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Security report for tampabay.com

Times Publishing Company · Media · United States

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Tampa Bay Times website, operated by Times Publishing Company, is a leading regional news media outlet serving the Tampa Bay area and broader Florida region. Established in 1884, the company offers a comprehensive portfolio of news content, including digital and print newspapers, magazines, and consumer events, reaching over one million people weekly. The website features a professional design with clear navigation and extensive content relevant to local news, sports, viewpoints, and culture. The business model relies on subscriptions, advertising, and community engagement. Technically, the site employs a modern technology stack including React, various analytics and advertising SDKs, and is hosted with Amazon Cloudfront CDN, ensuring good performance and mobile optimization. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement and security headers, though explicit privacy and cookie policies are not evident in the provided content. Overall, the site demonstrates high professionalism and trustworthiness, supported by multiple Pulitzer Prizes and structured data markup.

Scanned

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

6 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"

  2. 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

  3. 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 tampabay.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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Recommended

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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
80
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
69

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

Times Publishing Company holds a dominant position in the southeastern U.S. media market, leveraging its long history and Pulitzer-winning journalism to maintain credibility and audience loyalty. The company targets local residents and news consumers interested in Tampa Bay and Florida affairs. Revenue streams include digital subscriptions, advertising partnerships, and event sponsorships. The website integrates multiple third-party services for analytics, advertising, and user engagement, reflecting a mature digital ecosystem. Partnerships with related domains such as subscription portals and e-Newspaper services enhance user experience and monetization. The company’s strategic focus on investigative journalism and community involvement positions it well for sustained growth in a competitive media landscape.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and multiple security headers implemented, including Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security. Authentication is managed via Auth0, providing secure user login capabilities. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the analysis. However, the absence of publicly available security policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure programs indicates room for improvement in transparency and compliance. The site should consider publishing these policies to enhance trust and readiness. Regular audits of third-party scripts and enhanced accessibility compliance would further strengthen security and user protection.

Recommendations

  1. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with clear consent mechanisms to improve privacy compliance.
  2. Establish and publicize security incident response and vulnerability disclosure policies to enhance transparency and trust.
  3. Include data protection officer contact information if applicable to comply with GDPR and related regulations.
  4. Conduct regular security audits of third-party scripts and dependencies to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Improve accessibility features to meet higher standards and broaden audience inclusivity.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Times Publishing Company
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Times Publishing Company
Description
Times Publishing Company is the leading source for news and information in the southeastern United States. With its broad portfolio of newspapers, magazines, websites and consumer events, Times Publishing reaches more than 1 million people a week in the Tampa Bay region.
Key services
News publishing, Digital news website, Print newspapers, Consumer events
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Google Tag Manager, Amazon Ads, Auth0 SPA JS, jQuery, Marfeel SDK, Optimera SDK, Viafoura, Zephr, Clavis, Boomerang, Embedly, Pushly SDK, Amazon APS, Cloudfront CDN
Frameworks
React
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of CSP
  • Use of modern JS libraries
  • Secure login via Auth0

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Mather Analytics, Boomerang
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
PubMatic, Amazon Ads, Google Ad Manager
Tracking pixels
Microsoft Clarity, Mather Analytics, Boomerang
Marketing tools
Auth0, Zephr, Marfeel, Optimera, Viafoura, Sophi
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a major regional news media outlet with extensive content and professional design.
  2. No WHOIS data available, possibly due to privacy protection or domain registration issues.
  3. No explicit privacy or cookie policies detected in the provided HTML snippet.
  4. Multiple third-party scripts and ad networks used, indicating monetization and analytics.
  5. Strong branding and trust indicators including Pulitzer prizes and structured data.
  6. No security incident or vulnerability disclosure information found.
  7. Contact information including phone and email is present and clearly labeled.
  8. No WAF or blocking detected; site fully accessible.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern React-based front end with extensive use of third-party SDKs for analytics, advertising, and user engagement. Hosting via Amazon Cloudfront CDN supports global content delivery and performance optimization. The site demonstrates good mobile responsiveness and SEO optimization through proper meta tags and structured data. However, the CMS is not explicitly identified, suggesting a custom or proprietary solution. Performance is moderate, with opportunities to streamline third-party scripts to reduce load times. Technical debt appears low, but ongoing modernization and security hardening are recommended to maintain operational excellence.
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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