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Security report for nbcnews.com

NBC News · Media · United States

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

Security score

76/100

Risk levelLow

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

NBC News is a major US-based media organization providing breaking news, video reports, and comprehensive coverage across world, US, politics, business, health, and culture. It operates under the NBCUniversal umbrella and maintains a strong market position as a trusted news source. The website is designed with a modern tech stack including React/Next.js and integrates multiple multimedia and advertising technologies to deliver a rich user experience. Privacy and cookie compliance are well implemented with consent mechanisms and clear policies. Security posture is strong with HTTPS, security headers, and no visible vulnerabilities. WHOIS data is unavailable likely due to privacy protection, which is common for high-profile media brands. Overall, NBC News.com is a professional, secure, and trustworthy news platform with extensive content and strong brand presence.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
85/ 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. 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

  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.nbcnews.com points to unregistered service stg-elb-verticalsweb-a-513092359.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 nbcnews.com

This scan found 18 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
90
Security headers
60
Email security
60
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
85
Average
76

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

NBC News holds a significant position in the US media sector, leveraging a broad content portfolio including live news, investigative journalism, and cultural programming. Its business model is primarily advertising-supported with additional revenue from partnerships and digital subscriptions. The company targets a general audience interested in timely and reliable news. NBC News benefits from its parent company NBCUniversal's resources and partnerships with sister sites like Today.com and Peacock streaming service. The website's extensive use of analytics and marketing tools indicates a mature digital strategy focused on audience engagement and monetization.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and no exposed sensitive information. The use of a consent management platform aligns with GDPR and privacy regulations. However, no explicit security or incident response contact information was found, which could be improved. The presence of multiple third-party scripts necessitates ongoing monitoring for vulnerabilities. Overall, the site follows best practices for web security and privacy compliance, supporting its reputation as a trusted media outlet.

Recommendations

  1. Enhance visibility and accessibility of security incident response contacts to improve trust and readiness.
  2. Implement Subresource Integrity (SRI) for all third-party scripts to mitigate supply chain risks.
  3. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and tracking scripts to prevent vulnerabilities.
  4. Expand transparency on data retention policies related to analytics and user data.
  5. Consider publishing a dedicated vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
NBC News
Description
Go to NBCNews.com for breaking news, videos, and the latest top stories in world news, business, politics, health and pop culture.
Key services
News reporting, Video reports, Live updates, Podcasts, Newsletters
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React (Next.js), JWPlayer, Adobe Launch, Google Tag Manager, Parsely, Branch.io, ScorecardResearch, Skimlinks
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
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with proper labels

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Ad networks
Taboola, MPS (NBCUniversal's ad platform)
Tracking pixels
ScorecardResearch, Parsely, Cookielaw.org, Branch.io, Adobe Launch
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 brand presence with consistent branding and verified social media.
  3. Uses modern web technologies and frameworks.
  4. Good privacy and cookie compliance with consent mechanisms.
  5. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on main pages.
  6. No explicit security or incident response contact pages detected.
  7. Advertising and tracking are extensive but transparent.
  8. No adult or NSFW content detected.
  9. WHOIS data is unavailable or protected, common for large brands.
Technical notes

Notes

NBC News.com uses a modern React-based framework (Next.js) optimized for performance and SEO. The site integrates advanced video playback via JWPlayer and employs Adobe Launch and Google Tag Manager for tag management. Hosting appears to leverage CDN services for fast global delivery. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features. The technical implementation is robust, supporting a high-quality user experience with fast load times and clear navigation. Opportunities exist to further enhance security controls around third-party scripts and improve incident response 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. 75/100Medium6 findings · partial scanView report
  3. 78/100Low25 findingsView report
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