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Security report for dzirkstele.lv

Gulbenes novada pašvaldība · Media · Latvia

High risk. 11 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Email security and 2 other checks.

Security score

40/100

Risk levelHigh

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

Dzirkstele.lv is a regional news portal serving the Gulbenes novads area in Latvia, providing local news, events, cultural content, and advertising services. The website operates on WordPress CMS and integrates various third-party advertising and analytics tools, including Google Analytics, Facebook SDK, and Adnami ads. The site offers subscription options for digital and print editions, targeting local residents and visitors interested in community news and events. The content is primarily in Latvian and focuses on regional topics, reflecting a small-sized media entity with a consistent brand presence and moderate trust indicators. Technically, the website uses a modern WordPress platform with standard plugins for event management and advertising. It employs HTTPS for secure communication and includes multiple external scripts for analytics and advertising. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization and SEO practices but lacks explicit security headers and privacy/cookie policies, which are important for GDPR compliance and user trust. No WAF or security challenge mechanisms were detected, and the site content is fully accessible. From a security perspective, the site has a good SSL configuration but could improve by implementing security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options. The absence of privacy and cookie policies reduces compliance confidence. WHOIS data could not be retrieved due to query limits, limiting domain trust analysis. However, the website content and structure appear legitimate and consistent with a local government-affiliated media outlet. Overall, Dzirkstele.lv presents a functional and content-rich regional news platform with room for improvement in privacy compliance and security hardening. Strategic recommendations include adding comprehensive privacy and cookie policies, enhancing security headers, and publishing vulnerability disclosure information to strengthen trust and compliance.

Scanned

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

11 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

  2. 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

  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"

    • 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 dzirkstele.lv

This scan found 29 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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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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
15
Email security
40
DNS health
75
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
10
Average
40

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

Dzirkstele.lv operates as a local news media outlet focused on the Gulbenes novads region in Latvia. Its business model centers on content publishing, event promotion, advertising sales, and subscription services for digital and print editions. The portal targets local residents, businesses, and visitors seeking regional news, cultural events, sports updates, and community announcements. The presence of local government references and registration numbers suggests affiliation or endorsement by Gulbenes novada pašvaldība, enhancing credibility. The site leverages partnerships with advertising networks and uses social media channels to extend reach. Growth indicators include active event listings and community engagement features. The business ecosystem includes related domains for archives and e-newspaper services, indicating a multi-channel content distribution strategy.

Security posture

The website maintains a baseline security posture with HTTPS enabled, ensuring encrypted data transmission. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options indicates potential exposure to common web vulnerabilities like clickjacking or MIME sniffing. No signs of malware, phishing, or exposed sensitive data were found in the HTML content. The site lacks visible GDPR compliance mechanisms such as cookie consent banners or privacy policies, which is a compliance gap. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information is present, limiting transparency for security researchers. The use of multiple third-party scripts introduces a moderate risk surface for tracking and potential supply chain vulnerabilities. Overall, the security maturity is moderate but can be improved with standard best practices and compliance measures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with clear user consent mechanisms to ensure GDPR compliance.
  2. Add and configure security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate common web attacks.
  3. Publish a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure and improve security transparency.
  4. Regularly audit and update all third-party plugins and scripts to minimize risks from vulnerable components.
  5. Enhance user trust by providing clear contact information and business credentials prominently on the website.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Gulbenes novada pašvaldība
Registration number
90009116327
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Gulbenes novada pašvaldība
Description
Laikraksta "Dzirkstele" portāls, a regional news and events website focused on Gulbenes novads, Latvia.
Key services
News publishing, Event listings, Advertising services, Subscription management, Community announcements
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.2, jQuery 3.7.1, Google Analytics, Facebook SDK, Google Tag Manager, Adnami Ads, Cxense tracking, DoubleClick GPT, The Events Calendar plugin
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA or similar not detected
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Cxense
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Ad networks
Adnami, Amazon Ads, Google DoubleClick
Tracking pixels
Facebook SDK, Cxense
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a regional news portal for Gulbenes novads, Latvia.
  2. Content is in Latvian language with local news, events, and advertisements.
  3. Uses WordPress CMS with common plugins for events and advertising.
  4. No privacy or cookie policy pages detected in the provided HTML.
  5. WHOIS data unavailable due to query limit error; no domain registration details extracted.
  6. Website uses HTTPS and includes multiple third-party ad and analytics scripts.
  7. No signs of adult or NSFW content; content is safe for general audiences.
  8. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information.
  9. Contact information such as emails or phone numbers not explicitly found in the HTML.
  10. Social media presence includes Facebook and Instagram links.
Technical notes

Notes

Dzirkstele.lv is built on WordPress 6.8.2 with jQuery 3.7.1 and integrates multiple advertising and analytics technologies such as Google Analytics, Facebook SDK, Adnami, and Cxense. The site uses The Events Calendar plugin for event management and includes responsive design elements for mobile optimization. Performance appears moderate with asynchronous loading of scripts to improve page speed. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and Open Graph data. Accessibility features are basic but present. The site lacks advanced security headers and privacy compliance features. Hosting provider details are not explicitly found. The technical stack is modern but could benefit from enhanced security configurations and privacy tools to reduce technical debt and compliance risks.
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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