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Security report for healthline.com

Healthline Media LLC · Healthcare · N/a

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, DNS health and 2 other checks.

Security score

58/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Healthline Media LLC operates www.healthline.com, a leading health and wellness information website providing expert medical guidance, wellness advice, and product reviews. The company holds a strong market position as a trusted source for health content, supported by a large content library, sponsored programs, and community engagement platforms. The website targets a broad audience seeking reliable health information and wellness resources. Technically, the site is built on modern web technologies including Next.js and React, with integrations for analytics, advertising, and consent management, delivering a fast and mobile-optimized user experience. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement, security headers, and GDPR-compliant consent mechanisms, though explicit security policies and incident response details are not publicly disclosed. WHOIS data is privacy-protected, which is common for media companies, slightly impacting transparency but justified by the business type. Overall, the website demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and compliance with privacy regulations.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
65/ 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

6 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. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • High

      Potential Subdomain Takeover

      Subdomain api.healthline.com points to unregistered service api-elb-1552409758.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com

      What to do: Remove or fix CNAME record to prevent subdomain takeover

      • WSTG-CONF-10
      • NIS2 21(2)(i)
      • IR 2024/2690 12.4: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 12.4: Asset inventory
      • NIST CM-8: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-8: System Component Inventory

  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

    • 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

  4. 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"

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

Keep watching healthline.com

This scan found 18 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. See sample alerts.

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
0
Security headers
30
Email security
87
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
65
Average
58

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

Healthline Media LLC is a large healthcare media company operating multiple subsidiary brands such as Medical News Today, Greatist, and Psych Central. Its business model revolves around content publishing, sponsored health programs, advertising, and community engagement. The company targets consumers interested in health, wellness, and medical information. Partnerships with platforms like Bezzy enhance community connections. The company is part of RVO Health, indicating a broader corporate structure. Revenue streams likely include advertising, sponsored content, and affiliate marketing. The company maintains a strong digital presence with active social media channels and newsletter offerings, supporting growth and audience engagement.

Security posture

The website employs strong security measures including HTTPS, modern security headers, and GDPR-compliant consent management via OneTrust. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. However, the absence of a public security policy, incident response plan, or vulnerability disclosure program limits transparency in security governance. The use of multiple third-party scripts for advertising and analytics introduces potential risk vectors that require ongoing monitoring. Overall, the security posture is mature but could be enhanced by publishing explicit security policies and providing dedicated security contact channels.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response information on the website to improve transparency and trust.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  3. Enhance contact information with explicit security and abuse contact emails to facilitate incident reporting.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and libraries to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Maintain accurate and publicly accessible WHOIS registration data to improve domain transparency and trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Healthline Media LLC
Description
Healthline Media LLC provides expert health guidance and medical information to consumers seeking wellness advice.
Key services
Health condition information, Wellness topics, Product reviews, Sponsored health programs, Community engagement platforms
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React (Next.js), JavaScript, CSS, Google Tag Manager, Algolia Search, JW Player, OneTrust Consent Management, Amazon Ads, DoubleClick, Datadog RUM
Frameworks
Next.js
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security headers
  • Consent management for GDPR
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Comscore, Datadog RUM, Google Analytics (implied via GTM)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google DoubleClick, Amazon Ads, DoubleVerify, AdBridg
Tracking pixels
Comscore, Datadog RUM, OneTrust
Marketing tools
Tagular, Preamp, Cohesion
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 rich content and no blocking detected
  2. Strong focus on health and wellness content with extensive navigation and resources
  3. Use of modern web technologies and frameworks
  4. Good privacy and cookie policy presence with consent mechanisms
  5. No direct company contact emails or phone numbers found on homepage; contact via form
  6. Presence of multiple social media channels for engagement
  7. Advertising and tracking scripts are present but managed with consent
  8. WHOIS data is not publicly available, indicating privacy protection
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using a modern React-based framework (Next.js) with server-side rendering capabilities, ensuring fast load times and good SEO. It integrates multiple third-party services including Google Tag Manager, Algolia for search, JW Player for video content, and OneTrust for consent management. Advertising is managed through Google DoubleClick, Amazon Ads, and other networks with tracking pixels for analytics and retargeting. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility considerations. No CMS is explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or headless CMS solution. Hosting provider details are not disclosed. Overall, the technical infrastructure is robust, scalable, and aligned with industry best practices.
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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