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Security report for prisonjournalismproject.org

Prison Journalism Project · Non-profit · United States

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Prison Journalism Project is a US-based nonprofit organization established in 2019 that trains incarcerated individuals to become journalists and publishes their stories. It occupies a unique niche in the nonprofit media sector focused on criminal justice reform and prison-related storytelling. The organization operates a professionally designed WordPress website with rich content, including articles, educational resources, and special projects. The site actively engages its audience through newsletters, social media, and donation campaigns. Technically, the website uses modern WordPress plugins and SEO tools, is hosted with Cloudflare, and employs HTTPS with strong security headers, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, and privacy compliance could be improved with explicit cookie consent and GDPR details. No critical security vulnerabilities were detected, but the absence of published security and incident response policies suggests room for improvement in formal security governance. Overall, the website demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and a solid security posture suitable for its nonprofit mission.

Scanned

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

6 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. 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

  3. 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 prisonjournalismproject.org

This scan found 26 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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Recommended

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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
42
Security headers
30
Email security
75
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
63

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 prisonjournalismproject.org, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for prisonjournalismproject.org 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

The Prison Journalism Project positions itself as a specialized nonprofit media organization serving incarcerated writers and criminal justice reform advocates. Its business model relies on donations and memberships, facilitated through a partner fundraising platform. The organization leverages a strong content strategy with award-winning journalism and educational materials to build credibility and community engagement. Its active social media presence across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Bluesky supports outreach and audience growth. The website's clear navigation and consistent branding reinforce its market position as a trusted voice in prison journalism. Growth indicators include recent content updates and ongoing special projects. The partnership with a dedicated fundraising domain indicates a strategic approach to revenue generation and donor management.

Security posture

The website exhibits a good security maturity level with HTTPS enforced, clientTransferProhibited domain status, and multiple security headers implemented. There is no evidence of exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries in the HTML content. Forms include recaptcha integration, enhancing protection against automated abuse. However, the lack of DNSSEC and absence of a published security policy or incident response plan indicate gaps in comprehensive security governance. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file is present, limiting transparency for security researchers. Privacy compliance is basic, with no explicit cookie consent mechanism or GDPR statements. Overall, the security posture is solid for a nonprofit media site but could be enhanced by formalizing policies and improving DNS security.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to strengthen DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement a clear cookie consent banner/mechanism to comply with privacy regulations such as GDPR.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response plan accessible on the website.
  4. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  5. Enhance privacy policy to explicitly address GDPR compliance and data retention practices.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Prison Journalism Project
Description
An independent, national nonprofit organization that trains incarcerated writers to be journalists and publishes their stories.
Key services
Training incarcerated writers, Publishing stories by incarcerated journalists, Educational resources on prison journalism, Hosting journalism awards and special projects
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, WooCommerce, Yoast SEO Premium, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, jQuery, AddToAny, Jetpack, Newspack Blocks, Perfmatters
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Client transfer prohibited domain status
  • Use of security headers
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with recaptcha integration

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Jetpack Stats, Parsely
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ad Manager (gpt.js)
Tracking pixels
Jetpack Stats, Parsely
Marketing tools
AddToAny social sharing
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally designed nonprofit media platform focused on prison journalism.
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and updated with recent articles.
  3. Strong social media integration and active outreach via newsletter and donation campaigns.
  4. Security posture is good with HTTPS and security headers, but DNSSEC is not enabled.
  5. Privacy and cookie policies exist but lack explicit consent mechanisms and GDPR compliance details.
  6. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  7. No exposed sensitive data or obvious vulnerabilities detected.
  8. Use of modern WordPress plugins and SEO tools enhances site performance and visibility.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress with a modern tech stack including WooCommerce for e-commerce features, Yoast SEO Premium for search optimization, and Google Analytics and Tag Manager for analytics and marketing. It uses jQuery and AddToAny for social sharing, and Jetpack for additional functionality. Hosting and DNS are managed via Cloudflare, providing CDN and security benefits. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. The site uses structured data (JSON-LD) for SEO and social media integration. Some technical debt is evident in the absence of DNSSEC and incomplete privacy compliance features. Overall, the technical infrastructure is robust and well-maintained, supporting the organization's digital presence effectively.
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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