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Security report for coindesk.com

Media · N/a

Medium risk. 7 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

The website coindesk.com is currently inaccessible due to a Vercel Security Checkpoint page blocking content access. CoinDesk is a well-known cryptocurrency news and media platform established in 2008, with a domain registration consistent with its business history. However, the provided HTML content contains no actual business or security policy information, no contact details, and no metadata or structured data. The technical infrastructure includes hosting on the Vercel platform and DNS managed via Cloudflare, but DNSSEC is not enabled. Security headers and SSL configuration details are not visible in the content. Due to the content block, a comprehensive analysis of the website's privacy, security, and business information is not possible. The overall AI score is low, reflecting the inability to access meaningful content.

Scanned

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

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
50/ 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

7 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

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

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

Keep watching coindesk.com

This scan found 22 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.

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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
72
Security headers
20
Email security
80
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
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

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 coindesk.com, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
1,460
Employees
0
Customers
1,368
Third parties
92
Weak passwords
10%

18 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 coindesk.com.

Select it in the checkout above.

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

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Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

CoinDesk operates as a leading media outlet in the cryptocurrency sector, providing news, market analysis, and industry insights. The business model is based on media publishing targeting cryptocurrency investors and enthusiasts. The domain age and registrar data support the legitimacy and established market presence of the company. However, no direct business contact information or certifications are found in the provided content. The website is hosted on modern infrastructure (Vercel) and uses Cloudflare DNS, indicating a focus on performance and security, though DNSSEC is not enabled.

Security posture

The current security posture cannot be fully assessed due to the content block by Vercel Security Checkpoint. No security headers or SSL details are visible. The domain registration status flags indicate protection against unauthorized domain changes. DNSSEC is not enabled, which is a minor security gap. No evidence of privacy policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are found in the content. The security checkpoint itself indicates an active security measure to prevent unauthorized access or abuse.

Recommendations

  1. Work with Vercel to resolve the security checkpoint blocking legitimate users to enable full website access.
  2. Publish comprehensive privacy, cookie, and terms of service policies accessible on the website.
  3. Implement DNSSEC to enhance DNS security.
  4. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  5. Provide clear contact information including security incident response contacts and data protection officer details.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Vercel detected. The page is a Vercel Security Checkpoint blocking access to the actual website content. These observations may be incomplete. For a fuller analysis, contact guard@offseq.com.

Business

Description
The website is intended as a cryptocurrency news and information platform (CoinDesk), but the current content is a security checkpoint page.
Key services
Cryptocurrency news, Market analysis, Industry insights
Content quality
poor

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Cloudflare DNS, Vercel platform
Frameworks
Astro (data-astro-cid attributes)
Platforms
Vercel

Analytics and tracking

Site quality

Design
poor
User experience
poor
Content relevance
poor
Navigation
poor
Professionalism
poor
Trustworthiness
low

Key observations

  1. Website content is blocked by a Vercel security checkpoint.
  2. No actual business content or metadata is accessible in the HTML.
  3. No privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found in the provided content.
  4. No contact information or forms are present.
  5. No scripts or analytics libraries related to tracking or advertising are detected.
  6. Domain WHOIS data indicates a legitimate and long-standing registration.
  7. DNSSEC is not enabled, which is a minor security gap.
  8. Website is hosted or proxied via Vercel platform.
  9. No security headers detected in the provided content.
  10. Content safety is rated safe due to lack of adult or explicit content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses modern JavaScript and Astro framework elements, hosted on Vercel platform with DNS managed by Cloudflare. The domain is registered with Amazon Registrar, Inc. The HTML content is minimal and serves only as a security checkpoint page, preventing access to the actual website content. No analytics, advertising, or tracking scripts are detected in the provided content. Performance, SEO, and accessibility cannot be assessed due to content block.
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. 72/100 −11Medium17 findingsView report
  2. 83/100Low24 findingsView report
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