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Security report for castbox.fm

Guru Network · Media · N/a

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

Security score

72/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Castbox.fm is a well-established podcast platform founded in 2016, operated by Guru Network. It offers a free podcast app with a vast library of over 259 million audio content volumes, supporting multiple platforms including Android, iOS, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Carplay, and PC. The website is professionally designed with excellent content quality, clear navigation, and strong branding consistency. It targets podcast listeners and podcasters globally, positioning itself as a leading free podcast app with comprehensive services and tools for both audiences and creators. Technically, the site leverages modern web technologies including React and AWS hosting infrastructure, with progressive web app capabilities and structured data for SEO. The site is mobile-optimized and performs well with good accessibility and SEO practices. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and no visible vulnerabilities, although DNSSEC is not enabled and explicit security headers could be improved. Privacy and cookie policies are present and GDPR compliant, enhancing user trust. Overall, the security posture is good but could benefit from publishing a dedicated security policy and incident response contacts. The domain registration is consistent and trustworthy, with no suspicious patterns. The site maintains a high level of professionalism and trustworthiness, with no adult or explicit content detected, making it safe for general audiences.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
73/ 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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • 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 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 castbox.fm

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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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
77
Security headers
30
Email security
80
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
73
Average
72

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

Castbox operates in the media sector as a large-scale podcast platform offering free streaming and downloading services. Its business model revolves around providing free access to a vast podcast library, supported by app downloads and integrations with smart devices. The company maintains a strong presence on major app stores and social media, indicating a broad user base and active engagement. The platform's competitive advantage lies in its extensive content volume, multi-platform availability, and podcaster tools. The company is part of Guru Network, founded in 2016, and appears to have a stable and growing market presence with no apparent subsidiaries or partner domains disclosed. The website content and metadata reflect a focus on user experience, content discovery, and community engagement.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS with a good SSL configuration and uses AWS infrastructure, which is generally secure. Security headers are partially present or implied but not explicitly detailed in the HTML. No sensitive data or vulnerable libraries are exposed. The site lacks a published security policy or incident response contact information, which is a gap in transparency and readiness. DNSSEC is not enabled, which is a recommended improvement for DNS security. No vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file is found. Overall, the security posture is good but could be enhanced by adopting additional security best practices and transparency measures.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact details on the website.
  3. Implement and explicitly declare security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  4. Consider establishing a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Maintain and regularly audit third-party libraries and scripts to ensure no vulnerabilities are introduced.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Guru Network
Description
Castbox is the best free podcast app with over 259 million volumes of content on Android, Apple iPhone, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Carplay and Android Auto.
Key services
Podcast streaming, Podcast downloading, Podcaster tools, Cross-platform listening (mobile, PC, smart devices)
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React (indicated by chunked CSS and JS files), AWS (name servers ns-101.awsdns-12.com etc.), PWA (manifest.json present), OpenSearch, JSON-LD structured data
Frameworks
React
Platforms
Web, Android, iOS, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Carplay, Android Auto, PC
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure cookies (implied)
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally designed podcast platform with extensive content and multi-platform support.
  2. Strong presence on social media and app stores.
  3. Privacy and cookie policies are present and GDPR compliant.
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  5. No security.txt or explicit security policy found.
  6. No phone numbers or physical addresses explicitly listed.
  7. Search form present but search input is hidden by default.
  8. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable scripts detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern React-based frontend with chunked CSS and JavaScript files, indicating modular and scalable architecture. Hosting is on AWS with S3 buckets serving static assets, ensuring reliable and scalable delivery. The site supports progressive web app features with a manifest.json file and OpenSearch integration for enhanced user experience. SEO is supported by comprehensive meta tags, Open Graph, Twitter cards, and JSON-LD structured data. Mobile responsiveness is excellent with dynamic font sizing and adaptive layouts. No CMS is explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or headless architecture. Performance is fast with optimized asset delivery. Accessibility is good with semantic HTML and ARIA roles implied. Overall, the technical infrastructure is modern, robust, and well-implemented.
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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