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Security report for denikreferendum.cz

Deník Referendum · Media · Czech Republic

Medium risk. 9 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

57/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Deník Referendum is an independent Czech media outlet founded in 2009, focusing on investigative journalism, political commentary, climate change, and social issues. The website operates on a donation-based model without paywalls, targeting Czech-speaking audiences interested in progressive and critical news coverage. Technically, the site uses modern JavaScript frameworks (Svelte), integrates multiple analytics and advertising technologies, and employs cookie consent mechanisms. Security posture is good with HTTPS and some security headers, but could be improved with additional headers and explicit privacy/security policies. The domain WHOIS data confirms legitimacy and consistent registration since 2009. Overall, the website is professional, content-rich, and trustworthy, though it lacks explicit privacy and terms of service pages.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of denikreferendum.cz. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
10/ 100 · Critical
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

9 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.

    • Critical

      EU business without adequate privacy measures

      EU businesses are subject to strict GDPR requirements

      What to do: Implement comprehensive GDPR compliance including privacy policy, cookie consent, and data protection measures

    • 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

  2. 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';…

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

Keep watching denikreferendum.cz

This scan found 26 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
15
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
10
Average
57

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

Deník Referendum holds a niche position in the Czech media landscape as a progressive, donation-supported independent news source. Its business model avoids paywalls, relying on reader donations, which aligns with its branding as 'without oligarchs, without paywalls.' The content is diverse, including news, commentaries, podcasts, and investigative reports, appealing to socially and politically engaged readers. The website's longevity and consistent domain registration support its credibility. Partnerships or subsidiaries are not evident from the data. The site also organizes events such as the Press Play Prague festival, indicating community engagement and brand extension.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security posture with enforced HTTPS, no visible sensitive data exposure, and use of cookie consent tools. However, security headers like Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options are missing or not explicitly detected, which are recommended best practices. No vulnerability disclosures or incident response contacts are published, which could be a gap in security transparency. The use of multiple third-party scripts (Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar) introduces potential privacy and security risks if not properly managed. Overall, the site is secure but could enhance its security maturity by adopting additional headers and publishing security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service pages to improve legal compliance and user trust.
  2. Implement additional security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Create and publish a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosure and incident reporting.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to improve usability for all users.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking technologies to minimize privacy risks and ensure compliance with GDPR.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Deník Referendum
Description
Independent Czech media outlet focused on investigative journalism, political commentary, climate change, social issues, and international affairs. Operates without paywalls relying on donations.
Key services
News articles, Investigative reports, Podcasts, Commentaries, Interviews, Event organization (Press Play Prague festival)
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Svelte framework, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, CookieYes (cookie consent), Plausible Analytics, DoubleClick Ads, Cloudfront CDN
Frameworks
Svelte
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No visible exposed sensitive data
  • Use of async scripts to improve load
  • Cookie consent implemented

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Plausible Analytics, Hotjar
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Google DoubleClick
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, Plausible Analytics
Marketing tools
CookieYes
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-established Czech independent media outlet.
  2. Content is rich, diverse, and professionally presented.
  3. No signs of blocking or WAF interference.
  4. Uses multiple analytics and advertising technologies with consent mechanisms.
  5. Lacks explicit privacy and terms of service pages.
  6. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in the HTML content.
  7. WHOIS data supports legitimacy and domain age.
  8. Security headers could be improved for enhanced protection.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern JavaScript framework (Svelte) for frontend rendering, supported by multiple CSS stylesheets and asynchronous loading of analytics and advertising scripts. It integrates Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, Plausible Analytics, and CookieYes for cookie consent management. The domain uses online.pro DNS servers and is likely hosted on a provider associated with these. Performance is moderate with asynchronous script loading and responsive design for mobile devices. SEO is supported by meta tags and Open Graph tags. No explicit CMS detected, suggesting a custom or static site generator approach. Technical debt appears low but could benefit from improved security headers and accessibility enhancements.
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. 62/100Medium32 findingsView report
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