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Security report for johnlothiannews.com

John Lothian News · Media · N/a

Partial score · DNS & email only

68/100

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

John Lothian News is a specialized media outlet focused on delivering financial markets news and analysis. Established in 2011, it serves a niche audience of financial professionals and market participants. The website employs a WordPress CMS with the Divi theme and WooCommerce plugin, indicating a modern and flexible technical infrastructure. Hosting is provided by SiteGround, and the site uses Google Analytics and Tag Manager for user tracking. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enabled and use of Google reCAPTCHA, though there is room for improvement in security headers and DNSSEC implementation. Privacy compliance is limited due to the absence of explicit privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the site is professional and trustworthy but would benefit from enhanced privacy and security disclosures.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
Checks completed
6of 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

5 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, Facebook, YouTube, Google APIs

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

  2. 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

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
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  • 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
72
Email security
70
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
68

Not counted

  • Security headers: did not complete in this scan.
  • 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

John Lothian News operates in the media sector, focusing on financial news. Its business model revolves around content publishing and possibly subscription or advertising revenue streams, supported by WooCommerce integration. The company targets financial professionals and market participants, positioning itself as a niche but relevant news source. The domain age and registration data support a stable and legitimate operation. The website's use of SEO best practices and social media presence indicates an active digital marketing strategy. However, the lack of visible contact information and formal policies may limit user trust and regulatory compliance.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and reCAPTCHA protecting forms. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and lack of DNSSEC reduces the overall security posture. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the provided content. The site lacks explicit incident response or security policy documentation, which could hinder rapid response to security incidents. Compliance with GDPR and other privacy regulations appears minimal due to missing privacy and cookie policies. Enhancing these areas would improve the site's security culture and readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security.
  2. Implement standard security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with clear GDPR compliance statements.
  4. Add explicit contact information including security incident response contacts.
  5. Regularly audit and update plugins and third-party scripts to mitigate vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
John Lothian News
Description
Irreverent but never irrelevant
Key services
Financial news reporting, Market analysis, Media content publishing
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Divi Theme, WooCommerce, Google Analytics, Google reCAPTCHA, Yoast SEO, ExactMetrics
Frameworks
WooCommerce, Divi
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA for forms
  • No DNSSEC enabled (not a critical issue but noted)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, ExactMetrics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Advanced Ads
Marketing tools
ExactMetrics
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website uses WordPress with Divi theme and WooCommerce plugin
  2. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found in provided content
  3. Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager used for tracking
  4. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly found in provided content
  5. Social media presence includes Facebook and Twitter
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy found
  7. HTTPS is enabled with good configuration
  8. No DNSSEC enabled for domain
  9. No explicit security headers detected in provided content
  10. Website content is accessible and not blocked by WAF or security challenge
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress using the Divi theme and WooCommerce plugin, indicating a mature and widely supported platform. Hosting via SiteGround provides reliable infrastructure. The site uses Google Fonts, Google Analytics, and Google Tag Manager for performance and analytics. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and basic accessibility features. SEO is enhanced by Yoast SEO plugin and structured data (JSON-LD). Technical debt appears low, but improvements in security headers and privacy compliance are needed to reduce risk and improve trust.
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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