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Security report for pond5.com

Pond5 · Media · United States

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

79/100

Risk levelLow

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

Pond5 is a well-established online marketplace specializing in royalty-free stock media including 4K and HD videos, music tracks, sound effects, motion graphics, and images. Founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York, USA, it serves media professionals and content creators globally. The website demonstrates a strong market position with a comprehensive library and professional quality offerings at affordable prices. Technically, the site employs modern JavaScript technologies, integrates monitoring and analytics tools such as New Relic and Google Tag Manager, and implements robust privacy and cookie consent mechanisms. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and multiple security headers present, though explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not publicly disclosed. The WHOIS data is unavailable, likely due to privacy protection, which is common for commercial entities but slightly reduces transparency. Overall, Pond5 presents a trustworthy and professional digital presence with excellent content quality and user experience.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
88/ 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

3 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

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

Keep watching pond5.com

This scan found 16 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
82
Security headers
35
Email security
82
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
88
Average
79

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

Pond5 operates in the media sector as a large-scale digital marketplace for stock media assets. Its business model revolves around licensing royalty-free content to creative professionals, filmmakers, and media companies. The company leverages a broad partnership ecosystem and maintains active social media channels to engage its audience. Revenue streams likely include direct sales and subscriptions. The website's structured data and social media presence reinforce its brand credibility. While no parent company or subsidiaries are identified, Pond5's market presence and founding date suggest a mature business with significant industry recognition.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and cookie consent compliance aligned with GDPR. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the analyzed scripts. However, the absence of a publicly available security policy, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure program indicates areas for improvement in transparency and incident readiness. The WHOIS privacy protection is justified but limits external verification of domain ownership. Overall, the security measures are robust for a commercial media platform, but enhanced disclosure would strengthen trust and compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page detailing security practices and compliance frameworks.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact channels such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  3. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and libraries to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Update WHOIS registration details to improve transparency and domain ownership trustworthiness.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Pond5
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Pond5
Description
Explore Pond5's vast library of HD & 4K stock video, music tracks, SFX, motion graphics, and images. Professional quality at affordable prices.
Key services
stock video, music tracks, sound effects, motion graphics, images
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, New Relic monitoring, Google Tag Manager, OneTrust cookie consent, Google Identity Services
Platforms
web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • security headers present
  • cookie consent implemented
  • no exposed sensitive data in scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
New Relic, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
New Relic
Marketing tools
OneTrust Cookie Consent
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 challenge
  2. Professional and comprehensive content with strong branding
  3. Robust privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms
  4. No exposed sensitive data or obvious security vulnerabilities
  5. WHOIS data unavailable, indicating privacy protection or registry issue
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern JavaScript-based front end with integration of performance monitoring (New Relic), tag management (Google Tag Manager), and cookie consent management (OneTrust). The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and good accessibility features. SEO is supported by proper meta tags, Open Graph, and JSON-LD structured data. No CMS or hosting provider details are explicitly detected. Performance is fast with CDN usage for media assets. Technical debt appears minimal, but continuous monitoring of third-party dependencies is recommended to maintain security and performance.
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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