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Security report for thefarside.com

FarWorks, Inc. · Media · N/a

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

73/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Far Side official website serves as the digital home for Gary Larson's iconic comic strip, offering daily classic comics, collections, and an online shop. The site is professionally designed, mobile-optimized, and hosted by Andrews McMeel Universal, a reputable media publisher. The business model focuses on content publishing and merchandising within the media sector, targeting a general audience with family-friendly content. The site demonstrates a mature digital infrastructure leveraging modern JavaScript frameworks, third-party analytics, and advertising networks to monetize and engage users. From a technical perspective, the website employs a modern React-based stack with lazy loading, CDN delivery, and integration of multiple ad and tracking services. Performance and SEO are well addressed, with good accessibility features. Privacy compliance is robust, featuring a comprehensive privacy policy, cookie consent mechanisms, and GDPR adherence. However, no direct contact information or explicit security policies are published, which could be improved. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and no obvious vulnerabilities detected. The site uses multiple ad networks and tracking pixels but maintains transparency through consent banners. The absence of WHOIS data is a notable anomaly, possibly due to privacy protection or query limitations, but the overall trustworthiness remains high given the official branding and hosting. Overall, the website is a professional, secure, and privacy-conscious platform for The Far Side brand, though it would benefit from publishing clearer security and incident response policies and providing direct contact channels for enhanced trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
65/ 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

4 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 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 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 thefarside.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.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • 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
70
Email security
55
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
65
Average
73

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 Far Side website occupies a niche position as the official digital presence of a well-known comic strip brand. Its partnership with Andrews McMeel Universal provides strong publishing and operational support. Revenue streams likely include advertising, merchandise sales, and licensing. The target customers are comic enthusiasts and general audiences seeking daily entertainment. The site’s integration of multiple ad networks and analytics indicates a mature marketing ecosystem. Growth potential lies in expanding digital content offerings and e-commerce. The absence of direct contact info suggests a focus on brand control and centralized customer service via the parent company. Strategic partnerships with ad and analytics providers enhance monetization and user insights.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security maturity level with enforced HTTPS, cookie consent, and use of reputable third-party services. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. However, the lack of published security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms represents a compliance gap. The site’s use of multiple ad networks and tracking services requires ongoing privacy management. Overall, the security culture appears adequate but could be strengthened by transparency and formalized incident handling procedures.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page with contact details.
  2. Implement and verify HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options.
  3. Provide a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Add clear company contact information including support emails and phone numbers to improve trust.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and ad networks to minimize privacy and security risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
FarWorks, Inc.
Description
Official online home of The Far Side comic strip by Gary Larson offering daily classic cartoons and comic collections.
Key services
Daily comic strip publication, Comic collections, Online shop
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, React (implied by chunked JS files and babel), Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Prebid.js, Disqus comments, Typekit fonts, Cloudfront CDN
Frameworks
React
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent banner with CMP
  • Disqus comment moderation
  • Ad iframe tabindex disabled to prevent focus

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
InMobi, Kueez RTB, Vidazoo, Google Ad Manager (DoubleClick)
Tracking pixels
Raven Aditude
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official branded website for The Far Side comic strip
  2. Uses modern web technologies and advertising networks
  3. Has comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on site
  5. No explicit security or incident response policies published
  6. WHOIS data unavailable or not publicly accessible
  7. Content is safe and family-friendly
  8. Good SEO and accessibility practices observed
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern React-based frontend with chunked JavaScript bundles and lazy loading for performance optimization. It integrates multiple third-party services including Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Disqus comments, and several ad networks. Hosting is via a CDN (Cloudfront) and managed by Andrews McMeel Universal. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive images and accessibility features. SEO is supported by comprehensive meta tags and Open Graph data. There is no evidence of a traditional CMS, suggesting a custom or headless architecture. Performance is moderate, with room for improvement in script loading and caching strategies. Technical risks include reliance on multiple third-party scripts which require monitoring for vulnerabilities.
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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