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Security report for giphy.com

GIPHY · Media · N/a

Low risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

76/100

Risk levelLow

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

GIPHY is a leading media platform specializing in animated GIFs, stickers, and clips that enhance digital communication by making conversations more expressive and engaging. Founded in 2012, it has established itself as a prominent player in the media and entertainment sector, offering users a vast searchable library of animated content. The platform targets a general audience, including individuals and content creators seeking to enrich their messaging experience. Technically, GIPHY employs a modern web infrastructure built on React and Next.js frameworks, hosted on AWS, and integrates multiple third-party analytics and advertising services such as Google Tag Manager, FullStory, Quantcast, and Amazon Ads. The website demonstrates excellent mobile optimization, fast performance, and good SEO and accessibility practices, reflecting a mature and well-maintained digital presence. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS, uses cookie consent mechanisms compliant with GDPR, and employs reputable third-party scripts for analytics and advertising. However, explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not publicly available, representing areas for improvement. The domain registration is consistent and trustworthy, with no privacy protection masking ownership, indicating transparency and legitimacy. Overall, GIPHY presents a secure, professional, and user-friendly platform with strong privacy compliance and business credibility. Strategic enhancements in security transparency and incident response readiness would further strengthen its security posture and trustworthiness.

Scanned

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

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
80/ 100 · Low
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

4 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"

    • 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 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 giphy.com

This scan found 19 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
25
Email security
82
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
80
Average
76

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

GIPHY operates as a major content platform in the media industry, focusing on animated GIFs and stickers that serve both individual users and businesses for communication and marketing purposes. Its business model revolves around content hosting, user-generated content, and monetization through advertising partnerships with networks like Amazon Ads and GumGum. The platform's extensive integration with advertising and tracking services indicates a revenue stream based on targeted advertising and data-driven marketing. GIPHY's market position is strong, supported by a large user base and brand recognition. The company leverages partnerships with major ad networks and analytics providers to optimize user engagement and monetization. Growth indicators include continuous technology updates and a comprehensive content library. However, the absence of direct contact information and detailed corporate disclosures on the website suggests a focus on user experience over corporate transparency in public-facing channels.

Security posture

GIPHY demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, cookie consent compliant with GDPR, and use of reputable third-party security and analytics tools. The website does not expose sensitive data in its HTML content and employs domain status protections to prevent unauthorized domain changes. However, the lack of published security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms limits transparency and may hinder rapid response to security incidents. The absence of DNSSEC is a minor gap in DNS security. Overall, the platform follows best practices in web security but could improve by publishing explicit security documentation and providing clear channels for security incident reporting.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Publish a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosure and improve security transparency.
  3. Add explicit security policy documentation and incident response contact information on the website.
  4. Implement and document comprehensive security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options if not already present.
  5. Consider publishing Data Protection Officer contact details to strengthen GDPR compliance and user trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
GIPHY
Description
GIPHY is the platform that animates your world. Find the GIFs, Clips, and Stickers that make your conversations more positive, more expressive, and more you.
Key services
GIF search and sharing, Sticker and clip creation, Upload and create GIFs
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React (Next.js), AWS DNS, Google Tag Manager, FullStory, Quantcast, ScorecardResearch, Amazon Ads, GumGum, Didomi Consent Management
Frameworks
Next.js, React
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of reputable third-party security and analytics scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via GTM), Quantcast, ScorecardResearch, FullStory
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Amazon Ads, GumGum, Google DoubleClick
Tracking pixels
Quantcast, ScorecardResearch, FullStory
Marketing tools
Didomi Consent Management
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Strong cookie consent and privacy compliance mechanisms are in place.
  3. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on the homepage or main HTML content.
  4. Use of multiple reputable third-party analytics and advertising services.
  5. Modern web technologies and frameworks used, indicating up-to-date infrastructure.
  6. No explicit security or incident response policies published on the site.
  7. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  8. No data protection officer contact information found.
  9. Content is family-friendly and safe for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using modern web technologies including React and Next.js, hosted on AWS infrastructure as indicated by DNS nameservers. It integrates multiple third-party services for analytics, advertising, and consent management, such as Google Tag Manager, FullStory, Quantcast, ScorecardResearch, Amazon Ads, GumGum, and Didomi. The site is optimized for mobile devices with responsive design and fast loading times. SEO is supported by comprehensive meta tags, Open Graph data, and JSON-LD structured data. Accessibility features are present but could be further enhanced. The technical stack reflects a well-maintained and scalable platform with opportunities to improve DNS security and security header implementation.
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. 73/100Medium28 findingsView report
  2. 73/100 +1Medium28 findingsView report
  3. 72/100Medium29 findingsView report
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