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Security report for cleveland.com

Advance Local Media LLC · Media · United States

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

78/100

Risk levelLow

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

Cleveland.com is a prominent local news website serving Cleveland, Ohio, and the broader Northeast Ohio region. It provides comprehensive coverage including local news, sports, weather, and entertainment. The site is part of Advance Local Media LLC, a major media company with a network of regional news sites. The platform targets residents and visitors seeking timely and relevant local information. Its business model relies on digital advertising, subscription services, and sponsored content. The website demonstrates a professional design and consistent branding, supporting its position as a leading regional news source. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies including React and Arc Publishing CMS, supported by a robust ad and analytics ecosystem featuring Google Tag Manager, Amazon Ads, Rubicon Project, and others. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and SEO practices. Accessibility is basic but functional. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and use of adblock detection, though explicit security headers are not clearly visible in the provided content. No critical vulnerabilities were detected. Privacy compliance is limited based on the provided content, with no explicit privacy or cookie policies found, which is a gap for a site handling extensive user data and tracking. The WHOIS data is missing or unavailable, which is unusual and reduces trust slightly, but the website's content and branding strongly indicate legitimacy. No direct contact emails or phone numbers were found, and no security or incident response policies are publicly visible. Overall, Cleveland.com is a credible and professional local news platform with strong business credibility and technical infrastructure. Enhancements in privacy transparency and security header implementation are recommended to improve compliance and security posture.

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

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 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 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 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 cleveland.com

This scan found 17 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
85
Security headers
30
Email security
92
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
73
Average
78

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

Cleveland.com operates as a key regional news outlet under Advance Local Media LLC, serving Northeast Ohio with a broad range of news and information services. Its market positioning is strong as a primary source for local news, sports, and weather. The business model is primarily advertising-driven with subscription and newsletter offerings. The site leverages a wide partner ecosystem for advertising and analytics, including major ad networks and data providers. Growth indicators include extensive content updates and subscriber-exclusive content. The company benefits from being part of a larger media group, enabling resource sharing and cross-promotion. Strategic observations suggest focusing on enhancing privacy compliance and direct user engagement channels to strengthen market trust and regulatory adherence.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and integration of adblock detection mechanisms. The use of multiple third-party scripts and ad networks introduces potential risk vectors, necessitating regular security audits. The absence of explicit security headers in the provided content is a minor concern. No exposed sensitive data or known vulnerabilities were detected. Privacy compliance is limited, with no visible cookie consent mechanisms or privacy policy disclosures, which could pose regulatory risks under GDPR or similar frameworks. Incident response and vulnerability disclosure information are not publicly available, indicating an area for improvement. Overall, the security posture is good but could be enhanced by formalizing privacy and incident response transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and prominently display comprehensive privacy and cookie policies to improve GDPR and privacy compliance.
  2. Add explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to strengthen security posture.
  3. Establish and publicize a vulnerability disclosure policy and security incident response contact information.
  4. Audit and monitor third-party scripts regularly to mitigate risks from external dependencies.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to improve compliance with accessibility standards and user experience.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Advance Local Media LLC
Description
Get the latest Cleveland, OH news, sports, and breaking updates. View daily weather and top stories from Cleveland, Akron and beyond on cleveland.com.
Key services
Local news reporting, Sports coverage, Weather updates, Entertainment news, Subscription and newsletter services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Google Tag Manager, Amazon Ads, Rubicon Project, PubMatic, BlueConic, Sophi.io, Boomerang (mPulse), AdRecover, Tinypass (Piano), Scorecard Research, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Google Analytics, ID5 Sync, Crowd Control, FastClick, Admiral (adblock detection)
Frameworks
React, Arc Fusion
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of adblock detection and mitigation
  • Use of modern JavaScript frameworks
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Ahrefs Analytics, LinkedIn Insight, Scorecard Research, mPulse (Boomerang)
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
PubMatic, Amazon Ads, Rubicon Project, Google Ad Manager, AdRecover, BlueConic, Casale Media, Taboola
Tracking pixels
Scorecard Research, LinkedIn Insight, Ahrefs Analytics, Crowd Control
Marketing tools
BlueConic, Sophi.io, Tinypass (Piano)
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a major local news portal for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.
  2. Content is rich with news articles, sports, weather, and entertainment.
  3. Use of modern web technologies and ad networks is extensive.
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in the HTML content.
  5. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service pages detected in the provided content.
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information found.
  7. No data protection officer contact information found.
  8. WHOIS data is missing or unavailable, which is unusual for a site of this scale.
  9. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected; site content is accessible.
  10. Advertising and tracking practices are extensive but typical for media sites.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern technology stack featuring React and Arc Publishing CMS, supported by a complex ecosystem of advertising and analytics technologies including Google Tag Manager, Amazon Ads, Rubicon Project, and others. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and SEO practices. The site uses multiple asynchronous scripts to load ads and tracking pixels, which may impact load times but enable monetization and user behavior analysis. Accessibility is basic, with room for improvement. The hosting provider is not explicitly identified in the content. Overall, the technical infrastructure is robust and suitable for a high-traffic news platform, though optimization opportunities exist in script management 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

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