Business profile
The organization holds a strong market position as a trusted local news source with a comprehensive coverage of Chicago neighborhoods. Its competitive advantage lies in its nonprofit status, community focus, and diversified revenue streams including memberships and donations. The company maintains an active social media presence across multiple platforms, enhancing community engagement and brand visibility. The partnership ecosystem includes payment processors like PayPal, and the use of Newspack WordPress theme indicates a commitment to scalable and maintainable digital infrastructure.
Security posture
The website demonstrates a good security posture with enforced HTTPS, appropriate domain status flags preventing unauthorized changes, and the presence of key security headers. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, which could improve DNS security. The site lacks a publicly visible security policy or incident response contact, which are recommended for enhanced transparency and readiness. The use of third-party scripts and tracking pixels is standard but should be regularly audited to mitigate risks.
Recommendations
Enable DNSSEC to strengthen DNS security and prevent spoofing.
Publish a security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and trust.
Implement a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosures.
Regularly review and update third-party scripts and tracking pixels to minimize security risks.
Enhance cookie consent mechanisms with detailed logging and user control options.
Site observations
Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.
Business
Company
Block Club Chicago
Description
Block Club Chicago is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to delivering reliable, nonpartisan and essential coverage of Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods.
Key services
Neighborhood news coverage, Investigative journalism, Podcasts, Newsletters, Community engagement
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent
Technology
Stack
WordPress, WooCommerce, Yoast SEO, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, PayPal SDK, jQuery
Frameworks
Newspack (WordPress theme and plugin ecosystem)
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good
Security
Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
HTTPS enforced
ClientDeleteProhibited domain status
Use of security plugins (e.g., Wordfence likely)
No exposed sensitive data in HTML
Analytics and tracking
Services
Google Analytics, Parsely
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good
Advertising
Ad networks
Google AdSense, DoubleClick
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Parsely
Marketing tools
Site Kit by Google
Transparency
good
Site quality
Design
excellent
User experience
excellent
Content relevance
excellent
Navigation
excellent
Professionalism
excellent
Trustworthiness
high
Key observations
Website is a professionally maintained nonprofit news organization focused on Chicago neighborhoods.
Content is rich, well-structured, and updated with recent articles.
Strong social media presence with multiple verified platforms linked.
Use of modern WordPress ecosystem with Newspack theme and plugins.
Good security posture with HTTPS and security headers but missing DNSSEC.
No direct company emails or phone numbers found; contact primarily via forms and social media.
No explicit privacy or security policy pages found in the provided HTML but likely exist on the site.
No signs of adult or questionable content.
No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected.
Technical notes
Notes
The website is built on a robust WordPress CMS platform using the Newspack theme and associated plugins, optimized for content delivery and user engagement. Hosting leverages Amazon AWS services for media storage, ensuring scalability. The tech stack includes modern analytics and marketing tools such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook Pixel, supporting data-driven decision making. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. Opportunities exist to improve DNS security and streamline third-party integrations to reduce technical debt and potential vulnerabilities.
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.
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