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Security report for npr.org

National Public Radio, Inc. · Media · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

73/100

Risk levelMedium

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

National Public Radio (NPR) is a leading nonprofit media organization in the United States, providing high-quality journalism, news, music, arts, and cultural content through its website and public radio broadcasts. The website serves a broad audience interested in U.S. and world news, politics, health, science, and culture, positioning NPR as a trusted source of nonprofit journalism. The digital infrastructure is modern and robust, leveraging advanced analytics, consent management, and multimedia delivery technologies to ensure a seamless user experience across devices. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement, security headers, and privacy compliance mechanisms in place, although public security policies and incident response contacts are not explicitly published. Overall, NPR's website demonstrates a mature digital presence with excellent content quality and user engagement, supporting its mission-driven business model.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
73/ 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

5 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

  2. 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"

    • 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';…

  3. 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

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

Keep watching npr.org

This scan found 18 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
57
Security headers
35
Email security
87
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
73
Average
73

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

NPR operates in the media sector as a nonprofit entity, focusing on delivering news and cultural programming. Its market position is strong, supported by a large audience and partnerships with public radio stations. Revenue streams likely include donations, sponsorships, and grants, facilitated through platforms like plus.npr.org and payment services such as Stripe. The organization targets a general audience interested in trustworthy news and cultural content. NPR's partnership ecosystem includes technology providers for analytics, consent management, and content delivery, reflecting a sophisticated operational model. The website's professional design and comprehensive content support NPR's reputation and growth in the competitive media landscape.

Security posture

The website exhibits a high level of security maturity, with HTTPS enforced and multiple security headers implemented to protect users. Cookie consent and privacy policies comply with GDPR and other regulations, indicating strong data protection practices. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analysis. However, the absence of a public vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file suggests room for improvement in transparency and incident response readiness. Overall, NPR maintains a secure environment appropriate for a major media organization, balancing user privacy and operational security effectively.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a public vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file to enhance transparency and facilitate responsible reporting.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact information to improve security communication and readiness.
  3. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and tracking tools to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  4. Enhance documentation of data retention policies and user privacy practices for greater user trust.
  5. Continue to monitor and optimize cookie consent mechanisms to maintain compliance with evolving privacy regulations.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
National Public Radio, Inc.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
National Public Radio, Inc.
Description
Top stories in the U.S. and world news, politics, health, science, business, music, arts and culture. Nonprofit journalism with a mission. This is NPR.
Key services
News reporting, Podcasts, Music and arts coverage, Public radio broadcasting
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Google Tag Manager, OneTrust Cookie Consent, Piano (Tinypass) paywall/consent, JW Player, Crazy Egg, Permutive, Stripe API
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security headers

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, Permutive, Optimizely, Nielsen
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Crazy Egg
Tracking pixels
Permutive, Crazy Egg, Optimizely
Marketing tools
Permutive, Optimizely
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 no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is professionally presented with high quality and relevance.
  3. Strong privacy and cookie consent mechanisms are in place.
  4. Use of multiple modern tracking and analytics tools with consent.
  5. No security or privacy critical issues detected in the content or scripts.
  6. WHOIS data is unavailable or privacy protected, common for large organizations.
  7. No suspicious or malicious external domains detected.
  8. No adult or NSFW content present.
Technical notes

Notes

NPR's website is built on a modern technology stack including JavaScript frameworks, Google Tag Manager, OneTrust for consent management, and JW Player for multimedia content. Hosting appears to leverage Akamai CDN services for performance and reliability. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility considerations. Performance is fast with efficient resource loading and caching strategies. SEO is well-implemented with comprehensive meta tags and Open Graph data. Technical risks are minimal, though continuous monitoring of third-party dependencies is advised to prevent security or performance degradation.
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. 80/100 −3Low24 findingsView report
  2. 83/100 +9Low23 findingsView report
  3. 74/100Medium23 findingsView report
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