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Security report for scorecardresearch.com

Full Circle Studies, Inc. · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

ScorecardResearch, operated by Full Circle Studies, Inc. and part of Comscore, Inc., provides market research services focused on collecting anonymous internet usage data through voluntary surveys and web tagging on partner websites. The company positions itself as a key player in global internet trend analysis, leveraging data to understand user behavior and preferences. The website content is professional and consistent with its market research mission, targeting internet users willing to participate in surveys. Technically, the site uses a C# backend with JavaScript and jQuery libraries, integrating Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for tracking and data collection. The site is moderately optimized for performance and mobile use, with basic SEO and accessibility features. Security posture is moderate; while HTTPS is implied, explicit security headers are not detected, and no direct incident response or security policy pages are found. Privacy compliance is strong with clear privacy and cookie policies, including GDPR considerations. WHOIS data is missing, which raises some concerns about domain registration transparency, but the affiliation with Comscore lends credibility. Overall, the site is functional and trustworthy but could improve security transparency and contact availability.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of scorecardresearch.com. View the latest report

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

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

  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

  3. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • High

      Potential Subdomain Takeover

      Subdomain api.scorecardresearch.com points to unregistered service ivt-service-505396678.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com

      What to do: Remove or fix CNAME record to prevent subdomain takeover

      • WSTG-CONF-10
      • NIS2 21(2)(i)
      • IR 2024/2690 12.4: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 12.4: Asset inventory
      • NIST CM-8: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-8: System Component Inventory

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Keep watching scorecardresearch.com

This scan found 22 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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  • 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
60
Email security
60
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
68

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

ScorecardResearch operates within the technology sector, specializing in market research and data analytics. Its business model relies on voluntary user participation in surveys and data collection via web tagging, generating insights for internet usage trends. The company benefits from its association with Comscore, a recognized leader in market research, which enhances its market position and trustworthiness. The target audience includes internet users globally who engage in surveys. The website reflects a medium-sized operation with professional content and consistent branding. The partnership ecosystem includes Full Circle Studies, Inc. and Comscore, Inc. No direct revenue streams or monetization details are disclosed on the homepage. The company maintains a basic but effective digital presence with room for growth in direct customer engagement and transparency.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level. It uses HTTPS (implied by external scripts loaded via HTTPS), and employs Google Tag Manager and Analytics for tracking, which are industry-standard tools. However, no explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy or HSTS are detected in the provided data. There is no visible incident response contact or security policy page, which limits transparency in handling security events. The site avoids collecting personally identifiable information directly, relying on anonymous data collection methods. Privacy policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, indicating good data protection practices. The absence of WHOIS data is a concern but may be due to privacy protection services. Overall, the security posture is adequate for the business type but could be enhanced by adding security headers, incident response information, and more transparent contact details.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and verify security headers including CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options to improve security posture.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to enhance transparency and trust.
  3. Ensure HTTPS is enforced site-wide and SSL/TLS configuration is strong and up to date.
  4. Add clear and accessible contact information including support emails and phone numbers on the website.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize vulnerabilities and privacy risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Full Circle Studies, Inc.
Description
ScorecardResearch, a service of Full Circle Studies, Inc., is part of Comscore, Inc. market research community that collects anonymous internet usage data via surveys and web tagging to analyze internet trends and behavior.
Key services
Internet usage surveys, Web tagging data collection, Market research reporting
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
C#, JavaScript, jQuery 3.6.0, jQuery UI 1.13.0, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
60/100
Good practices seen
  • No personal data collected via surveys
  • Use of Google Tag Manager for analytics

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, comScore beacon
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
comScore beacon
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is accessible with full content and no blocking detected.
  2. WHOIS data is missing, indicating possible privacy protection or registrar data withholding.
  3. Website uses standard market research data collection methods with clear privacy statements.
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on the homepage.
  5. Use of Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for tracking.
  6. No explicit security headers detected in provided data.
  7. No social media links or direct contact information visible on homepage.
  8. Content is professional and consistent with a market research service.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a C# backend with client-side JavaScript and jQuery libraries (version 3.6.0 and jQuery UI 1.13.0). It integrates Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for tracking user behavior and data collection. The site uses standard HTML with basic CSS styling and some custom JavaScript for UI interactions and cookie management. Performance is moderate, with asynchronous loading of analytics scripts. Mobile optimization is basic but functional. SEO is supported by meta tags for description, keywords, and robots. Accessibility features are minimal but present. No CMS or hosting provider information is detected from the HTML content. The site could benefit from modernization efforts including improved accessibility, enhanced mobile responsiveness, and stronger security configurations.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 71/100 +3Medium29 findingsView report
  2. 68/100 −1Medium31 findingsView report
  3. 69/100Medium29 findingsView report
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