Skip to main content

Security report for planetdetroit.org

Planet Detroit · Media · United States

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

61/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Planet Detroit is an independent nonprofit newsroom dedicated to producing news about local climate, environment, and public health issues in Detroit and Michigan. The organization targets residents and stakeholders interested in environmental accountability and community empowerment. Their business model focuses on nonprofit journalism with a strong emphasis on community engagement and transparency. The website demonstrates a solid market position as a regional media outlet specializing in environmental reporting. Technically, the website is built on WordPress using the Newspack theme and plugins, integrating modern technologies such as Google Analytics, Google AdSense, OneSignal push notifications, and Broadstreet Ads. The site is hosted by Bluehost and uses AWS DNS services. The technical infrastructure is modern and well-optimized for SEO, mobile responsiveness, and accessibility, though performance is moderate. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses domain transfer protection. However, it lacks DNSSEC, security headers, and published security or incident response policies. Privacy compliance is partial, with no explicit privacy or cookie policies found, though consent mode scripts are implemented to restrict tracking in EU regions. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files are present. Overall, Planet Detroit presents a trustworthy and professional online presence with excellent content quality and business credibility. Security and privacy practices can be improved by adding explicit policies, security headers, and incident response information to enhance user trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

7 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"

    • 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

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

Keep watching planetdetroit.org

This scan found 27 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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
25
Email security
55
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
61

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

Planet Detroit operates as a nonprofit media organization focused on environmental and public health journalism in the Detroit and Michigan region. Its competitive advantage lies in its specialized reporting and community engagement through newsletters and social media. The business model relies on donations, advertising, and grants, targeting environmentally conscious readers and local communities. The organization shows growth potential through digital channels and partnerships but should enhance transparency around privacy and security to maintain credibility. The partnership ecosystem includes advertising networks and social media platforms, supporting its outreach and monetization strategies.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security posture with HTTPS enforced and domain transfer protection enabled. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options reduces its defense-in-depth. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. The lack of published security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms indicates room for improvement in security governance and transparency. Privacy compliance is basic, with consent mechanisms implemented but no explicit privacy or cookie policies. Enhancing these areas would reduce risk and improve user trust.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement and publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy accessible from the website footer.
  3. Add standard security headers (Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options) to HTTP responses.
  4. Publish a security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  5. Create a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Planet Detroit
Description
Planet Detroit produces news about local climate, environment and public health issues in Detroit and Michigan.
Key services
Local climate news, Environmental reporting, Public health journalism, Community newsletters
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.1, Yoast SEO Premium, Newspack Theme and Plugins, Google Analytics (gtag.js), Google AdSense, OneSignal Push Notifications, Broadstreet Ads, FontAwesome, Google Fonts, Embed PDF Viewer, Prism Site Messages, Diffuser CDN
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
AWS (DNS via AWS Route 53), Bluehost (Registrar)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status
  • No exposed sensitive data detected
  • Consent mode for Google Analytics denying personalization and storage in EU regions

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Google AdSense, Broadstreet Ads, Empower Local
Tracking pixels
Prism Site Messages, Trackcmp
Marketing tools
Google Site Kit, OneSignal Push Notifications
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a nonprofit independent newsroom focused on Detroit and Michigan environment and public health
  2. Content is rich, recent, and well-structured with multiple articles and deep dives
  3. Strong use of SEO and structured data (JSON-LD) for enhanced search presence
  4. Multiple social media channels linked (Facebook, Bluesky, Instagram, LinkedIn)
  5. No explicit privacy or cookie policy pages found, but consent mode scripts present
  6. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found in the content or metadata
  7. Uses WordPress with Newspack theme and plugins, indicating a modern CMS setup
  8. Advertising via Google AdSense and Broadstreet Ads present
  9. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy found
  10. SSL/TLS is properly configured; no DNSSEC enabled
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern WordPress CMS with the Newspack theme and plugins optimized for news media. It integrates Google Analytics and AdSense for analytics and monetization, OneSignal for push notifications, and Broadstreet Ads for advertising. The site uses Google Fonts and FontAwesome for typography and icons. Hosting is via Bluehost with AWS DNS services. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices including structured data (JSON-LD) and Open Graph metadata. Performance is moderate, likely due to multiple third-party scripts and advertising integrations. Technical debt appears low, but enabling DNSSEC and security headers would strengthen infrastructure security.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with planetdetroit.org. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review planetdetroit.org.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.