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Security report for mediapart.fr

Mediapart · Media · France

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

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Mediapart is a French independent digital news media outlet specializing in investigative journalism, offering subscription-based access to its content. It is recognized for its editorial independence, absence of advertising, and reliance on reader support. The website provides rich content including articles, videos, podcasts, and newsletters, targeting a general audience interested in in-depth news and analysis. Technically, the site uses modern JavaScript frameworks and tracking tools with a cookie consent mechanism, hosted partially on Azure Blob Storage. Security posture is good with HTTPS enforced, though some security headers are missing and no explicit vulnerability disclosure program is found. Privacy compliance is strong with comprehensive policies and GDPR adherence. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and well-optimized for user experience.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
40/ 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

6 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.

    • Critical

      EU business without adequate privacy measures

      EU businesses are subject to strict GDPR requirements

      What to do: Implement comprehensive GDPR compliance including privacy policy, cookie consent, and data protection measures

    • 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

  2. 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';…

  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 mediapart.fr

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.

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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
70
Email security
65
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
40
Average
69

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

Mediapart holds a strong market position as a leading independent French digital news outlet, focusing on investigative journalism without advertising revenue. Its business model is subscription-based, targeting readers who value independent and in-depth reporting. The company operates additional domains for subscriptions, community blogs, and customer support, indicating a mature ecosystem. The absence of public WHOIS data suggests privacy protection, common for media entities. The site’s content quality and branding consistency reinforce its credibility and market presence.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and no visible sensitive data exposure. Tracking and marketing scripts are used responsibly with user consent. However, the absence of explicit security headers like CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options, and lack of a published security policy or incident response page, indicate areas for improvement. No vulnerabilities or malware were detected in the provided content. The site would benefit from implementing a vulnerability disclosure program and enhancing security headers to strengthen its security posture.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options.
  2. Develop and publish a formal security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program, including a security.txt file, to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Enhance user privacy controls and provide clearer information on data retention policies.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize privacy and security risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Mediapart
Description
Mediapart est un journal d’information numérique, participatif et indépendant, sans publicité ni subvention, et qui ne vit que du soutien de ses lecteurs et lectrices.
Key services
Investigative journalism, News articles, Videos, Podcasts, Newsletters, Community blog platform (Le Club)
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Webpack, Selligent, CrazyEgg, Qiota, Facebook Pixel
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented

Analytics and tracking

Services
CrazyEgg, Facebook Pixel, Qiota
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
CrazyEgg
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, CrazyEgg, Qiota
Marketing tools
Selligent
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, subscription-based independent news media outlet.
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and in French with English and Spanish editions.
  3. No WHOIS data available publicly, indicating privacy protection.
  4. No signs of WAF or content blocking; full content accessible.
  5. Uses modern JavaScript frameworks and tracking tools with cookie consent.
  6. No direct contact emails or phone numbers publicly listed; contact via support forms.
  7. Strong privacy and cookie policies present and GDPR compliant.
  8. No security.txt or explicit vulnerability disclosure found.
  9. No explicit security headers detected in HTML source.
  10. No adult or NSFW content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern JavaScript-based front-end with Webpack bundling and integrates marketing and analytics tools such as CrazyEgg, Qiota, Selligent, and Facebook Pixel. Hosting includes Azure Blob Storage for some assets. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and SEO-friendly with proper meta tags and Open Graph data. Performance is moderate, with deferred script loading and preconnect hints. No CMS was explicitly detected. The technical infrastructure supports a professional digital media platform but could improve by adding more security headers and formalizing security and privacy documentation.
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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