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Security report for thelocal.com

The Local Europe AB · Media · Sweden

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

72/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Local Europe AB operates a professional English-language news website focused on European news, travel, politics, and practical guides. Established in 2010 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, it targets English-speaking residents and expatriates across Europe. The business model combines advertising, membership subscriptions, and job listings, positioning it as a reputable media outlet in its niche. The website features a modern, responsive design with comprehensive content and clear navigation, supported by a robust technical infrastructure including CMS, analytics, and membership management platforms. Technically, the site employs a variety of modern web technologies such as Google Tag Manager, Piano.io for membership/paywall, Cxense for content personalization, and MailerLite for newsletters. The site is well-optimized for mobile devices and SEO, though some accessibility features could be enhanced. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent mechanisms in place, but explicit security headers and incident response information are not publicly detailed. The absence of WHOIS domain registration data is a notable anomaly that impacts domain trustworthiness, although the website content and business information appear legitimate and professional. Privacy policies and cookie consent comply with GDPR, reflecting a commitment to user data protection. Overall, the site presents a low risk profile but would benefit from improved transparency in domain registration and security policies.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
100/ 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

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 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"

    • 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. 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 thelocal.com

This scan found 22 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
57
Security headers
15
Email security
80
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
100
Average
72

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 Local Europe AB holds a solid market position as a specialized English-language news provider for European expatriates and residents. Its competitive advantage lies in localized, practical content combined with a membership model that fosters reader loyalty and recurring revenue. The company leverages partnerships with payment processors and customer support platforms to streamline operations. Growth indicators include active content updates, diversified revenue streams, and a strong social media presence. Strategic observations suggest opportunities in expanding accessibility compliance and enhancing security transparency to further strengthen market trust.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and a comprehensive cookie consent mechanism aligned with GDPR. Use of third-party services is managed with consent, and no exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML. However, the lack of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and absence of publicly available incident response or security policy documents represent compliance gaps. The missing WHOIS data raises concerns about domain registration transparency. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be improved by formalizing security policies and incident response channels.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and verify comprehensive security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response plan on the website to improve transparency and user trust.
  3. Conduct regular audits of third-party scripts and dependencies to mitigate risks from external services.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to meet WCAG standards, improving usability for all users and compliance.
  5. Investigate and resolve the missing WHOIS domain registration data to strengthen domain legitimacy and trust.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
The Local Europe AB
VAT number
SE556667-4023
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Local Europe AB
Description
Latest news, travel, politics, money, jobs and more. Get guides on property, second homes, visas, language, taxes from The Local's journalists.
Key services
News articles, Practical guides, Membership access, Job listings, Advertising services
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Google Tag Manager, Piano.io (paywall/membership), Cxense (content personalization), Consentmanager.net (cookie consent), MailerLite (newsletter), Google DoubleClick (ads), Bootstrap CSS
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent banner with opt-in/out
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure third-party services

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via GTM), Cxense
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google DoubleClick, Protag
Tracking pixels
Cxense
Marketing tools
MailerLite, Piano.io
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional news media outlet targeting English speakers in Europe.
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and updated with recent articles.
  3. Uses multiple third-party services for advertising, analytics, and membership.
  4. Cookie consent and privacy policies are implemented and GDPR compliant.
  5. No security challenge or blocking detected; site fully accessible.
  6. WHOIS data is missing, which is unusual and reduces domain trust score.
  7. No explicit security policy or incident response info publicly available.
  8. No phone numbers found with clear company contact context.
  9. Social media presence is strong with multiple official profiles linked.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern technology stack with WordPress CMS, Bootstrap for responsive design, and multiple third-party integrations for analytics, advertising, and membership management. Performance is moderate with asynchronous loading of scripts and lazy loading of images. The site is mobile-optimized and SEO-friendly with proper meta tags and structured data. Technical debt appears low, but opportunities exist to improve accessibility and security header implementation. Hosting provider details are not explicit, suggesting potential for further infrastructure transparency.
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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