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Security report for jezebel.com

Jezebel · Media · N/a

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

74/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Jezebel is a well-established online media outlet founded in 2007, specializing in celebrity, politics, and entertainment news with a distinctive editorial voice. It operates under the Paste Media Group umbrella, sharing relationships with sister sites such as Paste Magazine and A.V. Club. The website employs a modern technical infrastructure based on WordPress, integrating advanced advertising and analytics technologies including Google Tag Manager, Amazon Ads, and Prebid.js. The site is mobile-optimized and demonstrates good SEO practices, although accessibility features are basic. From a security perspective, Jezebel enforces HTTPS and employs standard cache-control headers but lacks advanced security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options. No explicit privacy or cookie policies were detected in the provided content, which may impact compliance with GDPR and other privacy regulations. The WHOIS data for the domain is not publicly available, likely due to privacy protection, which slightly reduces trust but is common for media companies. Overall, Jezebel presents a professional and trustworthy online presence with moderate risk. Key recommendations include publishing comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms, enhancing security headers, and providing clear contact information for security and incident response. These improvements would strengthen compliance and user trust while maintaining the site's strong market position.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
70/ 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. 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';…

  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

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

Keep watching jezebel.com

This scan found 16 issues across 5 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

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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
75
Security headers
15
Email security
100
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
70
Average
74

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

Jezebel holds a niche position in the online media market, targeting a general audience interested in celebrity culture, politics, and entertainment commentary. Its business model relies primarily on advertising revenue supported by a robust ad network ecosystem. The site benefits from a strong social media presence across multiple platforms, enhancing audience engagement and brand visibility. The affiliation with Paste Media Group and sister sites provides strategic advantages in content sharing and operational support. Growth indicators include active use of modern marketing and analytics tools, although the absence of visible privacy compliance documentation suggests an area for operational improvement.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and no visible exposure of sensitive data. However, the absence of advanced security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options indicates potential vulnerabilities to clickjacking and cross-site scripting attacks. The lack of published security policies or incident response contacts limits transparency and preparedness for security incidents. Privacy compliance is minimal, with no detected cookie consent banners or GDPR-specific disclosures. While no critical vulnerabilities were identified, addressing these gaps would reduce risk and enhance the site's security posture.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism to ensure GDPR and global privacy compliance.
  2. Implement Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options headers to mitigate common web security threats.
  3. Provide clear security and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to meet WCAG standards and improve user experience for all visitors.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and ad networks to minimize privacy risks and performance impacts.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Jezebel
Description
Since 2007, Jezebel has been the Internet's most treasured source for everything celebrities, sex, and politics...with teeth.
Key services
Online news and commentary, Entertainment and celebrity news, Newsletter subscription
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics (MonsterInsights), Prebid.js, Amazon Ads, jQuery, WordPress, Yoast SEO, Paid Memberships Pro, Privacy Manager (launchpad.privacymanager.io), Bounce Exchange, Material Icons, Open Sans font, Roboto font
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google Tag Manager and analytics with opt-out mechanisms
  • No visible vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, MonsterInsights
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Amazon Ads, PubMatic, Google Ad Manager (DoubleClick), Bounce Exchange, Aditude
Tracking pixels
MonsterInsights, Bounce Exchange, Privacy Manager
Marketing tools
MonsterInsights, Privacy Manager, Bounce Exchange
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional media outlet focused on celebrity, politics, and entertainment.
  2. No WHOIS data publicly available, possibly due to privacy protection.
  3. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service pages detected in provided HTML.
  4. Multiple social media channels linked, indicating active engagement.
  5. Uses modern ad and analytics technologies with some privacy controls.
  6. No security policy or incident response contact information found.
  7. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly provided.
  8. No security headers beyond basic cache control detected.
  9. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected; site fully accessible.
Technical notes

Notes

Jezebel's technical infrastructure is built on WordPress, leveraging a variety of modern JavaScript libraries and ad technologies such as Prebid.js, Amazon Ads, and Google Tag Manager. The site uses popular fonts and icon sets like Open Sans, Roboto, and Material Icons, contributing to a consistent and professional design. Performance is moderate, with asynchronous loading of scripts and preloading of key resources. Mobile optimization is good, supported by responsive design elements. However, some inline styles and legacy jQuery usage suggest opportunities for modernization. SEO is well addressed through Yoast SEO plugin integration and structured data (JSON-LD) for enhanced search engine understanding.
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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