Skip to main content

Security report for footnotemag.com

Media · N/a

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

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Footnote is a niche artistic journal focused on fostering creative exchange among writers, photographers, and artists globally. Launching its first issue in November 2024, it offers a high-quality print publication with international distribution. The website reflects a small but professional operation with a clear editorial vision and consistent branding. Technically, the site uses basic modern web technologies including jQuery and custom scripts, hosted on One.com. Performance and mobile optimization are moderate, with room for improvement in accessibility and SEO. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enabled but lacks advanced security headers and DNSSEC. Privacy compliance is minimal with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent or terms of service. Contact information is limited to email addresses and social media links, with no phone or physical address provided. Overall, the site is trustworthy and professionally presented but could enhance security and privacy practices.

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

7 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

  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';…

  3. 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

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

Keep watching footnotemag.com

This scan found 23 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.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
75
Security headers
15
Email security
60
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
65

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

Footnote operates in the media sector as a small-scale publisher of an artistic journal. Its business model centers on print publication sales and artistic collaboration, targeting literary and artistic communities. The company is newly founded in 2023, aligning with the domain registration date. It leverages partnerships for distribution, such as Antenne Books. The website content and editorial team are clearly presented, supporting credibility. The absence of extensive digital marketing or analytics suggests a focus on organic reach and niche audience engagement. Growth potential lies in expanding digital presence and enhancing user engagement through additional content and interactive features.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a basic security posture with HTTPS enabled, ensuring encrypted communications. However, it lacks DNSSEC, which could protect against DNS spoofing. No security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options were detected, which are recommended to mitigate common web attacks. There are no visible forms collecting sensitive data, reducing attack surface. Privacy compliance is limited, with no cookie consent mechanism or terms of service, potentially exposing the business to regulatory risks under GDPR. Incident response and security policies are not publicly documented. Overall, the security maturity is low to moderate, suitable for a small media site but requiring improvements to meet best practices and compliance standards.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security.
  2. Implement standard security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Add a cookie policy and consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations.
  4. Publish terms of service and security policy pages to improve transparency and compliance.
  5. Consider adding analytics with privacy-respecting configurations to better understand user engagement.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Description
Footnote is a bi-annual journal for artistic exchange inviting writers, photographers, and artists worldwide to respond to a central text. The first issue launches in November 2024 featuring original writing and artwork inspired by a story by A.K. Blakemore. The publication is printed on luxury papers in an oversized format and distributed internationally.
Key services
Publishing artistic journal, Artistic and literary collaboration, International distribution
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 3.6.0, Custom CSS, Custom JavaScript
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
65/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional artistic journal site with clear editorial focus.
  2. No forms detected on the homepage or footer for data collection.
  3. Contact information limited to emails in footer; no phone numbers or physical addresses found.
  4. No cookie consent or tracking detected, indicating minimal user tracking.
  5. No security headers or advanced security policies implemented.
  6. No terms of service or security policy pages found.
  7. WHOIS data shows domain is relatively new but consistent with business launch.
  8. Site uses HTTPS and is hosted on One.com with standard name servers.
  9. No DNSSEC enabled, which is a minor security gap.
  10. No analytics or advertising scripts detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a simple technology stack centered on jQuery 3.6.0 and custom CSS/JavaScript. Hosting is provided by One.com, consistent with WHOIS data. The site loads multiple high-resolution images with a JavaScript-driven slideshow on the homepage, which may impact performance. Mobile optimization is basic with some responsive CSS but could be improved for accessibility and SEO. No CMS or advanced frameworks were detected, indicating a custom or lightweight build. No analytics or tracking scripts were found, suggesting minimal data collection. The site lacks advanced security headers and DNSSEC, representing technical debt in security. Overall, the infrastructure is adequate for a small publication but could benefit from modernization and enhanced security controls.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with footnotemag.com. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review footnotemag.com.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.