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Security report for gannettdigital.com

USA TODAY Network · Media · N/a

High risk. 9 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

39/100

Risk levelHigh

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

USA TODAY Network operates a professional advertising solutions website targeting national brands seeking scalable marketing solutions across local and regional markets. The site offers a variety of advertising products including display, print, direct mail, branded content, and performance marketing. The company is positioned as a major media network with enterprise scale and a strong brand presence. Technically, the website is built on WordPress using the Divi theme and integrates modern marketing and analytics tools such as Marketo and Google Tag Manager. The site is mobile optimized and SEO friendly but lacks visible privacy and cookie policies, which is a compliance gap. Security posture is generally good with HTTPS enforced, but security headers and incident response information are missing. Overall, the site is trustworthy and professional but could improve privacy compliance and security transparency.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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

9 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  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 Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

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

Keep watching gannettdigital.com

This scan found 20 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.

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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
0
Security headers
15
Email security
82
DNS health
80
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
35
Average
39

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 USA TODAY Network leverages its established media brand to provide advertising solutions to national and regional brands. Its business model focuses on offering diverse advertising products and marketing services, supported by partnerships such as LocaliQ. The target customers are advertisers seeking broad reach and scalable marketing campaigns. The website content and structure reflect a mature enterprise with consistent branding and professional presentation. The absence of direct contact details on this page suggests contact may be managed through forms or other channels. The partnership ecosystem and use of marketing automation tools indicate a sophisticated approach to customer engagement and lead generation.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS and uses reputable third-party marketing and analytics services. However, it lacks visible security headers such as Content Security Policy, X-Frame-Options, and others that enhance protection against common web attacks. No security policy, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are published, which limits transparency and readiness for security incidents. There is no evidence of exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries in the analyzed content. The security score is moderate to good but could be improved by implementing recommended headers and publishing security-related policies.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and verify HTTP security headers including CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection.
  2. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with explicit consent mechanisms to improve GDPR compliance.
  3. Add a dedicated security policy page and provide incident response contact information such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  4. Consider publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to improve compliance with WCAG standards and broaden user inclusivity.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
USA TODAY Network
Description
USA TODAY Network offers scalable marketing solutions for national brands to achieve goals across local and regional markets.
Key services
Display Advertising, Print Advertising, Direct Mail, Branded Content, Custom Promotions, Performance Marketing, SMART Solution, SMART Delivery, Active Shopper Network®, Video SEO Merchandising
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Divi Theme, jQuery, Marketo Munchkin, Google Tag Manager, BugHerd
Frameworks
Yoast SEO
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google Tag Manager and Marketo for marketing

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager, Marketo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Marketo Munchkin
Marketing tools
Marketo, BugHerd
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional advertising solutions portal for USA TODAY Network.
  2. Content is well structured and targeted at national brands and advertisers.
  3. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on the analyzed page.
  4. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service pages detected in the provided content.
  5. Uses modern marketing and analytics tools but lacks visible privacy compliance notices.
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information found.
  7. WHOIS data for the subdomain is not available, consistent with subdomain usage.
  8. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected; site content is fully accessible.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS with the Divi theme, a popular and flexible framework. It uses jQuery and integrates marketing automation via Marketo and analytics via Google Tag Manager. The site loads external fonts from Google Fonts and uses BugHerd for feedback/bug tracking. Performance is moderate with asynchronous loading of scripts. SEO is enhanced by Yoast SEO plugin with structured data in JSON-LD format. Mobile optimization is good with responsive design. No major technical debt or outdated libraries were detected in the provided content. Hosting provider details are not visible. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional and scalable digital presence.
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. 51/100 +1Medium31 findingsView report
  2. 50/100Medium30 findingsView report
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