Skip to main content

Security report for internews.org

Internews · Non-profit · United States

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

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Internews is a well-established nonprofit organization founded in 1994, dedicated to supporting media and journalism worldwide. Their mission focuses on training journalists, promoting internet freedom, and ensuring media outlets achieve financial sustainability to provide trustworthy information. The organization operates globally in over 100 countries and supports thousands of media outlets and journalists. The website reflects a mature digital presence with a professional design, clear navigation, and comprehensive content that aligns with their mission and audience. Technically, the site uses WordPress with modern plugins like Gravity Forms and Yoast SEO, hosted behind Cloudflare DNS, ensuring good performance and security. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and some security best practices in place, though there is room for improvement in security headers and vulnerability disclosure transparency. Privacy compliance is well addressed with visible cookie consent and a comprehensive privacy policy. Overall, the website and domain registration data are consistent and trustworthy, supporting the legitimacy of the organization.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

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 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 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

  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 SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching internews.org

This scan found 21 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
65
Security headers
45
Email security
85
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
71

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

Internews holds a strong market position as a global nonprofit media support organization. Their business model relies on donor funding and partnerships to deliver training and advocacy services. The website demonstrates transparency with donor information and impact statistics, enhancing credibility. Their target audience includes journalists, media organizations, donors, and the public interested in media integrity. The organization leverages a broad partnership ecosystem and maintains active social media channels to extend reach and engagement. Growth indicators include recent EU grant-funded projects and extensive international operations. The website's content and structure support their mission and facilitate stakeholder engagement effectively.

Security posture

The security maturity of the Internews website is good, with HTTPS enabled and domain transfer protections active. The use of security plugins like Stop User Enumeration indicates awareness of common WordPress vulnerabilities. However, the absence of DNSSEC and some security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Content-Type-Options suggests opportunities to strengthen defenses. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. Privacy and cookie consent mechanisms are implemented, supporting GDPR compliance. Incident response and vulnerability disclosure information are not publicly available, which could be improved to enhance trust and readiness. Overall, the security posture is solid for a nonprofit but could benefit from additional hardening and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement Content-Security-Policy and X-Content-Type-Options headers to mitigate XSS and MIME sniffing risks.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy page including incident response contacts and vulnerability disclosure guidelines.
  4. Regularly audit and update all plugins and libraries to avoid vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance transparency by providing data retention policies and more detailed privacy compliance information.

Contact details published on the site

Legal name
Internews
Registration number
501(c)3 EIN 94-3027961, Charity no. 1148404 (England and Wales), Company no. 7891107, SIRET no. 425 132 347 000 13 (France)
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Internews
Description
Internews is a media support nonprofit working in 100+ countries. They train journalists, advance internet freedom, and help media outlets become financially sustainable to provide trustworthy information.
Key services
Journalist training, Internet freedom advocacy, Media financial sustainability support, Combatting disinformation
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Gravity Forms, Yoast SEO, jQuery, Cloudflare DNS
Frameworks
Genesis Blocks
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status
  • Cookie consent banner
  • Use of security plugins (e.g., Stop User Enumeration)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Plausible Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google AdSense
Tracking pixels
Twitter Pixel
Marketing tools
Google Site Kit
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well maintained.
  2. Strong presence of nonprofit trust signals and transparency.
  3. Good use of modern web technologies and SEO best practices.
  4. Privacy and cookie policies are present and GDPR compliant.
  5. No critical security issues detected.
  6. No exposed sensitive data or suspicious links.
  7. Social media presence is consistent and official.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS using modern plugins such as Gravity Forms for data collection and Yoast SEO for search optimization. The tech stack includes jQuery and Genesis Blocks framework, indicating a balance between customization and maintainability. Hosting is supported by Cloudflare DNS, which provides performance and security benefits. The site demonstrates good mobile responsiveness and accessibility features. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in caching and resource optimization. The technical infrastructure supports the organization's global reach and content needs effectively, though some security header enhancements and DNSSEC implementation would improve overall robustness.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with internews.org. 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 internews.org.

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.