Skip to main content

Security report for scoop.co.nz

Scoop Publishing Ltd · Media · New Zealand

Medium risk. 8 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

Scoop is an established New Zealand independent news media company, operating since 1996, providing up-to-the-minute news, press releases, analysis, and opinion pieces focused on New Zealand politics, government, and society. The website serves a broad audience including the general public, media professionals, and government stakeholders. It operates a freemium business model with a Pro license required for professional or work-related use, supported by an ethical paywall. The company maintains a network of subsidiary and partner sites covering various news niches and regions within New Zealand. Technically, the website uses modern web technologies including Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Google Publisher Tags for advertising and analytics, with a responsive design optimized for mobile devices. Security posture is good with HTTPS enforced and no visible vulnerabilities, though explicit security headers and privacy compliance mechanisms could be improved. WHOIS data is unavailable, which slightly reduces trustworthiness, but the website's content quality, branding consistency, and external verifications support its legitimacy. Overall, Scoop presents as a credible and professional media outlet with room for enhanced privacy and security transparency.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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

8 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 Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • 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 scoop.co.nz

This scan found 25 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
72
Security headers
15
Email security
75
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
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

Scoop holds a strong position in the New Zealand media landscape as an independent news provider with a diversified network of related sites. Its business model leverages both free content for personal use and a paid Pro license for professional users, indicating multiple revenue streams including subscriptions and advertising. The company targets a wide audience interested in New Zealand news, politics, and culture. The presence of multiple Google Analytics trackers and advertising tags suggests active monetization and audience measurement strategies. The network of partner and subsidiary domains expands its reach and content diversity. However, the lack of publicly available WHOIS data is unusual and may warrant further investigation. The company appears to maintain a professional online presence with clear branding and user engagement through newsletters and social media.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security foundation with HTTPS enforced site-wide, secure forms, and no exposed sensitive data in the HTML content. However, explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options are not detected, which are recommended best practices to mitigate common web vulnerabilities. There is no visible security policy or incident response contact information, which could improve transparency and user trust. The absence of a cookie consent mechanism and detailed privacy policy may pose compliance risks with GDPR and other privacy regulations. No vulnerabilities or suspicious scripts were identified in the provided content. Overall, the security posture is good but could be enhanced with additional headers and privacy compliance features.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce explicit security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, and Referrer-Policy to strengthen defense against common web attacks.
  2. Add a visible cookie consent banner and detailed cookie policy to improve privacy compliance and user transparency.
  3. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy page that explicitly addresses GDPR and other relevant data protection regulations.
  4. Provide a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to enhance trust and facilitate vulnerability reporting.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and analytics tools to mitigate potential security risks and ensure compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Scoop Publishing Ltd
Description
Scoop Provides up to the minute New Zealand News. Press Releases, Analysis, Opinion Pieces, all published the instant they are available
Key services
News publishing, Press releases, Analysis, Opinion pieces, Scoop Pro licensed access, Newsletter subscription
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Google Publisher Tags (GPT), Material Icons, Source Sans Pro font, Open Sans font, Mailchimp for newsletter
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with HTTPS
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ad Manager, DoubleClick
Marketing tools
Mailchimp
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a New Zealand focused independent news media outlet with multiple news sections and partner sites.
  2. Content is well structured with clear navigation and multiple news categories.
  3. Uses multiple Google Analytics trackers and Google Tag Manager for analytics.
  4. Has an ethical paywall requiring a Pro license for work use, with clear messaging and subscription forms.
  5. No explicit privacy or cookie consent banners detected, which may impact compliance.
  6. WHOIS data is missing or not publicly available, which is unusual for a domain of this nature.
  7. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found; contact is via a contact page form.
  8. No explicit security policy or incident response information found.
  9. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information found.
  10. No adult or NSFW content detected; content is safe for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, with fonts loaded from Google Fonts and icons from Material Icons. It integrates multiple Google Analytics trackers and Google Tag Manager for analytics and advertising, as well as Google Publisher Tags for ad serving. The site uses Mailchimp for newsletter subscription management. The design is responsive and optimized for mobile devices, with CSS media queries adjusting layout for various screen sizes. Performance appears moderate with asynchronous loading of scripts. No CMS or hosting provider information is explicitly detected. The site structure is clear with well-organized navigation and multiple news sections. Technical debt appears low, but the absence of modern security headers and privacy mechanisms indicates areas for modernization.
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 scoop.co.nz. 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 scoop.co.nz.

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.