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Security report for sdtimes.com

SD Times · Technology · N/a

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

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

SD Times is a well-established media platform founded in 1999, specializing in software development news, analysis, podcasts, and live webinars targeted at software developers and development managers. The site positions itself as a leading source in its niche, providing valuable content to a professional audience. Technically, the website is built on WordPress CMS with a modern tech stack including SEO and analytics tools, and it demonstrates good mobile optimization and SEO practices. Security-wise, the site uses HTTPS and implements cookie consent mechanisms, but lacks explicit security headers and published security policies, indicating room for improvement in security posture. Overall, the site is legitimate, professional, and safe for general audiences, with a moderate to good security and privacy compliance level.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
95/ 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 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 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 sdtimes.com

This scan found 24 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
62
Security headers
30
Email security
55
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
95
Average
70

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

The business operates in the technology media sector, focusing on software development professionals. Its business model revolves around content publishing, including news, podcasts, and webinars, likely monetized through advertising and sponsorships. The company maintains a consistent brand presence and leverages marketing tools such as ActiveCampaign and HubSpot. The domain age and WHOIS data support a credible and stable market presence. The absence of direct contact information and formal policies on the site suggests potential areas to enhance transparency and user trust. The social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn supports community engagement and brand visibility.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a basic to moderate security maturity level. HTTPS is properly implemented, and cookie consent mechanisms indicate GDPR awareness. However, the lack of security headers, absence of published security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms highlight gaps in security best practices. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the provided content. The site would benefit from enabling DNSSEC, publishing security and privacy policies, and adding security headers to strengthen its security posture and compliance with industry standards.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Publish comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service pages prominently linked on the site.
  3. Implement and publish a security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  4. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options to protect against common web attacks.
  5. Consider creating a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
SD Times
Description
SD Times is the leading site for software developers and development managers, offering news, analysis, podcasts, and live webinars on a range of topics.
Key services
news, analysis, podcasts, live webinars
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.2, jQuery 3.7.1, Google Tag Manager, Yoast SEO Premium, ActiveCampaign subscription forms, Mega Menu Pro, Clicky Analytics, HubSpot Analytics, Google Analytics, Queryly search
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Use of Google Tag Manager and analytics scripts with consent mechanism
  • Cookie consent banner implemented

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Clicky Analytics, HubSpot Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Adsense
Tracking pixels
HubSpot Analytics, Clicky Analytics
Marketing tools
ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, ConvertFlow
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional media site focused on software development news.
  2. Uses WordPress CMS with common plugins for SEO, analytics, and marketing.
  3. Implements cookie consent mechanism indicating GDPR awareness.
  4. No explicit privacy policy or terms of service pages detected in provided content.
  5. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in the analyzed content.
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information found.
  7. No security headers explicitly detected in provided data.
  8. SSL is enabled and domain uses HTTPS.
  9. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected.
  10. Content is safe and appropriate for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a mature WordPress platform with a variety of plugins for SEO, analytics, marketing, and user experience enhancements. The tech stack includes jQuery, Google Tag Manager, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, and Clicky Analytics. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and SEO practices. The site uses a Mega Menu for navigation and integrates external resources from trusted CDNs. Hosting appears to be with GoDaddy, consistent with the registrar information. There is no indication of technical debt or outdated libraries in the provided data, but security headers and DNSSEC are missing, representing technical risks that should be addressed to improve overall security and resilience.
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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