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Security report for techcrunch.com

TechCrunch · Technology · United States

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view.

Security score

81/100

Risk levelLow

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

TechCrunch is a leading online media company specializing in technology news, startup coverage, venture capital funding, and Silicon Valley business insights. The website serves a broad audience of technology professionals, investors, startup founders, and enthusiasts, providing comprehensive news, analysis, events, podcasts, and newsletters. The company operates under TechCrunch Media LLC and maintains a strong brand presence with consistent and high-quality content. Technically, the site is built on WordPress CMS with advanced SEO optimization using Yoast SEO Premium and integrates multiple analytics and marketing tools such as Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, HubSpot, and Parsely. However, the site currently lacks a valid SSL certificate and modern TLS support, which poses significant security risks. Email security is well-managed with valid SPF and DMARC records, but no explicit cookie consent mechanism or security policy documentation is found. Overall, TechCrunch demonstrates a mature digital infrastructure and strong market positioning but requires urgent improvements in SSL/TLS security to protect user data and maintain trust.

Scanned

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

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
43/ 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

2 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

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Keep watching techcrunch.com

This scan found 16 issues across 5 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
100
Security headers
75
Email security
80
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
43
Average
81

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention techcrunch.com, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
4,158
Employees
5
Customers
3,945
Third parties
208
Weak passwords
11%

Latest record dated 2026-04-21 · 19 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for techcrunch.com.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –apply.techcrunch.com2026-04-21
  • –login.techcrunch.com2025-09-20
  • –login.techcrunch.com2025-07-28
  • –login.techcrunch.com2025-07-20
  • –apply.techcrunch.com2025-04-22

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)Monitor on Breach(opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

TechCrunch holds a prominent position in the technology media sector, focusing on startups, AI, security, apps, transportation, and venture capital. Its business model revolves around content monetization through advertising, sponsored content, events, and newsletters. The company leverages partnerships with sites like StrictlyVC and Crunchboard to expand its ecosystem. The extensive use of marketing and analytics tools indicates a data-driven approach to audience engagement and monetization. The site targets a global audience but is primarily US-based, with a large enterprise scale. The presence of multiple social media channels and active event promotion highlights a strong community and industry influence. TechCrunch's competitive advantage lies in its comprehensive coverage, trusted brand, and diversified content formats.

Security posture

The security posture of TechCrunch is mixed. While email security is robust with properly configured SPF and DMARC policies, the absence of a valid SSL certificate and lack of TLS protocol support severely undermine the site's security. This exposes users to risks such as data interception and man-in-the-middle attacks. The site does not implement HSTS, OCSP stapling, or session resumption, which are best practices for HTTPS security. No explicit security policy, incident response information, or vulnerability disclosure program is found, indicating potential gaps in transparency and readiness. The lack of a cookie consent mechanism may also raise compliance concerns under privacy regulations. Overall, the site needs immediate remediation of its SSL/TLS configuration and enhanced security governance to align with industry standards and protect its users.

Recommendations

  1. Install and maintain a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable secure HTTPS connections.
  2. Enable modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3) and disable outdated/insecure protocols.
  3. Implement HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) with includeSubDomains and preload options.
  4. Enable OCSP stapling and session resumption to improve security and performance.
  5. Develop and publish a comprehensive security policy and incident response plan.
  6. Implement a cookie consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations like GDPR.
  7. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program and publish security.txt for transparency.
  8. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and marketing tools to minimize risks.
  9. Enhance contact information with verified security and data protection officer contacts.
  10. Improve SSL/TLS monitoring and certificate transparency compliance.
Technical notes

Notes

TechCrunch uses a modern WordPress-based infrastructure with extensive use of JavaScript libraries and third-party services for analytics, advertising, and marketing. The site integrates HubSpot, Parsely, Sailthru, and Google Tag Manager for user engagement and data collection. Hosting and DNS are managed via Cloudflare, providing performance and security benefits. However, the site suffers from poor SSL/TLS configuration, lacking any valid certificate or secure protocols, which is a critical technical debt. Performance is slow with a load time of over 20 seconds and a large page size exceeding 1.5 MB, indicating opportunities for optimization. SEO is well-implemented with Yoast SEO Premium and structured data (JSON-LD) for rich snippets. Accessibility and mobile optimization are good, supporting a wide user base. Technical risks include potential exposure due to insecure HTTPS and reliance on multiple external scripts that require continuous security monitoring.
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. 79/100Low26 findingsView report
  2. 79/100 −4Low25 findingsView report
  3. 83/100Low21 findingsView report
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