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Security report for kuow.org

KUOW Public Radio · Media · United States

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

Security score

80/100

Risk levelLow

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

KUOW Public Radio operates as Seattle's NPR affiliate, providing independent, award-winning journalism, podcasts, and community events targeting the Seattle and Western Washington audience. The organization is a nonprofit entity with a strong market position in public radio media. Technically, the website employs a modern tech stack including Ruby on Rails, React, and integrates multiple analytics and advertising platforms, ensuring a responsive and accessible user experience. Security posture is robust with HTTPS enforcement, CSRF protections, and use of reCAPTCHA, though explicit incident response and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms could be improved. Overall, KUOW demonstrates a mature digital presence with good privacy compliance and strong trust indicators, though WHOIS data is unavailable likely due to privacy protection.

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

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 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

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

Keep watching kuow.org

This scan found 17 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
72
Security headers
65
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
70
Average
80

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

KUOW's business model relies on donations, sponsorships, and grants typical for nonprofit public radio stations. Their competitive advantage lies in NPR affiliation and local market leadership. The website supports multiple podcast distribution channels and engages users with diverse content formats. The organization maintains a transparent public file and policies, enhancing credibility. Partnerships with major podcast platforms and social media presence expand reach. Growth indicators include active content updates and community engagement. Strategic observations suggest continued investment in digital content and privacy compliance will sustain market relevance.

Security posture

KUOW exhibits a strong security posture with HTTPS, security headers, and anti-CSRF measures. The site uses Google reCAPTCHA to protect forms and origin-trial tokens for advanced security features. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. However, the absence of a published security.txt and incident response contacts limits transparency for vulnerability reporting. Compliance with GDPR is indicated via privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms. Regular audits of third-party scripts and explicit incident response planning are recommended to enhance security maturity.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosure.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact information on the website.
  3. Conduct regular security audits of third-party scripts and dependencies.
  4. Enhance transparency around data retention and user privacy practices.
  5. Maintain and update privacy and cookie policies to reflect evolving regulations.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
KUOW Public Radio
Description
KUOW is Seattle’s NPR news station. We are an independent, nonprofit news organization that produces award-winning journalism, innovative podcasts, engaging community events, and more.
Key services
News reporting, Podcasts, Community events, Live radio streaming
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React.js, Google Tag Manager, Google Ads / Adsense, Chartbeat, Reddit Pixel, DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP), Visual Website Optimizer (VWO), Apple Pay JS SDK, Omny Studio for podcasts
Frameworks
Ruby on Rails, React
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of CSRF tokens
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of reCAPTCHA
  • Use of origin-trial tokens for security features

Analytics and tracking

Services
Chartbeat, Google Analytics (via GTM), Reddit Pixel
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Adsense, Google Ad Manager (DFP), Bing Ads
Tracking pixels
Reddit Pixel, Chartbeat, Google Ads Conversion Tracking, Smtrk, Mountain DX
Marketing tools
Visual Website Optimizer (VWO)
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional public radio news site affiliated with NPR.
  2. Content is rich, relevant, and well-structured with multimedia integration.
  3. Strong use of modern web technologies and analytics.
  4. Good privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  6. WHOIS data is unavailable, likely due to privacy protection or query error.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern Ruby on Rails framework with React components, integrating multiple third-party analytics and advertising services. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. The use of Google Tag Manager and Visual Website Optimizer indicates a focus on marketing and user experience optimization. The site employs HTTPS with strong SSL configuration and security headers. Technical risks include reliance on multiple external scripts which require ongoing monitoring for vulnerabilities. Opportunities exist to improve incident response readiness and streamline third-party integrations.
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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