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Security report for ess-news.com

pv magazine · Energy · N/a

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

ESS News is a professional online media platform focused on delivering the latest updates, news, and expert commentary on energy storage and battery technology. The website targets energy industry professionals, investors, and technology enthusiasts, positioning itself as a leading storage media platform. The business model revolves around content publication, newsletter distribution, and advertising services. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern plugins like Yoast SEO and Gravity Forms, integrated with Google Analytics and Tag Manager for tracking and marketing. The site demonstrates good SEO, mobile optimization, and accessibility, with a moderate performance profile. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and secure forms, but could be improved by adding explicit security headers and publishing security policies. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but lacking cookie consent mechanisms. WHOIS data is unavailable, reducing domain trustworthiness, but the website content and branding are consistent and professional. Overall, the site is a credible and valuable resource in the energy storage sector.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

5 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 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';…

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

    • 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
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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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
42
Security headers
70
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
69

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

The platform operates in the energy sector, focusing on battery technology and grid-scale storage news. It leverages partnerships with pv magazine and uses a content-driven business model supported by advertising and newsletter subscriptions. The target audience includes industry professionals and investors seeking timely and reliable information. The site shows strong branding consistency and content quality, with a medium-sized operation. Growth indicators include frequent news updates and active engagement through comments and newsletters. The partnership ecosystem includes pv magazine and Google advertising services. Strategic observations suggest opportunities to enhance privacy compliance and security transparency to strengthen market trust.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS and uses secure form handling via Gravity Forms, indicating a baseline security maturity. However, the absence of key security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represents a gap that could expose the site to clickjacking or content injection risks. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is published, limiting transparency and readiness perception. Privacy compliance is partial, lacking cookie consent mechanisms despite using tracking and advertising technologies. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. Overall, the security posture is moderate but can be significantly improved by implementing recommended headers, publishing security policies, and enhancing privacy controls.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, and Referrer-Policy.
  2. Add a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  3. Publish clear security and incident response policies accessible to users.
  4. Consider creating a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Improve WHOIS transparency or domain registration information to enhance trustworthiness.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
pv magazine
Description
Get the latest updates on battery tech, grid-scale storage & green energy – with trusted news, trends & expert commentary
Key services
News articles, Industry analysis, Newsletter subscription, Advertising opportunities
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, Gravity Forms, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, jQuery, Swiper.js
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure forms (Gravity Forms with AJAX)
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, WordPress.com Stats
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Google AdSense, DoubleClick
Marketing tools
Gravity Forms
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 energy storage news platform with extensive content and good SEO.
  2. No WHOIS data available, indicating possible new domain or privacy restrictions.
  3. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found; contact is via newsletter form.
  4. No cookie consent mechanism detected despite use of tracking and advertising.
  5. Security headers could be improved for enhanced protection.
  6. No visible security or incident response policies published.
  7. Advertising and analytics use standard Google services.
  8. Content is safe and suitable for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern WordPress CMS with well-known plugins such as Yoast SEO for search optimization and Gravity Forms for data collection. It integrates Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for marketing and analytics purposes. The front-end uses jQuery and Swiper.js for interactive elements. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with structured data implemented via JSON-LD for enhanced SEO. Performance is moderate, with some external ad scripts potentially impacting load times. Hosting provider details are not explicit. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but could benefit from performance tuning and enhanced security configurations.
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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