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Security report for newspack.com

Newspack · Media · N/a

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

75/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Newspack is a specialized SaaS platform designed to empower news organizations with tools for publishing, audience development, and revenue generation. Backed by WordPress.com and supported by major industry players such as Google News Initiative, Knight Foundation, and The Lenfest Institute, it occupies a strong niche in the media technology sector. The platform offers a comprehensive suite of services including publishing, audience management, advertising, migration, performance optimization, and analytics. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern plugins and integrations, hosted by Automattic, ensuring a robust and scalable infrastructure. The site demonstrates excellent design, SEO, and mobile optimization, providing a professional user experience. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and use of reCAPTCHA, though explicit security headers and policies could be improved. Privacy compliance is strong with clear cookie consent mechanisms and a comprehensive privacy policy. Overall, Newspack presents a trustworthy and mature digital presence aligned with its business goals.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of newspack.com. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
95/ 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

4 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. 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
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching newspack.com

This scan found 20 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

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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
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
95
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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention newspack.com, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for newspack.com right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

Newspack targets news publishers seeking affordable, scalable publishing and audience engagement solutions. Its business model is subscription-based SaaS, leveraging WordPress.com infrastructure and partnerships with influential organizations to enhance credibility and reach. The platform's competitive advantage lies in its tailored features for news media, ease of use, and integration with audience revenue tools. The presence of case studies and testimonials indicates active customer engagement and growth. Strategic partnerships with Google and foundations provide funding and validation. The company maintains consistent branding and professional content, reinforcing market position as a trusted provider in media technology.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS with strong SSL configuration and uses reCAPTCHA to protect forms, indicating a good baseline security posture. However, the absence of explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and lack of published security policies or incident response contacts represent areas for improvement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is well addressed with cookie consent and GDPR-aligned privacy policy. Incident response readiness and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not evident, which could impact trust in security incident handling. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be enhanced with formal policies and additional technical controls.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to strengthen browser security.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy page and provide clear incident response contact information to improve transparency and trust.
  3. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Enhance contact information availability, including verified company emails and phone numbers for support and security inquiries.
  5. Continue monitoring and updating third-party libraries and plugins to mitigate potential vulnerabilities and maintain compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Newspack
Description
Newspack provides news organizations with tools to publish stories, develop audiences, and drive revenue at an affordable price. It is a project of WordPress.com with support from Google News Initiative, Knight Foundation, and The Lenfest Institute.
Key services
Publishing platform, Audience management, Advertising and sponsorship tools, Migration services, Performance optimization, Analytics bundle
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, Google Analytics, HubSpot forms, reCAPTCHA, jQuery, Everlit plugin, Complianz GDPR plugin
Frameworks
WordPress Block Editor, Yoast SEO
Platforms
WordPress.com hosting, Google Tag Manager
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of reCAPTCHA for forms
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Jetpack Stats, HubSpot Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
HubSpot, Jetpack Stats
Marketing tools
HubSpot
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 professional design.
  2. Strong focus on news publishing and audience engagement tools.
  3. Good privacy and cookie compliance with explicit consent mechanisms.
  4. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found on the homepage or cookie banner.
  5. No visible terms of service or security policy pages.
  6. Use of modern WordPress technologies and plugins.
  7. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected.
  8. Good SEO and accessibility practices observed.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern WordPress CMS platform with extensive use of block editor features and plugins such as Yoast SEO, Everlit, and Complianz GDPR. It integrates analytics and marketing tools including Google Analytics, HubSpot, and Jetpack Stats. Hosting is provided by Automattic, ensuring reliable performance and scalability. The site is well-optimized for mobile devices and accessibility, with fast loading times and proper SEO metadata. Technical debt appears minimal, with current technologies and best practices in place. Opportunities exist to enhance security headers and formalize security documentation to reduce technical risks.
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. 75/100Medium26 findingsView report
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