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Security report for newarkadvertiser.co.uk

Iliffe Media Publishing Ltd · Media · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Email security, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

67/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Newark Advertiser is a well-established regional news media outlet serving Newark-on-Trent and the Nottinghamshire area, operating under Iliffe Media Publishing Ltd. The website offers local news, sports, lifestyle, and leisure content, supported by advertising and subscription models. It maintains a strong market position as a trusted local news source with a history dating back to 1854. Technically, the site employs a modern JavaScript stack with multiple third-party integrations for analytics, advertising, and subscription management, delivering a good user experience with mobile optimization and clear navigation. Security-wise, the site enforces HTTPS, uses security headers, and implements a consent management platform, reflecting a mature security posture with no critical vulnerabilities detected. Privacy compliance is robust, with comprehensive policies and active cookie consent mechanisms. Overall, the website demonstrates high professionalism and trustworthiness, suitable for its audience and business model.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
80/ 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

5 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

    • High

      No SPF record found

      SPF helps prevent email spoofing

      What to do: Add SPF record: "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourmailprovider.com ~all"

  2. 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

  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

  4. DNS health

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

    • High

      Domain Expires Soon

      Domain expires in 2 days

      What to do: Renew domain registration before expiration

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

Keep watching newarkadvertiser.co.uk

This scan found 23 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.

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Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
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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
64
Security headers
75
Email security
40
DNS health
45
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
80
Average
67

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

The business operates in the media sector focusing on local news and community engagement. Its revenue streams include advertising, premium subscriptions, and event sponsorships. The company leverages partnerships with digital platforms for e-editions and premium content delivery. The target audience is local residents and businesses in Nottinghamshire, with a focus on community news and events. The presence of IPSO regulation and detailed privacy policies enhances credibility. The company’s digital ecosystem includes multiple related domains supporting various services, indicating a diversified digital strategy. Growth potential lies in expanding premium content and digital subscriptions while maintaining strong local engagement.

Security posture

The website exhibits a solid security posture with HTTPS enforced and several security headers present. The use of a consent management platform aligns with GDPR requirements, and no exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. However, the absence of a published security policy or incident response page and lack of a security.txt file indicates room for improvement in transparency and vulnerability disclosure. The integration of multiple third-party scripts necessitates ongoing monitoring to mitigate supply chain risks. Overall, the site is secure for its business context but could enhance its security maturity by formalizing policies and incident response mechanisms.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and user trust.
  2. Implement and publish a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability reporting.
  3. Enhance Content-Security-Policy headers to reduce risk from third-party scripts.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and ad networks for security and privacy compliance.
  5. Improve accessibility features to meet higher standards and broaden audience reach.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Iliffe Media Publishing Ltd
Description
Local news, sport, and leisure news from Newark-on-Trent and Nottinghamshire area provided by Newark Advertiser Newspaper.
Key services
News reporting, Sport coverage, Leisure and lifestyle content, Advertising services, Subscription and premium content
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, jQuery, FontAwesome, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Prebid.js, Piano.io (subscription management), ExitBee, ScorecardResearch, InMobi CMP, Outbrain, Parsely
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Anonymize IP in Google Analytics
  • Consent management platform (CMP) implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, ChartBeat, Comscore, Parsely
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ad Manager (DoubleClick), Rubicon Project, ExitBee, ScorecardResearch, InMobi, Smartico
Tracking pixels
ScorecardResearch, Parsely, Outbrain, Facebook SDK, Twitter Widgets
Marketing tools
Piano.io (subscription and paywall), Outbrain (content recommendation), ExitBee (engagement tools)
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional regional news outlet with comprehensive content.
  2. Strong privacy and cookie policies with active consent management.
  3. Use of multiple reputable ad networks and analytics services.
  4. No signs of blocking or WAF interference.
  5. Good security posture with HTTPS and security headers.
  6. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerabilities detected.
  7. Clear navigation and mobile optimization present.
  8. Social media presence on Facebook and Twitter confirmed.
  9. No direct company emails or phone numbers found in HTML content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern JavaScript-based front end with integrations including Piano.io for subscription management, Google Tag Manager and Analytics for tracking, and multiple ad networks such as Google Ad Manager and Rubicon Project. The site is mobile responsive with good SEO practices including meta tags and structured data (JSON-LD). Performance is moderate, with asynchronous loading of many scripts to optimize speed. The CMS is not explicitly identified but appears custom or proprietary. Hosting provider details are not disclosed. Technical risks include reliance on multiple third-party scripts which require continuous security monitoring. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the business needs effectively with opportunities for further optimization and security hardening.
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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