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Security report for eater.com

Eater · Media · N/a

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

81/100

Risk levelLow

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

Eater is a prominent national media website specializing in food and dining culture, supported by 23 city-specific sites that provide localized dining guides and maps. Owned by Vox Media, Eater holds a strong market position as a leading source of food news, restaurant reviews, and cultural insights. The site targets a broad audience interested in culinary trends, dining out, and travel related to food. Technically, Eater employs a modern web stack including React and Next.js, with extensive use of third-party advertising and analytics services, ensuring a fast, mobile-optimized, and SEO-friendly user experience. Security posture is robust with HTTPS enforcement, comprehensive security headers, and secure form implementations including reCAPTCHA. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear privacy and cookie policies and consent mechanisms. However, the absence of publicly available WHOIS data introduces some uncertainty in domain registration transparency, though the brand's reputation and ownership by Vox Media mitigate concerns. Overall, Eater presents as a professional, trustworthy, and technically mature media platform.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
73/ 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

3 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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

  2. 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

  3. 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 eater.com

This scan found 14 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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Full report

€39.90one-time

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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
82
Security headers
50
Email security
95
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
73
Average
81

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

Eater operates within the media sector focusing on food and dining culture, leveraging a content-driven business model supported by advertising, affiliate marketing, and e-commerce through its shop and wine club subsidiaries. Its competitive advantage lies in its extensive local city coverage combined with national reach, backed by Vox Media's resources. The target customer segments include food enthusiasts, travelers, and cultural consumers. The partnership ecosystem includes major advertising networks and affiliate programs such as Amazon Associates. Growth indicators include continuous content updates, expansion of city sites, and diversified revenue streams. Strategic observations highlight the importance of maintaining content quality and user trust while managing extensive third-party integrations.

Security posture

Eater demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, modern security headers, and secure user input handling. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analyzed content. Privacy policies and cookie consent mechanisms align with GDPR requirements, indicating compliance awareness. However, the lack of a publicly visible incident response or vulnerability disclosure policy suggests room for improvement in transparency and readiness. The extensive use of third-party scripts necessitates ongoing vigilance to mitigate supply chain risks. Overall, the site balances user experience with security effectively, but could enhance incident response visibility.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publicly disclose a formal vulnerability disclosure policy to encourage responsible reporting and improve security transparency.
  2. Enhance visibility of incident response contacts or security team emails to facilitate timely communication in case of security events.
  3. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and advertising libraries to minimize risks from vulnerable dependencies.
  4. Consider publishing a dedicated security or data protection policy page detailing frameworks and certifications to strengthen trust.
  5. Maintain continuous monitoring of domain registration status and consider registering WHOIS data to improve transparency.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Eater
Description
A national site covering food and dining culture, with 23 city sites tracking local dining scenes across hundreds of maps.
Key services
Food news, Dining guides, Maps, Culture articles, Travel and restaurant coverage
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Next.js, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Parsely, Amazon Ads, DoubleClick, Rubicon Project, Concert Ads, Zephr
Frameworks
Next.js
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security headers
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with reCAPTCHA v3

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Parsely, Scorecard Research
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Rubicon Project, Amazon Ads, DoubleClick, Concert Ads, Scorecard Research
Tracking pixels
Parsely, DoubleVerify
Marketing tools
Zephr
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional media site focused on food and dining culture.
  2. Uses modern web technologies and frameworks.
  3. Strong privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms.
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on main page.
  5. Advertising and tracking scripts are extensive but standard for media sites.
  6. No security incidents or vulnerabilities detected in the analyzed content.
  7. WHOIS data is unavailable, which is unusual but not uncommon for large media brands using privacy services.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern React and Next.js framework, ensuring server-side rendering and fast performance. It integrates multiple advertising and analytics platforms including Google Analytics, Parsely, Amazon Ads, and Rubicon Project, which are standard in media publishing but require careful management to avoid performance degradation and privacy issues. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features. SEO is well implemented with comprehensive meta tags, Open Graph data, and structured JSON-LD for enhanced search engine understanding. No CMS was explicitly identified, suggesting a custom or proprietary solution. Hosting details are not disclosed. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a high-quality user experience with opportunities to streamline third-party dependencies and enhance security transparency.
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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