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Security report for heimildin.is

Sameinaða útgáfufélagið ehf. · Media · Iceland

Medium risk. 9 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

60/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Heimildin is an Icelandic independent media company founded in 2023 by Stundin and Kjarninn, focusing on investigative journalism and diverse news coverage. The website offers a broad range of news articles, interviews, opinion pieces, and multimedia content targeting Icelandic readers interested in politics, society, culture, and economics. The business model includes subscriptions and donations, supporting its independent editorial stance. Technically, the site is hosted on DigitalOcean and uses a modern JavaScript stack with various analytics and advertising integrations. The website is mobile-optimized and SEO-friendly, though accessibility features are basic. Security posture is good with HTTPS enforced, but DNSSEC is not enabled and security headers are not explicitly detected. Privacy compliance is limited as no privacy or cookie policies were found in the content. Overall, the domain registration is consistent and legitimate, supporting the business claims. The site is safe for general audiences with no adult content detected.

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. 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 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 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

    • 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

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

Keep watching heimildin.is

This scan found 26 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

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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
52
Security headers
40
Email security
70
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
60

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

Heimildin positions itself as a trusted independent media outlet in Iceland, leveraging investigative journalism to differentiate from mainstream media. Its partnership with Kjarninn and Stundin strengthens its market presence. Revenue streams include subscriptions and donations, indicating a reader-supported model. The site targets Icelandic-speaking audiences interested in politics, social issues, and culture. The presence of multiple content categories and multimedia shows a diversified content strategy. Advertising partnerships with Airserve and Blika provide monetization avenues. The company operates under the legal entity Sameinaða útgáfufélagið ehf., founded recently but with a domain age consistent with its timeline. Social media integration supports audience engagement and brand visibility.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS, ensuring encrypted communication. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, which could expose DNS queries to spoofing attacks. No explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options were detected in the provided data, representing an area for improvement. No sensitive data exposure or vulnerable libraries were identified. The site uses modern JavaScript libraries but should ensure they are up to date to avoid vulnerabilities. There is no visible security or incident response policy, nor a vulnerability disclosure mechanism, which are recommended for transparency and security maturity. Overall, the security posture is moderate but can be enhanced by implementing additional security headers, DNSSEC, and publishing security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement and configure security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with a user consent mechanism to comply with GDPR.
  4. Add a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability reporting and improve incident response readiness.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to meet recognized standards and improve user experience for all users.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Sameinaða útgáfufélagið ehf.
Description
Heimildin er í dreifðu eignarhaldi og óháð hagsmunaaðilum.
Key services
News articles, Investigative journalism, Subscriptions, Donations, Media content including articles, interviews, and multimedia
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, jQuery, Axios, Moment.js, Chartbeat, Google Tag Manager, Facebook SDK, Twitter Widgets, Glightbox, Glide.js, Zooming.js, js.cookie
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of canonical URLs
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of modern JavaScript libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Chartbeat, Plausible, Gallup
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Airserve, Blika
Tracking pixels
Chartbeat, Plausible, Gallup
Marketing tools
Chartbeat, Plausible
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 Icelandic independent media outlet focused on investigative journalism.
  2. Content is rich and well structured with multiple article categories and multimedia content.
  3. No privacy or cookie policies were found in the provided content.
  4. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers were found in the visible content.
  5. Social media presence is established with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram links.
  6. Advertising is present via Airserve and Blika ad networks.
  7. Analytics tools include Chartbeat, Plausible, and Gallup.
  8. Security best practices are partially implemented; HTTPS is used but DNSSEC is not enabled.
  9. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected; content is fully accessible.
  10. No adult or NSFW content detected; content is safe for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern JavaScript-based front-end with libraries including jQuery, Axios, Moment.js, and UI components like Glide.js and Glightbox. Analytics are implemented via Chartbeat, Plausible, and Gallup, indicating a mix of proprietary and privacy-focused tools. Hosting is on DigitalOcean, a reputable cloud provider. The site is mobile responsive and SEO optimized with proper meta tags and Open Graph data. No CMS was explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary solution. Performance is moderate, with some lazy loading of images. Advertising is integrated via Airserve and Blika ad networks. The site could benefit from improved security headers and DNSSEC to reduce technical risks.
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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