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Security report for creativebloq.com

Creative Bloq · Media · N/a

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

82/100

Risk levelLow

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

Creative Bloq is a well-established online media platform focused on delivering daily inspiration, expert tips, tutorials, and news for creative professionals and enthusiasts. The website targets a broad audience interested in art, design, digital art, web design, graphic design, 3D and VFX art, illustration, and drawing. The business model primarily revolves around content publishing supported by advertising revenue. The site demonstrates consistent branding and high-quality content, positioning it as a reputable source in the creative media space. Technically, the website employs modern JavaScript frameworks, asynchronous loading of scripts, and structured data (JSON-LD) for SEO enhancement. It uses a proprietary or specialized CMS infrastructure (inferred from futurecdn.net domains) and integrates third-party advertising and analytics services. The site is mobile-optimized with good performance and basic accessibility features. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and avoids exposing sensitive data. However, it lacks explicit security headers and visible privacy or cookie policies, which are important for compliance and user trust. The WHOIS data is unavailable, which raises some concerns about domain registration transparency but does not directly impact the site's operational legitimacy. Overall, Creative Bloq presents a professional and trustworthy online presence with room for improvement in privacy compliance and security best practices. Strategic recommendations include publishing clear privacy and cookie policies, implementing security headers, and providing incident response contact information to enhance trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
85/ 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

2 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

  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

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

Keep watching creativebloq.com

This scan found 16 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
72
Security headers
65
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
85
Average
82

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

Creative Bloq operates in the media sector, focusing on creative arts and technology content. It leverages a content-driven business model with advertising as a primary revenue stream. The platform benefits from a strong brand identity and a loyal audience of creative professionals. Its competitive advantage lies in high-quality, regularly updated content and expert editorial oversight. The presence of social media channels and membership in the Independent Press Standards Organisation further supports its credibility. Growth opportunities include expanding digital offerings and enhancing user engagement through interactive content and community features.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and no visible exposure of sensitive information. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options reduces its defense-in-depth posture. There is no evidence of a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file, which limits transparency and incident response readiness. Privacy compliance is weak due to missing privacy and cookie policies, potentially exposing the business to regulatory risks. Overall, the security posture is adequate but requires enhancements to meet best practices and regulatory expectations.

Recommendations

  1. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with clear GDPR compliance statements.
  2. Implement standard security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to strengthen security.
  3. Establish and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to improve transparency.
  4. Provide clear incident response contact information to facilitate security communications.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and advertising networks to minimize tracking and privacy risks.

Contact details published on the site

Registration number
registration number 2008885
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Creative Bloq
Description
Daily inspiration for creative people. Fresh thinking, expert tips and tutorials to supercharge your creative muscles.
Key services
daily creative inspiration, expert tips, tutorials, design news, buying guides
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Google Tag Manager, Marfeel SDK, Vanilla JS, Web Fonts (Open Sans), JSON-LD structured data
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of async scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, ScorecardResearch
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Ad networks
Google DoubleClick
Tracking pixels
ScorecardResearch, Google Analytics (implied)
Marketing tools
Marfeel SDK
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional creative media publication
  2. No WHOIS data available, possibly due to privacy or registry issues
  3. No visible privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found in provided content
  4. Uses multiple third-party scripts and ad networks
  5. No security.txt or incident response info found
  6. No phone numbers or physical addresses found
  7. Contact email found: contact@creativebloq.com
  8. Strong social media presence with official accounts linked
  9. Good SEO and structured data implementation
  10. No adult or questionable content detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern JavaScript-based front-end with asynchronous script loading to optimize performance. It employs Google Tag Manager and Marfeel SDK for analytics and marketing integrations. Fonts are loaded via web font services ensuring consistent typography. The CMS appears to be a proprietary or specialized platform hosted on futurecdn.net domains. The site is mobile responsive with good SEO practices including canonical links and structured data. However, accessibility features are basic and could be improved. Performance is moderate, with potential optimization in script loading and image handling. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional content delivery experience but could benefit from modernization in accessibility and security implementations.
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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