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Security report for rockpapershotgun.com

Rock Paper Shotgun · Media · United Kingdom

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

80/100

Risk levelLow

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

Rock Paper Shotgun is a well-established online media publication specializing in PC gaming news, previews, reviews, and opinion. Founded in 2007 and owned by Gamer Network Limited, it targets PC gaming enthusiasts with high-quality editorial content. The website demonstrates a mature digital presence with comprehensive privacy and cookie policies, consent management, and extensive use of advertising and analytics technologies. The technical infrastructure includes modern JavaScript libraries, Google Tag Manager, and consent frameworks, supporting a good user experience and mobile optimization. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement and security headers, though explicit incident response and vulnerability disclosure information are not publicly available. WHOIS data is unavailable, which slightly impacts trust assessment but does not detract from the overall legitimacy indicated by the website content and parent company information.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
85/ 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 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 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 rockpapershotgun.com

This scan found 19 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
72
Security headers
55
Email security
85
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
85
Average
80

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

Rock Paper Shotgun holds a strong market position as a reputable PC gaming news outlet with a medium-sized operation under the Gamer Network Limited umbrella. Its business model relies on advertising revenue supported by multiple ad networks and tracking services, balanced with user privacy compliance via GDPR consent mechanisms. The company maintains a consistent brand identity and leverages social media platforms extensively for audience engagement. The lack of direct contact emails or phone numbers suggests a focus on digital engagement through contact forms and social channels. The parent company relationship and detailed editorial policies enhance credibility and trustworthiness in the competitive gaming media sector.

Security posture

The website exhibits a solid security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and GDPR-compliant consent management. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the analyzed content. However, the absence of a public incident response contact or vulnerability disclosure policy represents a compliance gap and potential risk area. The use of multiple third-party advertising and analytics services necessitates ongoing monitoring to ensure privacy and security standards are maintained. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be improved by publishing explicit security policies and contact channels.

Recommendations

  1. Publish explicit incident response and security contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  3. Regularly audit third-party scripts and ad networks to minimize privacy and security risks.
  4. Enhance business credibility by providing verified contact emails and phone numbers where appropriate.
  5. Maintain and update privacy and cookie policies to reflect evolving regulations and best practices.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Gamer Network Limited
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Rock Paper Shotgun
Description
PC gaming news, previews, reviews, opinion.
Key services
Gaming news, Game previews, Game reviews, Opinion articles
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Prebid.js, Chartbeat, OneTrust Consent Management, Brockman Ads and Scripts, Primis Video Player
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Consent management for GDPR
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security headers

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Chartbeat, Comscore
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Rubicon, Sovrn, Pubmatic, OpenX, IX, Medianet, Sharethrough, AMX, OneTag, Criteo, Yieldmo, KueezRTB, Teads, OpenWeb, TripleLift, TTD
Tracking pixels
Chartbeat, Comscore
Marketing tools
OneTrust Consent Management
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 rich content and professional design.
  2. Strong presence of privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms.
  3. No direct contact emails or phone numbers publicly listed; contact via form only.
  4. Extensive use of advertising and analytics technologies with consent management.
  5. WHOIS data unavailable, limiting domain registration trust analysis.
  6. No adult or explicit content detected; content is safe for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern technology stack including Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Prebid.js for programmatic advertising, Chartbeat for analytics, and OneTrust for consent management. The site is optimized for mobile devices and includes accessibility features. Performance is moderate with asynchronous loading of scripts and lazy loading of ads and images. The absence of a detected CMS suggests a custom or proprietary platform. Hosting provider details are not explicitly found. The technical implementation supports a professional and scalable digital presence but could benefit from further performance optimization and transparency on hosting and CMS.
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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