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Security report for the-independent.com

The Independent · Media · N/a

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

90/100

Risk levelLow

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

The Independent is a well-established international news media organization with a dedicated US edition, providing latest news, political commentary, and analysis. The website offers a broad range of content including news, sports, culture, lifestyle, travel, and climate change, supported by premium subscription services and newsletters. The brand is recognized and maintains a consistent digital presence with social media integration and structured data for SEO. Technically, the site leverages modern web technologies such as React, Google Analytics, and a GDPR-compliant consent management platform, ensuring a responsive and accessible user experience across devices. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and use of consent management, though explicit security headers and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not evident. The WHOIS data for the domain www.the-independent.com is missing, which raises some concerns about domain registration legitimacy; however, the content and branding align with the known media entity, suggesting the domain may be an alias or redirect to the official www.independent.co.uk domain. Overall, the site is professional, secure, and compliant with basic privacy standards, but could improve transparency around privacy policies and security disclosures.

Scanned

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

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
85/ 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

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 Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

  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

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Keep watching the-independent.com

This scan found 10 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
72
Security headers
95
Email security
100
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
85
Average
90

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 Independent operates in the media sector, targeting a general audience interested in US and global news, politics, culture, and lifestyle. Its business model includes advertising revenue and premium subscriptions. The site shows strong market positioning as a reputable news source with a broad content offering and multiple editions including UK and Spanish. The partnership ecosystem includes advertising networks like DoubleClick and tracking services such as Google Analytics. The absence of explicit contact information and WHOIS data for the domain suggests a need for improved transparency. Growth indicators include active social media presence and diversified content formats including video and newsletters.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enabled and integration of a GDPR-compliant consent management platform. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options is a gap. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information is found, which limits the ability for external security researchers to report issues. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided content. Incident response and security policy information are not publicly available, indicating room for improvement in security transparency and readiness. Overall, the site is secure but could enhance its security framework documentation and header implementation.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish explicit security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a security.txt file and vulnerability disclosure policy to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  3. Clearly publish privacy and cookie policies with detailed GDPR compliance information to improve user trust and legal compliance.
  4. Provide visible contact information for security incidents and data protection officer to enhance incident response readiness.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and tracking technologies to minimize vulnerabilities and privacy risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Independent
Description
Latest news, comment and features from The Independent US
Key services
news publishing, video content, premium subscription content, newsletters
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Sourcepoint CMP for GDPR, DoubleClick for ads, Web fonts (woff2), Manifest for PWA
Frameworks
React
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Content Security Policy not explicitly found in provided data
  • Use of GDPR consent management platform

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
DoubleClick
Tracking pixels
Experian Match
Marketing tools
Sourcepoint CMP
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website content is fully accessible and not blocked by WAF or security challenges.
  2. WHOIS data for www.the-independent.com domain is not found, indicating possible non-registration or privacy protection.
  3. Website uses modern web technologies and has good SEO and accessibility practices.
  4. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found in the provided content.
  5. Privacy and cookie policies are not explicitly found in the provided HTML snippet.
  6. Social media links to Twitter and Facebook are present and verified via JSON-LD.
  7. Advertising and tracking technologies are used extensively including Google Analytics and DoubleClick.
  8. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information found.
  9. Content is news media, safe for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The Independent's website is built on a modern React-based frontend with server-side rendering or hydration indicated by 'hydrate-root' components. It uses Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager for analytics, DoubleClick for advertising, and Sourcepoint for GDPR consent management. The site loads web fonts efficiently and uses a manifest for PWA capabilities. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. SEO is supported by comprehensive meta tags, Open Graph, and JSON-LD structured data. Hosting provider details are not explicit. The site could benefit from enhanced security headers and clearer documentation of privacy and security policies to reduce technical 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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 90/100Low18 findingsView report
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