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Security report for news4jax.com

News4Jax | Jacksonville, Florida News, Weather, Sports | WJXT Channel 4 · Media · United States

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

79/100

Risk levelLow

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

News4Jax is a professional local news media website serving Jacksonville, Florida, operated under the WJXT Channel 4 brand and owned by Graham Media Group. The site provides comprehensive local news, weather, sports, and community content, targeting a general audience in the Jacksonville area. It maintains a strong market position as a leading local news source with a business model primarily supported by advertising revenue. Technically, the website leverages modern web technologies including React, Google Tag Manager, and a consent management platform (Osano) to deliver a responsive and accessible user experience. The site is optimized for mobile and SEO, with good performance and structured data markup enhancing search visibility. Security-wise, the site enforces HTTPS and employs cookie consent mechanisms, but explicit security headers and incident response policies are not clearly disclosed. The absence of WHOIS data limits domain registration insights, but the website's professional appearance and operational maturity indicate legitimacy. Overall, the site scores well on content quality, technical implementation, and security posture, with room for improvement in transparency around security policies and contact information.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
70/ 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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1

  2. 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 news4jax.com

This scan found 17 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
55
Email security
75
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
70
Average
79

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

News4Jax operates as a key local news outlet in Jacksonville, Florida, under the WJXT Channel 4 brand, owned by Graham Media Group. Its competitive advantage lies in its established local presence, comprehensive news coverage, and integration of live streaming and community engagement features. The business model is advertising-driven, supported by multiple ad networks and tracking technologies, balanced with user consent management to comply with privacy regulations. The target customer segment includes local residents seeking timely news, weather, and sports updates. Growth indicators include digital platform enhancements and partnerships with sports data providers and broadcast networks. The company ecosystem includes partnerships with Bounce TV and sports content providers, enhancing content diversity and reach.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security posture with mandatory HTTPS encryption and a robust cookie consent mechanism via Osano, ensuring compliance with GDPR and other privacy regulations. The use of Google Publisher Provided ID (PPID) indicates advanced ad targeting capabilities while respecting user privacy preferences. However, explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options are not visibly confirmed, representing an area for enhancement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. The lack of publicly available incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies suggests an opportunity to improve transparency and readiness. Overall, the security culture appears mature but could benefit from formalized and visible security governance documentation.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publicly disclose comprehensive security headers including CSP, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish an incident response and vulnerability disclosure policy to improve transparency and user trust.
  3. Provide clear contact information for security and privacy inquiries, including a designated data protection officer if applicable.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and ad networks to minimize risk from external dependencies.
  5. Enhance website accessibility and SEO by continuous monitoring and updates to maintain high standards.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
News4Jax | Jacksonville, Florida News, Weather, Sports | WJXT Channel 4
Description
Breaking news in Jacksonville, Florida from News4JAX and WJXT Channel 4. Jacksonville breaking news, headlines, weather, and sports. Local Jacksonville news and more from The Local Station in Jacksonville, Florida, WJXT - Jacksonville's Channel 4.
Key services
Local news reporting, Weather updates, Sports coverage, Live streaming, Community features
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, React, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Font Awesome, Osano CMP, Cloudinary CDN, Boomerang performance monitoring, Google Publisher Tags (GPT)
Frameworks
React
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent management
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google Publisher Provided ID (PPID) for ad targeting

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Boomerang
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ad Manager, AdLightning, Automatad, Casale Media, PubMatic, Rubicon Project, Amazon Advertising
Tracking pixels
Osano CMP, Boomerang
Marketing tools
Osano Consent Management Platform
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 local news portal for Jacksonville, Florida.
  2. Content is rich with news, weather, sports, and community features.
  3. Strong use of modern web technologies and consent management.
  4. No WHOIS data available, possibly due to privacy or recent registration.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity detected.
  6. Advertising and tracking are extensive but managed with user consent.
  7. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in the HTML; contact is via forms.
  8. No explicit security or incident response policies found publicly.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern technology stack featuring React for frontend rendering, integrated with Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for tracking and analytics. It uses Osano for consent management, ensuring compliance with privacy laws. The presence of Arc Publishing scripts suggests a robust CMS platform tailored for news media. Performance monitoring is implemented via Boomerang. The site is optimized for mobile devices and includes accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA roles. External resources are loaded from reputable CDNs and ad networks. The technical infrastructure supports a fast and responsive user experience, though hosting provider details are not explicitly identified. The site benefits from structured data markup enhancing SEO and content discoverability.
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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