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Security report for boston.com

Boston Globe Media Partners · Media · United States

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 3 other checks.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Boston.com is a leading digital news and information platform serving the Boston and New England region, operated by Boston Globe Media Partners. The site offers comprehensive local news, sports, weather, and event coverage, targeting residents and visitors interested in regional updates. The business model is primarily advertising-supported digital media, with additional revenue from subscriptions and events. The brand is well-established with consistent and professional content and design. Technically, the website is built on WordPress CMS and leverages a modern technology stack including Google Marketing Platform, Amazon Ads, PubMatic, OneTrust for consent management, and New Relic for performance monitoring. The site is optimized for mobile devices, has good SEO practices, and loads efficiently. Privacy compliance is robust with clear cookie consent mechanisms and GDPR/CCPA considerations. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced, security headers present, and no obvious vulnerabilities detected in the content. However, the site lacks publicly available security policies and incident response contacts, which could be improved. The absence of WHOIS data for the domain is unusual but likely due to privacy protection or registrar policies, not necessarily indicating risk. Overall, Boston.com presents a trustworthy, professional, and well-maintained digital media presence with strong privacy and security practices. Strategic improvements could focus on transparency around security policies and incident response to further enhance trust.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of boston.com. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
70/ 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

6 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. 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. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

  4. 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 SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching boston.com

This scan found 23 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
75
Security headers
40
Email security
65
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
70
Average
68

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 boston.com, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
801
Employees
0
Customers
717
Third parties
84
Weak passwords
28%

16 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 boston.com.

Select it in the checkout above.

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

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

Boston.com holds a strong market position as the premier regional news source for Boston and New England, benefiting from its affiliation with Boston Globe Media Partners. Its competitive advantage lies in its comprehensive local coverage, strong brand recognition, and extensive digital reach. The business model relies on advertising revenue supplemented by subscription services and event promotions. The target customer segments include local residents, commuters, sports fans, and tourists. Growth indicators include active newsletter signups, social media engagement, and diversified advertising partnerships. The partnership ecosystem includes major ad networks and consent management providers, supporting monetization and compliance. Operationally, the company demonstrates maturity in digital media delivery and audience engagement.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, implementation of key security headers, and integration of consent management for privacy compliance. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the analyzed content. However, the absence of a publicly accessible security policy and incident response contact information represents a compliance gap and potential risk in incident handling. There is no evidence of a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file, which are recommended best practices. Overall, the security culture appears focused on user privacy and data protection but could benefit from enhanced transparency and formalized incident response documentation.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and user protections.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact channels such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  3. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and libraries to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance transparency around data retention policies and user data handling to strengthen privacy compliance.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Boston Globe Media Partners
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Boston Globe Media Partners
Description
Boston.com is the region’s leading digital destination for information on all things Boston. Millions of visitors turn to our site for the best coverage of breaking news, things to do, sports, and entertainment in Greater Boston and beyond.
Key services
Local news coverage, Sports updates, Weather information, Event listings, Advertising services
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Google Tag Manager, Google Marketing Platform, Google Publisher Tags (GPT), Amazon Ads (apstag), OneTrust Consent Management, Chartbeat analytics, Facebook Pixel, Prebid.js, New Relic Browser monitoring
Frameworks
Yoast SEO, OneTrust CMP
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Consent management for GDPR and CCPA
  • Use of security headers
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Chartbeat, Google Marketing Platform, Comscore, Facebook Pixel
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ad Manager, Amazon Ads, PubMatic, Teads, BlueConic
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Chartbeat, Comscore
Marketing tools
OneTrust CMP, Piano Services
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a major regional news portal for Boston and New England
  2. Extensive use of third-party advertising and analytics scripts
  3. Strong privacy and cookie consent mechanisms implemented
  4. No security policy or incident response info publicly available
  5. WHOIS data is missing or unavailable, which is unusual for a major site
  6. Website is well-structured with clear navigation and professional design
  7. No adult or questionable content detected
  8. Advertising practices are transparent and use reputable networks
Technical notes

Notes

The site is built on a WordPress CMS platform with a modern and well-integrated technology stack including Google Marketing Platform, Amazon Ads, PubMatic, OneTrust CMP, and New Relic monitoring. Performance is optimized with lazy loading ads, responsive design, and efficient script loading. SEO is enhanced through Yoast SEO plugin and structured data (JSON-LD) implementation. Accessibility features such as ARIA labels and screen reader text are present. The site uses multiple third-party analytics and advertising services, which increases complexity but is managed with consent mechanisms. Technical risks include reliance on numerous external scripts which require ongoing security monitoring. Hosting provider details are not explicitly identified in the content. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a high-quality user experience and scalable digital media delivery.
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. 70/100Medium32 findingsView report
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