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Security report for changelog.com

Changelog Media LLC · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Changelog.com is a well-established media company specializing in podcasts and news content for software developers and technology enthusiasts. Founded in 2002, it offers multiple weekly shows covering software development, open source, AI, startups, and developer culture. The company operates a subscription service (Changelog++) and a merchandising shop, targeting a niche but engaged audience of developers and tech professionals. The website demonstrates a strong market position with consistent branding and a professional content offering.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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 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

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

Keep watching changelog.com

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

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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
85
Security headers
50
Email security
55
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
70

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

The business model centers on content publishing and community engagement, monetized through subscriptions and merchandise sales. The company leverages partnerships with technology providers such as Fastly, Fly.io, and Typesense to deliver fast, reliable content and search capabilities. Its competitive advantage lies in its long-standing reputation, quality content, and active social media presence. The target customers are developers and tech enthusiasts globally, with a focus on English-speaking markets. Growth indicators include frequent podcast episodes, active community channels, and diversified content offerings.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS and uses domain status locks to prevent unauthorized transfers or updates, indicating good domain security hygiene. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, and no explicit security headers were detected in the HTML content, which are areas for improvement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. The absence of a published security policy or incident response contact reduces transparency. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism detected. Overall, the security posture is solid but could be enhanced with additional headers and policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to strengthen DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Add a cookie consent banner or mechanism to improve GDPR compliance and user privacy transparency.
  4. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information to enhance trust and preparedness.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to ensure no vulnerable libraries are included.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Changelog Media LLC
Description
Weekly shows about software development, developer culture, open source, building startups, artificial intelligence, brain science, and the people involved.
Key services
Podcasts (multiple shows), News publishing, Community engagement, Merchandising, Subscription service (Changelog++)
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, React (likely, based on JS app bundle naming), Plausible Analytics, Typesense (search), Fly.io (hosting), Fastly (CDN)
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • ClientTransferProhibited and clientUpdateProhibited domain status
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with GET method for search
  • No inline scripts detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Plausible Analytics
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Plausible Analytics
Marketing tools
Plausible Analytics
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional media platform focused on developer podcasts and news.
  2. Strong social media presence across multiple platforms.
  3. Multiple podcast shows with recent episodes and active community engagement.
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  5. No explicit privacy cookie banner detected, which could be improved for GDPR compliance.
  6. No explicit security policy or incident response information published.
  7. DNSSEC not enabled, which is a minor security improvement opportunity.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern, custom-built technology stack with JavaScript and CSS assets loaded from a CDN. Hosting is provided by Fly.io with Fastly as the CDN, ensuring fast performance and global availability. The site is mobile-optimized with good accessibility and SEO practices. Analytics are handled by Plausible, a privacy-focused service, indicating a commitment to user privacy. No common CMS was detected, suggesting a bespoke platform tailored for podcast and content delivery. The technical infrastructure is robust, performant, and well-suited for the business needs.
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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