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Security report for msnbc.com

MSNBC · Media · United States

Medium risk. 2 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS and DNS health.

Security score

75/100

Risk levelMedium

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

MSNBC is a major US-based media company providing breaking news, live audio and video streaming, and comprehensive news coverage. The website serves a broad general audience with a focus on up-to-date local and world news. It operates under the NBCUniversal parent company, reflecting a strong market position in the media industry. The digital platform is built on modern web technologies including Next.js and JWPlayer, ensuring a fast, mobile-optimized, and accessible user experience. The site integrates multiple advertising and tracking services typical for media outlets, balanced with robust privacy and cookie consent mechanisms. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement and security headers, though no explicit vulnerability disclosure or incident response contacts are publicly visible. WHOIS data is unavailable likely due to privacy protection, which is justified for a high-profile media brand. Overall, MSNBC.com demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and technical maturity.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
100/ 100 · Low
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. 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

  2. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • High

      Potential Subdomain Takeover

      Subdomain staging.msnbc.com points to unregistered service stg-elb-verticalsweb-m-1597658787.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com

      What to do: Remove or fix CNAME record to prevent subdomain takeover

      • WSTG-CONF-10
      • NIS2 21(2)(i)
      • IR 2024/2690 12.4: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 12.4: Asset inventory
      • NIST CM-8: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-8: System Component Inventory

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

Keep watching msnbc.com

This scan found 19 issues across 5 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

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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
60
Email security
60
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
100
Average
75

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

MSNBC holds a significant position in the US media landscape as a news broadcaster and digital news provider. Its business model centers on advertising revenue supported by extensive content delivery including live video and audio. The company targets a general audience interested in current events and political news. The website's integration with multiple ad networks and tracking platforms indicates a mature monetization strategy. Partnerships with NBCUniversal and use of proprietary CMS and hosting infrastructure reflect strong operational capabilities. The absence of direct contact emails or phone numbers on the main site suggests centralized contact management via digital forms. The brand maintains consistent and professional digital branding across platforms, reinforcing market credibility.

Security posture

The website employs strong security best practices including HTTPS, Content Security Policy, and other security headers. Cookie consent and privacy compliance mechanisms are implemented, indicating awareness of GDPR and related regulations. However, the lack of a published security policy, incident response information, or security.txt file limits transparency for security researchers and users. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analyzed content. The extensive use of third-party scripts and ad networks introduces potential risk vectors that require ongoing monitoring. Overall, the security posture is robust for a media website but could be enhanced by publishing formal security and incident response information.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability reporting and improve transparency.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact information on the website for security issues.
  3. Regularly audit third-party scripts and ad networks to mitigate supply chain risks.
  4. Enhance data retention and privacy policy disclosures to improve user trust.
  5. Maintain continuous monitoring and updating of security headers and SSL configurations.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
MSNBC
Description
MSNBC breaking news and the latest news for today. Get daily news from local news reporters and world news updates with live audio & video from our team.
Key services
news reporting, live audio and video streaming, world and local news updates
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React (Next.js), JWPlayer, Adobe Launch, Taboola, OneTrust, Google Tag Manager, Criteo, Parsely, Branch.io
Frameworks
Next.js
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of CSP
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Parsely, ScorecardResearch, Google Analytics (via GTM)
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Taboola, Criteo, FreeWheel
Tracking pixels
ScorecardResearch, Parsely, Branch.io, Taboola
Marketing tools
Adobe Launch
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and multimedia
  2. Strong use of modern web technologies and frameworks
  3. Comprehensive privacy and cookie consent mechanisms implemented
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in HTML; contact via digital contacts page
  5. No security.txt or explicit vulnerability disclosure found
  6. No explicit security or incident response policies publicly visible
  7. Advertising and tracking scripts are extensive but standard for media sites
  8. WHOIS data unavailable, likely due to privacy protection or proxy registration
Technical notes

Notes

MSNBC.com is built on a modern React-based framework (Next.js) with extensive use of third-party libraries such as JWPlayer for media playback and Adobe Launch for tag management. The site is hosted on NBCUniversal's infrastructure, likely leveraging CDN services for performance optimization. The website demonstrates excellent mobile responsiveness, accessibility features, and SEO optimization. Performance is fast with efficient resource loading and caching strategies. The technical stack is mature and well-maintained, supporting a high volume of multimedia content and user traffic. Opportunities exist to further modernize by consolidating third-party scripts and enhancing security transparency.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 78/100Low25 findingsView report
  2. 75/100Medium12 findings · partial scanView report
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