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Security report for digitaladvertisingalliance.org

Digital Advertising Alliance · Media · United States

High risk. 7 critical or high findings in Network security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

49/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) operates as a non-profit organization focused on establishing and enforcing privacy standards within the digital advertising industry. It provides consumers with transparency and control over data collection through its YourAdChoices program and related tools. The organization is led by major advertising and marketing trade associations and maintains a strong market position as a trusted privacy standard-setter. The website reflects this mission with comprehensive resources, icon licensing, and consumer choice tools aimed at advertisers, publishers, and consumers. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 7 CMS with a modern but somewhat dated technology stack including jQuery and Google Analytics with IP anonymization. Hosting is provided by SiteGround, and the site is served over HTTPS with a moderate performance profile. Mobile optimization and SEO are good, though accessibility is basic. The site lacks some modern security headers and a cookie consent mechanism, which are recommended for enhanced compliance and security. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates good practices such as HTTPS enforcement and domain transfer protection. However, it lacks explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. The WHOIS data aligns well with the organization's stated identity, showing a consistent and legitimate registration. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and well-aligned with its business goals. Strategic improvements in security headers, cookie consent, and public security policies would enhance its compliance and security posture further.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of digitaladvertisingalliance.org. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: MySQL

      Port 3306 (MySQL) is publicly accessible - MySQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to MySQL using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection
    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: PostgreSQL

      Port 5432 (PostgreSQL) is publicly accessible - PostgreSQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to PostgreSQL using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

  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 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';…

  3. 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

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

Keep watching digitaladvertisingalliance.org

This scan found 27 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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Recommended

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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
62
Security headers
45
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
68
Average
53
After the cap
49

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 · found on this site
  • 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

DAA holds a strong position in the digital advertising privacy sector, leveraging its non-profit status and backing by leading industry associations. Its business model centers on self-regulation, consumer transparency, and providing tools and icon licensing to industry participants. The organization targets advertisers, marketers, and consumers concerned with privacy and data control. Its partnership ecosystem includes major advertising associations and related privacy initiatives. The website content and resources indicate ongoing efforts to adapt to evolving technology and regulatory landscapes, positioning DAA as a key influencer in digital advertising privacy standards.

Security posture

The website's security posture is moderate to good. HTTPS is properly implemented, and domain registration includes clientTransferProhibited status, reducing risk of unauthorized transfers. The absence of DNSSEC is a minor gap. No security headers were detected, which could expose the site to certain web-based attacks. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is publicly available, limiting transparency in security management. Google Analytics is configured with IP anonymization, reflecting privacy-conscious analytics use. Overall, the site shows awareness of security best practices but would benefit from enhanced header implementation and published security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and integrity.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Add a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply fully with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  4. Publish explicit security and incident response policies including contact channels for reporting issues.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to improve usability for all users.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Digital Advertising Alliance
Description
The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) is an independent non-profit organization led by leading advertising and marketing trade associations. It establishes and enforces responsible privacy practices across the digital advertising industry, providing consumers with transparency and control over data collection for interest-based advertising across desktop and mobile environments.
Key services
Development and enforcement of privacy principles, YourAdChoices program and icon licensing, Consumer choice tools (WebChoices, AppChoices, YourAdChoices token), Resources and guidelines for advertisers and publishers
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 7, jQuery, Google Analytics, Colorbox, FontAwesome, Google Fonts (Libre Franklin)
Frameworks
Drupal CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Google Analytics IP anonymization
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of clientTransferProhibited domain status

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Marketing tools
YourAdChoices, AppChoices, WebChoices
Transparency
excellent

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website uses Drupal 7 CMS with multiple contributed modules
  2. No explicit cookie consent banner found despite GDPR relevance
  3. No visible contact emails or phone numbers on main page
  4. Strong emphasis on privacy principles and consumer control
  5. Social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
  6. Multiple downloadable PDF resources and guidelines available
  7. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses Drupal 7 CMS, which is a mature but aging platform, potentially requiring updates or migration to maintain security and performance. The tech stack includes jQuery and several contributed modules for UI and analytics integration. Hosting is via SiteGround, a reputable provider. Performance is moderate with good mobile responsiveness and SEO optimization. The site uses Google Fonts and FontAwesome for styling and icons. There is no evidence of modern JavaScript frameworks or progressive web app features. Technical debt may exist due to Drupal 7 usage, and modernization could improve security and user experience.
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. 49/100High36 findingsView report
  2. 49/100High28 findingsView report
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