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Security report for nj.com

NJ.com · Media · United States

Low risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

76/100

Risk levelLow

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

NJ.com is a prominent online media platform focused on delivering local news, sports, weather, and lifestyle content for New Jersey residents and visitors. It serves as a leading source of regional information with a broad audience base. The website employs a modern technical infrastructure including React, Arc Fusion CMS, and integrates multiple advertising and analytics technologies to support its business model. Despite the absence of publicly available WHOIS data, the site demonstrates strong branding, professional content, and extensive user engagement features. Security posture is generally good with HTTPS and standard best practices, though explicit privacy and cookie policies were not detected in the provided content. Overall, NJ.com is a credible and established media entity with room for improvement in privacy transparency and security header implementation.

Scanned

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

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

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 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
    • High

      Missing X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

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

  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 nj.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.

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
85
Security headers
30
Email security
97
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
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

NJ.com operates within the media sector, targeting local news consumers in New Jersey. Its business model relies on advertising revenue supplemented by subscription services. The site is part of a network of regional media properties, indicating a partnership ecosystem that enhances market reach. The platform's competitive advantage lies in its comprehensive local coverage and integration of modern digital tools. Growth indicators include active content updates and subscriber-exclusive content. Strategic observations suggest focusing on enhancing privacy compliance and expanding direct user contact channels to strengthen trust and engagement.

Security posture

The website maintains a good security posture with enforced HTTPS and use of reputable third-party services for analytics and advertising. However, the lack of explicit security headers and absence of visible privacy and cookie policies represent compliance gaps. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Incident response and security policy information are not publicly available, which could impact readiness and transparency. The extensive use of third-party scripts necessitates ongoing monitoring to mitigate supply chain risks. Overall, the security maturity is moderate with opportunities for improvement in policy visibility and header implementation.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and prominently display comprehensive privacy and cookie policies to enhance GDPR and CCPA compliance.
  2. Add and enforce security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to strengthen defense against common web attacks.
  3. Establish and publish incident response and security contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and advertising networks to minimize supply chain vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and mobile optimization to improve user experience and SEO.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
NJ.com
Description
Get the latest New Jersey news, sports, and breaking updates. View daily NJ weather and top stories from Jersey City, Atlantic City, and beyond on NJ.com.
Key services
Local news reporting, Sports coverage, Weather updates, Entertainment and lifestyle content, Subscription services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Google Tag Manager, Amazon Ads, Rubicon Project, DoubleClick, Sophi Analytics, Boomerang Performance Monitoring, AdRecover, BlueConic, Tinypass Paywall
Frameworks
Arc Fusion
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of Google Tag Manager for controlled script loading
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via GTM), Sophi Analytics, Ahrefs Analytics, BlueConic
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Amazon Ads, Rubicon Project, DoubleClick, AdRecover, BlueConic
Tracking pixels
LinkedIn Insight, Reddit Pixel, Scorecard Research, Sophi Analytics, Ahrefs Analytics
Marketing tools
Tinypass Paywall, BlueConic
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a major local news portal for New Jersey with extensive news, sports, weather, and lifestyle content
  2. Content is well structured with clear navigation and multiple sections
  3. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools is evident
  4. Advertising and tracking scripts are numerous, indicating monetization and user behavior tracking
  5. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service pages detected in the provided HTML snippet
  6. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in the HTML content
  7. No security or incident response contact information found
  8. WHOIS data is missing or unavailable, which is unusual for a commercial domain
  9. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected, content fully accessible
  10. Content is safe for general audiences with no adult or questionable material
Technical notes

Notes

NJ.com uses a modern technology stack centered on React and Arc Fusion CMS, supported by a variety of advertising and analytics platforms including Google Tag Manager, Amazon Ads, Rubicon Project, and Sophi Analytics. The site demonstrates good mobile responsiveness and SEO optimization with proper meta tags and structured data. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in script loading optimization. The absence of explicit hosting provider information limits full infrastructure assessment. Technical risks include reliance on multiple third-party scripts which require vigilant security management to prevent 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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 72/100Medium28 findingsView report
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