Skip to main content

Security report for mergermarket.com

Mergermarket · Finance · United States

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view.

Security score

81/100

Risk levelLow

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

Mergermarket is a leading enterprise-level provider of predictive M&A intelligence, combining proprietary editorial insight with advanced analytics to serve a diverse audience including advisors, banks, corporates, investors, and legal professionals. The company operates under the parent organization ION Group and offers a suite of services such as predictive analytics, intelligent search, and investigative journalism to empower clients in the competitive M&A market. The website demonstrates a professional and consistent brand presence with excellent content quality and clear navigation tailored for its target audience. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern frameworks like Bootstrap 5 and integrates multiple analytics and marketing tools including Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar, and Optimizely. Hosting and DNS services leverage Cloudflare and Microsoft Azure, ensuring reliable performance and security. The site is moderately performant with good mobile optimization and basic accessibility features. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS with TLS 1.2, strong cipher suites, and HSTS policies. SPF and DMARC records are properly configured to protect email domains. Cookie consent mechanisms comply with GDPR requirements, and no critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, the site could improve by enabling TLS 1.3, enhancing certificate transparency, and adding additional security headers. Overall, Mergermarket's digital presence reflects a mature and secure platform with strong business credibility and privacy compliance. The site effectively supports its business model and target market while maintaining a good security posture.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
43/ 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

2 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 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 mergermarket.com

This scan found 16 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. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

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
87
Security headers
90
Email security
80
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
43
Average
81

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

Mergermarket holds a strong market position as a provider of predictive M&A intelligence, leveraging a subscription-based business model targeting financial professionals and institutions involved in mergers and acquisitions. Its competitive advantage lies in combining proprietary journalism with predictive analytics and extensive participant profiling. The company benefits from being part of the ION Group, which includes several subsidiaries offering complementary services such as Debtwire and Dealogic. The partnership ecosystem is robust, with multiple related domains linked to specialized analytics and software solutions. Growth indicators include active content updates, integration of advanced analytics tools, and a comprehensive marketing strategy. The company targets a global audience with a focus on the United States and other major financial markets.

Security posture

The website exhibits a good security maturity level with enforced HTTPS, strong TLS configuration, and proper email authentication via SPF and DMARC. Cookie consent and privacy policies are implemented in compliance with GDPR, reflecting a strong privacy culture. No critical vulnerabilities or security incidents are evident from the analysis. However, the absence of certain security headers like Content-Security-Policy and the lack of TLS 1.3 support indicate areas for improvement. Incident response and security policy documentation are not publicly found, which may suggest limited transparency in these areas. Overall, the security posture is solid but could benefit from enhanced transparency and adoption of additional best practices.

Recommendations

  1. Upgrade SSL/TLS configuration to support TLS 1.3 for improved security and performance.
  2. Implement Certificate Transparency compliance to enhance trust and detect certificate mis-issuance.
  3. Add additional security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  4. Publish clear security policy and incident response procedures to improve transparency and stakeholder confidence.
  5. Conduct regular audits of third-party scripts and integrations to ensure ongoing security and privacy compliance.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
ION Group
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform using Bootstrap 5 for responsive design and jQuery for client-side scripting. It integrates several third-party analytics and marketing tools including Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar, 6sense, and Optimizely, indicating a mature digital marketing infrastructure. Hosting is supported by Cloudflare CDN and Microsoft Azure DNS, providing reliable performance and security. The site has moderate load times and resource counts, with good mobile optimization but basic accessibility features. SEO is well implemented with proper meta tags, Open Graph, and JSON-LD structured data. Technical risks include reliance on multiple third-party scripts which require ongoing security monitoring and the absence of the latest TLS version support.
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 mergermarket.com. 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 mergermarket.com.

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.