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Security report for smartnews.com

SmartNews · Media · United States

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

67/100

Risk levelMedium

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

SmartNews is a large-scale news aggregation platform trusted by over 40 million users worldwide, offering curated news from more than 200 local news sites. The company provides a mobile-first experience with apps available on iOS and Android, emphasizing fast, efficient news delivery with a clean and modern interface. The website reflects a mature digital presence with strong branding and user engagement features such as newsletters and social media integration. Technically, the site leverages modern frameworks like Svelte and Tailwind CSS, along with performance optimizations and accessibility considerations. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement and appropriate security headers, though explicit security policies and incident response information are not publicly disclosed. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear privacy and cookie policies, including GDPR considerations. Overall, the site demonstrates high professionalism and trustworthiness, though the WHOIS data is unavailable, likely due to privacy protection, which is justified for this business type.

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 smartnews.com

This scan found 21 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
85
Security headers
15
Email security
80
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
67

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

SmartNews operates in the media and technology sectors, focusing on news aggregation and personalized content delivery. Its business model centers on providing a comprehensive news app that blends editorial curation with algorithmic recommendations. The company targets a broad audience seeking efficient news consumption, positioning itself as a leading news app with significant market penetration evidenced by millions of downloads and high user ratings. The website's external links and partner domains indicate active advertising and publisher partnerships. The absence of direct contact emails or phone numbers suggests a preference for managed communication channels via contact forms. The company maintains a strong brand presence and leverages analytics and marketing tools to optimize user engagement and advertising effectiveness.

Security posture

The website employs robust security measures including HTTPS, modern security headers, and no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. Tracking and analytics are implemented responsibly with Microsoft Clarity and Bing UET, balanced with privacy compliance. However, the lack of a published security policy, incident response plan, or vulnerability disclosure program represents an area for improvement. No signs of malware, phishing, or other security threats were detected. The overall security maturity is high, suitable for a large media platform, but could be enhanced by transparency around security governance and incident handling.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and commitments.
  2. Establish and publicize an incident response contact or abuse reporting channel.
  3. Implement a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Enhance contact information availability to improve user trust and support accessibility.
  5. Continue monitoring and updating third-party libraries and tracking tools to mitigate emerging risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
SmartNews
Description
Trusted by over 40+ million worldwide readers, SmartNews provides the best news, stories and events across 200+ local news sites.
Key services
News aggregation, Personalized news curation, Local and global news coverage, Mobile app distribution
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Tailwind CSS, Svelte, Lottie animations, Google Fonts, Microsoft Clarity, Bing UET
Frameworks
Svelte
Platforms
Web, iOS, Android
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security headers
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Microsoft Clarity
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Microsoft Advertising
Tracking pixels
Microsoft Clarity, Bing UET
Marketing tools
Google Fonts
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 interactive features.
  2. Strong branding and consistent design throughout the site.
  3. No signs of phishing, malware, or suspicious activity detected.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and performance optimizations.
  5. Privacy and cookie policies are present and indicate GDPR compliance.
  6. No direct company contact emails or phone numbers found on the main page; contact is via forms.
  7. No explicit security policy or incident response information published.
  8. WHOIS data is unavailable, which is common for privacy-protected domains.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using modern web technologies including Svelte for frontend framework and Tailwind CSS for styling, ensuring a responsive and performant user experience. It integrates Lottie animations for rich interactive content and uses Google Fonts for typography. Analytics and tracking are handled via Microsoft Clarity and Bing UET, indicating a focus on user behavior insights and advertising effectiveness. The site is well optimized for mobile devices and accessibility, with proper meta tags and SEO-friendly structure. No CMS or hosting provider details were explicitly identified. The technical implementation reflects a mature and modern digital infrastructure with good performance and security practices.
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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