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Security report for stuff.co.nz

Stuff · Media · New Zealand

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

74/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Stuff.co.nz is a leading New Zealand news media website providing comprehensive coverage of local and international news, sports, politics, entertainment, lifestyle, and more. It operates multiple regional news sites and offers multimedia content including videos and podcasts. The site targets the general New Zealand public and monetizes primarily through advertising. Technically, the site uses modern web frameworks such as React and Ionic, integrates multiple third-party advertising and analytics services, and maintains good security practices including HTTPS and security headers. However, it lacks visible cookie consent mechanisms and explicit security or incident response policies. The WHOIS data is unavailable due to .nz registry restrictions, but the site’s branding and content indicate a legitimate and established media entity. Overall, the site demonstrates strong digital maturity and content quality with moderate privacy compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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

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 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 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

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching stuff.co.nz

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.

Daily monitoring

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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
97
Security headers
30
Email security
80
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
74

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

Stuff holds a dominant position in the New Zealand digital news market, supported by a broad portfolio of regional news brands and community platforms. Its business model centers on advertising revenue, leveraging extensive user engagement through diverse content formats. The company benefits from strong brand recognition and industry awards, enhancing trust and market presence. Partnerships with multiple ad networks and marketing tools indicate a mature monetization strategy. The absence of direct contact emails or phone numbers suggests a focus on digital engagement channels. Growth opportunities may include enhanced privacy compliance and security transparency to meet evolving regulatory demands.

Security posture

The website exhibits a solid security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and no visible exposure of sensitive data. The use of reputable third-party services is balanced with potential risks from extensive tracking scripts. The lack of a published security policy, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms represents gaps in transparency and preparedness. Privacy compliance is partial, with a comprehensive privacy policy but no visible cookie consent banner. Regular audits of third-party scripts and implementation of explicit security communications would strengthen the security culture and regulatory adherence.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a visible cookie consent banner to enhance GDPR and privacy compliance.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency.
  3. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to meet compliance standards and improve user experience.
  5. Conduct regular security audits of third-party scripts and advertising integrations.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Stuff
Description
News from New Zealand and the world: breaking news, videos, sport, rugby, politics, business, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, and property
Key services
News publishing, Video content, Podcasts, Advertising
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
ReactJS, Ionic Framework, Google Fonts, New Relic, Piano (Tinypass), Outbrain, Google Tag Manager, Google Identity Services
Frameworks
Ionic, React
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

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

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, IMR Worldwide
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Google DoubleClick, Rubicon Project, GumGum, Teads, Xandr, PubMatic, Casale Media, Outbrain, Criteo, OpenX, Kargo
Tracking pixels
Outbrain, IMR Worldwide
Marketing tools
Piano (Tinypass)
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a major New Zealand news portal with extensive content and multimedia.
  2. No WHOIS data available due to .nz registry restrictions.
  3. No direct company contact emails or phone numbers found; contact primarily via forms.
  4. No explicit cookie consent banner detected despite privacy policy presence.
  5. Multiple third-party ad and tracking services used, indicating extensive user tracking.
  6. Good use of modern web technologies and frameworks.
  7. Security headers and HTTPS are properly implemented.
  8. No visible security or privacy policy pages beyond privacy and editorial code.
  9. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  10. Content is safe and suitable for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The site is built on a modern technology stack including React and Ionic frameworks, ensuring responsive and dynamic user experiences across devices. Integration with multiple ad networks and analytics platforms supports monetization and user behavior insights but introduces complexity and potential privacy concerns. Performance is moderate, with preloading of fonts and asynchronous script loading optimizing load times. The absence of a detected CMS suggests a custom or proprietary content management solution. Opportunities exist to improve accessibility and SEO further, as well as to streamline third-party dependencies to reduce technical debt and security risks.
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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