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Security report for cnn.com

Cable News Network (CNN) · Media · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Email security, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

CNN is a globally recognized media company specializing in news reporting and digital journalism. It operates as a leading international news broadcaster with a strong digital presence, offering a wide range of news content including live video, breaking news, and in-depth analysis. The website is professionally designed, highly optimized for mobile, and provides a seamless user experience for a general audience interested in current events worldwide. Technically, CNN employs modern web technologies such as React and integrates multiple advertising and analytics platforms to support its business model. Security-wise, the site enforces HTTPS, implements robust security headers, and follows best practices, resulting in a strong security posture with no critical vulnerabilities detected. Privacy compliance is well addressed with comprehensive policies and consent mechanisms, reflecting adherence to GDPR and other regulations. Overall, CNN's website demonstrates high business credibility, technical maturity, and security awareness, making it a trustworthy source for news consumption.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
100/ 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

5 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  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 384-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

  3. 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"

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

Keep watching cnn.com

This scan found 19 issues across 5 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

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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
42
Security headers
50
Email security
60
DNS health
75
Network security
90
GDPR outside view
100
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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention cnn.com, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
14,298
Employees
2
Customers
14,199
Third parties
97
Weak passwords
12%

Latest record dated 2026-05-15 · 76 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for cnn.com.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –edition.cnn.com2026-05-15
  • –edition.cnn.com2026-05-15

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)Monitor on Breach(opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

CNN holds a dominant market position in the media sector as a pioneer in 24-hour news broadcasting and digital news delivery. Its business model relies heavily on advertising revenue supported by extensive user tracking and analytics. The company targets a broad demographic interested in global news and current affairs. CNN benefits from its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery's resources and maintains several subsidiaries to cater to different markets. The website's content quality and branding consistency reinforce its reputation and competitive advantage. Partnerships with major ad networks and technology providers enhance monetization and user engagement. Growth indicators include continuous digital innovation and expansion of multimedia content. Strategic observations highlight CNN's focus on maintaining journalistic standards while leveraging technology for audience reach and revenue generation.

Security posture

CNN exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and no visible exposure of sensitive data or vulnerable libraries. The absence of a public security policy or incident response page suggests room for improvement in transparency and readiness communication. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure program was detected, which could enhance trust and facilitate responsible vulnerability reporting. The extensive use of third-party advertising and tracking scripts introduces potential privacy risks, but these are mitigated by clear cookie policies and consent mechanisms. Overall, CNN's security practices align with industry standards for a high-profile media website, though proactive disclosure and incident response documentation would strengthen its security culture.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program with a security.txt file.
  3. Regularly audit third-party scripts to minimize privacy and security risks.
  4. Enhance data retention policy disclosures to align with privacy best practices.
  5. Continue investing in security awareness and monitoring to maintain strong posture.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Cable News Network, Inc.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Cable News Network (CNN)
Description
CNN is a major global news organization providing breaking news, analysis, and video content across a wide range of topics including politics, business, technology, health, entertainment, and more.
Key services
News reporting, Video journalism, Live streaming, Digital news articles
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, React, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Amazon Ads, DoubleClick, Adsafe Protected
Frameworks
React
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Modern security headers implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data detected
  • Secure forms with CSRF protections likely

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google AdSense, Amazon Ads, AppNexus
Tracking pixels
DoubleClick, Adsafe Protected
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a major global news platform with extensive content and professional presentation.
  2. Strong use of advertising and tracking technologies consistent with media business model.
  3. Good privacy and cookie policies with GDPR compliance.
  4. No security or content blocking detected.
  5. WHOIS data confirms legitimate ownership and long domain history.
Technical notes

Notes

The website leverages a modern technology stack including React for frontend rendering and integrates multiple advertising and analytics services such as Google Analytics, Amazon Ads, and DoubleClick. The site is hosted on a robust infrastructure likely supported by major CDN providers ensuring fast performance and global availability. Mobile optimization is excellent, with responsive design and accessibility features implemented. SEO is well addressed through proper meta tags and structured data. The technical implementation reflects a mature digital platform with minimal technical debt and good modernization practices. Opportunities exist to further enhance performance monitoring and accessibility compliance. No critical technical risks were identified that could impact business operations.
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. 84/100 +3Low20 findingsView report
  2. 81/100Low20 findingsView report
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