Skip to main content

Security report for forbes.com

Forbes · Media · United States

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

82/100

Risk levelLow

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

Forbes is a globally recognized media company specializing in business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, and lifestyle content. It holds a leading position in the media industry with a strong brand presence and a comprehensive portfolio of services targeting business professionals and investors. The website demonstrates a mature digital infrastructure with modern technologies such as Bootstrap and advanced font usage, ensuring good performance and mobile optimization. Security posture is robust with HTTPS enforcement and multiple security headers, although formal incident response and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not explicitly found. Overall, Forbes maintains a high level of trustworthiness and professionalism in its online presence.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of forbes.com. View the latest report

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

2 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.

    • 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

  2. 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 forbes.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.

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
72
Security headers
70
Email security
87
DNS health
90
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
73
Average
82

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention forbes.com, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
9,018
Employees
3
Customers
8,908
Third parties
107
Weak passwords
12%

Latest record dated 2026-06-06 · 34 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for forbes.com.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –auth.forbes.com2026-06-06
  • –auth.forbes.com2026-06-01
  • er•••@forbes.comforbes.com2026-02-26

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)Monitor on Breach(opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

Forbes operates primarily in the media sector, leveraging advertising and subscription revenue models. Its target audience includes business professionals, entrepreneurs, and technology enthusiasts. The company benefits from a strong brand legacy dating back to 1917 and maintains consistent branding and high-quality content. The website integrates social media extensively, enhancing its marketing reach and user engagement. While WHOIS data is unavailable, the brand's market position and content quality strongly support its legitimacy. Forbes' ecosystem includes multiple social media channels and advertising partnerships, contributing to its revenue streams and market influence.

Security posture

The website exhibits a strong security posture with HTTPS enabled and comprehensive security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the analyzed content. However, the absence of explicit security policy pages or incident response contacts suggests room for improvement in transparency and readiness. The site uses secure forms and input fields, minimizing risk exposure. Overall, the security maturity is high but could be enhanced by publishing vulnerability disclosure information and formal security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file.
  3. Regularly update WHOIS information to maintain domain registration transparency.
  4. Continue monitoring and updating security headers and SSL configurations.
  5. Enhance privacy compliance disclosures, including data retention policies.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Forbes
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Forbes
Description
Forbes is a global media company, focusing on business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, and lifestyle.
Key services
Business news, Investing insights, Technology coverage, Entrepreneurship content, Leadership articles, Lifestyle features
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Bootstrap 3.3.7, Graphik font, Schnyder font, Highlander font, Swiper.js
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Security headers present
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with proper input types

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Medianet
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel
Marketing tools
Social media platforms
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website content is fully accessible and professional.
  2. Strong branding and consistent design.
  3. Comprehensive privacy and cookie policies present.
  4. No security or WAF blocking detected.
  5. WHOIS data unavailable, possibly due to privacy or registry restrictions.
  6. Extensive use of advertising and tracking technologies.
  7. Good mobile and accessibility optimizations.
Technical notes

Notes

The website employs a modern and stable technical stack including Bootstrap 3.3.7 and custom fonts for branding consistency. Performance is moderate with good mobile responsiveness and accessibility features. SEO optimization is well implemented with proper meta tags and Open Graph data. Hosting provider details are not explicitly found, but the infrastructure supports a high-traffic enterprise site. There is no detected CMS from the provided data, suggesting a custom or proprietary platform. Technical risks are minimal, with opportunities for modernization in frameworks and enhanced performance tuning.
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. 82/100Low19 findingsView report
  2. 82/100 +3Low19 findingsView report
  3. 79/100Low19 findingsView report
Reviews of this site

Share your experience with forbes.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 forbes.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.