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Security report for newsisout.com

News Is Out · Media · N/a

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

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

News Is Out is a national collaborative media platform focused on delivering LGBTQ+ news through local queer-owned publishers. The website offers news articles, opinion pieces, and newsletters targeting the LGBTQ+ community and allies. It operates on a WordPress CMS with a modern tech stack including Yoast SEO, WooCommerce for donations, and Google Analytics for tracking. The site is hosted on WordPress.com infrastructure and integrates advertising via Google AdSense. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS and domain protections, but lacks DNSSEC and security headers. Privacy compliance is weak due to missing privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the site is professionally designed with good content quality and user experience but should improve privacy and security practices.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 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

6 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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

  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

  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

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

Keep watching newsisout.com

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.

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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
52
Security headers
30
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
65

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 platform positions itself as a pioneering national collaborative of queer news publishers, leveraging a donation-based revenue model alongside newsletter subscriptions. Its target audience is the LGBTQ+ community and supporters seeking specialized news content. The business model focuses on community engagement and support for local queer media. The presence of multiple newsletters and donation tiers indicates diversified revenue streams. Partnerships with social media platforms enhance outreach. The company is relatively new, founded in 2021, and maintains consistent branding and content quality.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS and domain-level protections such as clientDeleteProhibited status, indicating a baseline security posture. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options reduces defense-in-depth. No explicit security or incident response policies are published, and no vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files are found. The use of multiple third-party scripts introduces potential risk vectors. Privacy compliance gaps, especially lack of cookie consent, may expose the site to regulatory scrutiny. Overall, security maturity is moderate but can be enhanced by implementing recommended best practices.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to secure DNS queries and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection.
  3. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with explicit GDPR compliance statements.
  4. Add a cookie consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and improve user trust.
  5. Establish and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and security incident response contact information.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
News Is Out
Description
A pioneering national collaborative of the leading local queer news publishers.
Key services
News publishing, Weekly LGBTQ+ newsletters, Donations support for queer media
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, WooCommerce, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google AdSense, Perfmatters plugin, Jetpack, Newspack plugins
Frameworks
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status includes clientDeleteProhibited and other EPP protections

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Parsely, WooCommerce Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Ad networks
Google AdSense
Tracking pixels
Parsely, Prism, Trackcmp
Marketing tools
Site Kit by Google
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a WordPress-based media site focused on LGBTQ+ news
  2. Content is rich with multiple articles, newsletters, and donation forms
  3. No explicit privacy or cookie policies found on homepage or popups
  4. Multiple newsletter subscription forms collecting email addresses
  5. Donation forms support one-time, monthly, and annual donations
  6. Uses Google Analytics and advertising scripts, but no visible cookie consent mechanism
  7. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed on homepage
  8. Social media links to Facebook and Twitter (X) present
  9. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page
  10. No explicit security or incident response policies found
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress with a robust plugin ecosystem including Yoast SEO for search optimization, WooCommerce for donation processing, and Jetpack for additional features. It uses Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager for analytics and marketing. The site is hosted on WordPress.com infrastructure, leveraging their DNS and hosting services. Performance is moderate with some optimization via Perfmatters plugin. Mobile optimization is good, and SEO practices are well implemented. However, the site lacks DNSSEC and some security headers, which are technical risks. The use of multiple third-party scripts requires ongoing monitoring for vulnerabilities.
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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