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Security report for michigan.com

LOCALiQ · Media · United States

Low risk. 1 critical or high finding in GDPR outside view.

Security score

85/100

Risk levelLow

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

Michigan.com operates as a regional digital marketing service provider under the brand LOCALiQ, affiliated with the USA TODAY NETWORK and Gannett. The company focuses on delivering local and national digital marketing solutions tailored for businesses in Michigan, including web design, lead generation, analytics, and social media marketing. Their market position is that of a trusted regional partner leveraging national media resources to enhance local business marketing efforts. Technically, the website is built on WordPress using the Divi theme, integrating modern marketing and analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Twitter's tracking pixels. Hosting appears to be managed via Pantheon, supporting moderate performance and good mobile optimization. SEO and accessibility are basic but functional, with room for improvement in security headers and consent mechanisms. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses domain transfer protection but lacks DNSSEC and security headers, which are recommended to enhance protection. Privacy policies exist but do not include explicit cookie consent mechanisms, and there is no public incident response or vulnerability disclosure information, indicating gaps in compliance and security transparency. Overall, Michigan.com presents a professional and credible business front with stable domain registration and consistent branding. However, improvements in security practices, privacy compliance, and incident response transparency are advised to strengthen trust and reduce risk.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
73/ 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

1 finding 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 Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

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Keep watching michigan.com

This scan found 15 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
95
Security headers
90
Email security
75
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
73
Average
85

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

Michigan.com leverages its affiliation with the USA TODAY NETWORK and Gannett to position itself as a leading digital marketing partner for local businesses in Michigan. The business model centers on providing comprehensive digital marketing services including web presence building, lead generation, analytics, and social media engagement. Their target customers are local businesses seeking to expand their digital footprint and marketing effectiveness. The partnership ecosystem includes local media outlets like Detroit News and the broader LOCALiQ platform, enhancing their market reach and service capabilities. The company demonstrates moderate size and maturity with a domain age dating back to 1995, indicating established operations and market presence.

Security posture

The website's security posture is moderate. HTTPS is properly implemented, and domain transfer protection is enabled, which are positive indicators. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options reduces the overall security robustness. The lack of a cookie consent mechanism and absence of incident response contact details or vulnerability disclosure policies highlight compliance and transparency gaps. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected, but the site would benefit from enhanced security controls and documented incident response procedures to improve resilience and trustworthiness.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to protect against DNS spoofing and improve DNS security.
  2. Implement standard security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Add a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and improve user transparency.
  4. Publish clear incident response and vulnerability disclosure contact information to enhance security transparency.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries to ensure no vulnerabilities are introduced.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
LOCALiQ
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
LOCALiQ
Description
Simplify local marketing in Michigan with a partner powered by the USA TODAY NETWORK, offering data, insights, and best practices to enhance marketing efforts.
Key services
Web design, Lead generation, Reporting and analytics, Social media marketing
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Divi Theme, jQuery, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Twitter Universal Website Tag, Bugherd
Frameworks
Divi
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Twitter Universal Website Tag
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Twitter Ads, Google Ads
Tracking pixels
Twitter Universal Website Tag
Marketing tools
LOCALiQ marketing platform, Bugherd
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a regional digital marketing service provider affiliated with USA TODAY NETWORK.
  2. Content is professionally presented with clear navigation and multiple service offerings.
  3. No visible security headers detected; DNSSEC not enabled.
  4. Privacy and cookie policies are present but lack explicit consent mechanisms.
  5. No terms of service or incident response contacts found.
  6. Use of multiple marketing and analytics tools including Google and Twitter.
  7. Domain registration is stable and consistent with business claims.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform using the Divi theme, integrating common JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and marketing tools including Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, and Twitter tracking pixels. Hosting is likely provided by Pantheon, inferred from asset URLs. The site demonstrates moderate performance and good mobile responsiveness. SEO is basic with meta tags and structured data implemented but could be enhanced. Accessibility features are minimal but present. Technical debt appears low, though security enhancements and performance optimizations could further improve the site’s operational quality.
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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