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Security report for cityspark.com

CitySpark · Media · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

CitySpark is a specialized media technology company offering a comprehensive event platform that enables publishers and event organizers to discover, submit, promote, and ticket local events. With a strong market presence supported by over 900 trusted media clients, CitySpark provides a robust calendar platform, event listings feed, and integrated ticketing services. The company targets media publishers and local event audiences, delivering tools that drive traffic, engagement, and revenue through event aggregation and promotion. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern plugins and SEO optimizations, delivering a good user experience with mobile responsiveness and clear navigation. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS and domain registration protections, but lacks DNSSEC and security headers, and does not publish explicit security or incident response policies. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism despite use of tracking scripts. Overall, CitySpark demonstrates a credible and professional online presence with room for improvement in security and privacy transparency.

Scanned

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

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

5 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

  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 cityspark.com

This scan found 24 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
67
Security headers
50
Email security
55
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
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

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

CitySpark occupies a niche in the media technology sector, focusing on event aggregation and promotion for publishers and event organizers. Its business model leverages platform services including event submission, ticketing, and targeted marketing tools. The company benefits from strong partnerships with major media outlets, enhancing its market credibility and reach. Revenue streams likely include subscription or licensing fees for platform access, advertising, and ticketing commissions. The platform's modular architecture with dedicated subdomains for ticketing and event management indicates scalability and operational maturity. Growth indicators include a broad event category catalog and extensive client base. Strategic observations suggest opportunities to enhance privacy compliance and security posture to align with evolving regulatory requirements and customer expectations.

Security posture

CitySpark's security maturity is moderate. The website enforces HTTPS and domain registration includes protective status flags, reducing risk of unauthorized domain changes. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represents gaps that could expose users to certain attacks. No public security or incident response policies were found, limiting transparency and preparedness perception. The lack of a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file further reduces engagement with security researchers. Privacy compliance is incomplete, with no cookie consent mechanism despite tracking usage. Overall, while no critical vulnerabilities were detected, the security posture would benefit from enhancements in DNS security, HTTP headers, and published policies to improve resilience and trust.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to protect against DNS spoofing and improve DNS security.
  2. Implement standard security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate common web attacks.
  3. Publish clear security and incident response policies on the website to enhance transparency and preparedness.
  4. Add a cookie consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and inform users about tracking.
  5. Consider establishing a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to engage with security researchers and improve security posture.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
CitySpark
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
CitySpark
Description
CitySpark provides a hyper-local event search and discovery platform, event submission and promotion tools, ticketing services, and local event aggregation feeds and calendar platform tools for publishers and event organizers.
Key services
Calendar Platform, Event Listings Feed, Business Listings, Ticketing, Event Submission and Promotion
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 5.4.2, PHP, jQuery, Google Analytics, Yoast SEO, WPBakery Page Builder, Salient Theme and Plugins
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status includes clientDeleteProhibited, clientRenewProhibited, clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Marketing tools
Yoast SEO
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and professional design.
  2. No WAF or security challenge detected.
  3. No explicit cookie consent mechanism found despite use of tracking.
  4. Contact information is clearly provided including phone, email, and physical address.
  5. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  6. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  7. Use of modern WordPress plugins and SEO tools.
  8. No DNSSEC enabled which is a minor security gap.
  9. Multiple subdomains used for ticketing and event management indicating modular platform.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform using version 5.4.2, enhanced with popular plugins such as Yoast SEO for search optimization and WPBakery Page Builder for content layout. The Salient theme and associated plugins provide a modern and responsive design. JavaScript libraries include jQuery and various third-party scripts for UI effects and analytics. Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager are used for user tracking and marketing insights. The site loads with moderate performance and good mobile optimization. Hosting details are not explicit but domain registration is via GoDaddy.com, LLC. The technical stack is mature but could benefit from updated security configurations and performance tuning to enhance speed and accessibility.
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. 68/100Medium33 findingsView report
  2. 68/100Medium32 findingsView report
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