Skip to main content

Security report for clios.com

The Clios · Media · N/a

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

66/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Clios is a well-established global awards organization founded in 1959, specializing in recognizing creative excellence in advertising and related sectors such as sports, music, health, and entertainment. The website serves as a hub for awards information, winner galleries, jury nominations, and original content through affiliated platforms like MuseByClios.com and AdsOfTheWorld.com. The brand maintains a strong market position as a leader in the creative awards space, targeting advertising professionals and agencies worldwide. Technically, the site is built on WordPress and hosted on AWS infrastructure, leveraging modern web technologies and multiple analytics and marketing tools to optimize user engagement and data collection. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and domain transfer protections, though DNSSEC is not enabled and some security headers could be improved. Privacy compliance is addressed with clear policies and consent mechanisms, though direct contact emails for security or incident response are not publicly listed. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and content-rich, supporting a medium-sized enterprise with a global reach.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
65/ 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

6 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"

    • 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 Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

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

Keep watching clios.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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
15
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
65
Average
66

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 Clios operates a multi-faceted business model combining award programs, content publishing, and community engagement. Its competitive advantage lies in its legacy, global recognition, and diversified program verticals tailored to specific industries. Revenue streams likely include entry fees, sponsorships, and merchandise sales. The target customer segments are advertising agencies, creative professionals, and marketers seeking industry recognition. The partnership ecosystem includes related content platforms and advertising databases, enhancing brand reach and influence. Strategic observations indicate a focus on digital content expansion and maintaining high standards for jury and award processes to sustain market leadership.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, domain transfer lock, and absence of exposed sensitive data. Use of reputable third-party services like HubSpot, Google Tag Manager, and Freshworks indicates reliance on trusted vendors. However, the lack of DNSSEC and limited security headers suggest room for enhancement. No explicit security or incident response policies are published, which could be a compliance gap. The extensive use of tracking and marketing pixels implies a need for robust privacy management to align with GDPR and other regulations. Overall, the security culture appears professional but could benefit from formalized policies and improved technical controls.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to strengthen DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and provide incident response contact emails.
  3. Implement additional HTTP security headers such as Content Security Policy and X-Frame-Options.
  4. Review and audit third-party scripts regularly to mitigate supply chain risks.
  5. Enhance privacy compliance by detailing data retention policies and user rights.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Clios
Description
The Clios were founded in 1959 to celebrate creative excellence in advertising around the world. The Clio Awards legacy program sets a high bar across the globe for all creatives, inspiring the makers of today and tomorrow to pursue boundary-pushing ideas and bringing the community together at an annual world-class jury retreat and awards ceremony. The Clios have developed programs across sports, music, health, entertainment, and more tailored to specific sectors. They also provide thought leadership programming, a global ad database at AdsOfTheWorld.com, and original content at MuseByClios.com.
Key services
Creative awards programs, Jury events, Content publishing (Muse), Advertising database (Ads of the World)
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.7.1, Leaflet.js, HubSpot scripts, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Freshworks Widget, AddToAny sharing
Frameworks
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Domain transfer protection enabled
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, HubSpot Analytics, LinkedIn Insight, Twitter Analytics, Quantcast
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Google Ads
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Twitter Pixel
Marketing tools
HubSpot, Freshworks Widget
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well maintained.
  2. Strong brand presence with consistent logos and messaging.
  3. Multiple social media channels linked and active.
  4. Comprehensive content including awards, news, and editorial.
  5. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  6. No signs of phishing, malware, or suspicious activity.
  7. No direct contact emails or phone numbers publicly listed; contact via form only.
  8. Security headers could be improved with additional policies.
  9. DNSSEC not enabled, which is a minor security gap.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern WordPress CMS with a custom theme and uses a variety of JavaScript libraries and third-party integrations for analytics, marketing, and user engagement. Hosting on AWS provides scalability and reliability. Performance is moderate with room for optimization, especially on mobile devices. SEO is well addressed with proper meta tags, Open Graph, and JSON-LD structured data. Accessibility is basic but could be improved to meet higher standards. The technical debt appears low, but continuous monitoring of third-party dependencies is recommended to avoid vulnerabilities.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with clios.com. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review clios.com.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.