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Security report for channel4.com

Channel Four Television Corporation · Media · United Kingdom

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

79/100

Risk levelLow

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

Channel 4 is a major UK public-service broadcaster providing live TV streaming, on-demand video content, and subscription upgrade services through its website. The company holds a strong market position in the UK media industry, targeting a broad general audience with diverse entertainment offerings including Channel 4, E4, Film4, and Walter Presents. The website demonstrates a high level of digital maturity, utilizing modern JavaScript frameworks like React, and integrating advanced analytics and marketing tools such as mParticle, Optimizely, and Maze. Performance and mobile optimization are excellent, ensuring a positive user experience across devices. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and privacy compliance well addressed through comprehensive policies and cookie consent mechanisms. However, the absence of explicit security headers and a public security policy or vulnerability disclosure page indicates room for improvement. WHOIS data is incomplete, likely due to privacy or registry restrictions, but the website's branding and content strongly support its legitimacy. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and safe for general audiences.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of channel4.com. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
88/ 100 · Low
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

3 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 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. 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
    • 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 channel4.com

This scan found 16 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
62
Security headers
60
Email security
80
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
88
Average
79

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

Channel 4 operates as a publicly funded broadcaster with revenue primarily from advertising and subscription upgrades (Channel 4+). Its digital platform supports live streaming and on-demand content, catering to a wide UK audience. The company maintains a robust partnership ecosystem with dedicated subdomains for careers, sales, ventures, and annual reporting. The business model leverages digital transformation with extensive use of analytics and marketing technologies to optimize user engagement and monetization. Growth indicators include continuous content updates and a strong online presence. The lack of direct contact emails or phone numbers on the homepage suggests a preference for controlled communication channels via web forms. Strategic observations highlight the importance of enhancing security transparency and WHOIS data visibility to further strengthen trust.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS and employs multiple analytics and marketing SDKs with privacy considerations, including cookie consent banners. However, no explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options were detected in the HTML content, which could mitigate certain attack vectors. There is no publicly available security policy or incident response information, nor a vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file, limiting transparency for security researchers and users. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found in the content. The security score is good but could be improved by adopting best practices in HTTP headers and publishing security documentation. Incident response readiness and data protection officer contact details are not visible, which may be a compliance gap.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish comprehensive HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Create and make publicly accessible a security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and trust.
  3. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Enhance data retention and privacy transparency by detailing policies on the website.
  5. Consider publishing WHOIS registrant information or using a verified privacy protection service to improve domain trustworthiness.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Channel Four Television Corporation
Description
Channel 4 is a UK-based public-service television broadcaster offering live TV streaming, on-demand shows, and various entertainment content including Channel 4, E4, Film4, and Walter Presents.
Key services
Live TV streaming, On-demand video content, Subscription upgrade service (Channel 4+), TV guide and program collections
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, React (ReactVirtualized), mParticle, Optimizely, Maze, Boomerang (performance monitoring), Adobe AppMeasurement
Frameworks
React
Platforms
Web
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 mParticle for identity and tracking with privacy considerations
  • Cookie consent banner implemented

Analytics and tracking

Services
mParticle, Optimizely, Maze, Boomerang, Adobe AppMeasurement
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Akamai
Tracking pixels
mParticle, Optimizely, Maze, Boomerang, Adobe AppMeasurement
Marketing tools
mParticle, Optimizely, Maze
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and multimedia.
  2. Strong branding and consistent user interface.
  3. Comprehensive privacy, cookie, and terms policies linked in footer.
  4. No direct company emails or phone numbers found on homepage; contact via forms.
  5. Use of multiple modern analytics and marketing tools.
  6. No security.txt or explicit security policy found.
  7. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
  8. No adult or NSFW content present.
  9. WHOIS data incomplete or unavailable publicly.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern React-based frontend with virtualized lists for performance optimization. It integrates multiple third-party analytics and marketing tools such as mParticle, Optimizely, Maze, and Adobe AppMeasurement, indicating a mature digital marketing strategy. Hosting appears to be via Akamai CDN, supporting fast content delivery. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features like skip links and ARIA labels. SEO is supported by canonical tags and meta descriptions. No CMS is explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary platform. Performance monitoring is implemented via Boomerang. Technical risks include reliance on multiple third-party scripts which require ongoing security vetting and potential privacy impact. Overall, the technical infrastructure is robust and well-maintained.
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. 74/100Medium28 findingsView report
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