Skip to main content

Security report for thequietus.com

The Quietus · Media · United Kingdom

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

Security score

61/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Quietus is an established independent media outlet specializing in music and cultural criticism, founded in 2008 and operating primarily in the UK. The website offers reviews, news, and interviews targeting music and culture enthusiasts. It maintains a consistent brand presence with active social media channels and uses modern web technologies including WordPress, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, and Cookiebot for consent management. The site demonstrates good SEO practices and structured data implementation, enhancing its discoverability and user engagement. Technically, the site is hosted on Linode and shows moderate performance with good mobile optimization.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
80/ 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

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"

    • 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

  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 thequietus.com

This scan found 27 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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. See sample alerts.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
42
Security headers
15
Email security
70
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
80
Average
61

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 Quietus holds a strong position as a niche media publisher focusing on independent cultural criticism. Its business model revolves around content publishing with potential revenue streams from advertising and subscriptions. The site’s market positioning as a leading independent voice is supported by its longevity and active engagement with its audience. The absence of explicit contact and business registration details online suggests a lean operation, typical for independent media. The use of third-party marketing and analytics tools indicates a focus on audience insights and targeted advertising. No direct partnerships or subsidiaries were identified from the data.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS and cookie consent mechanisms, indicating baseline security and privacy awareness. However, the lack of security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HSTS, and X-Frame-Options reduces its defense-in-depth posture. No explicit security policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are published, which could hinder rapid response to security incidents. The domain registration is consistent and stable, with no privacy protection, supporting trustworthiness. Recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, publishing security policies, and implementing security headers to enhance protection against common web threats.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options) to strengthen web security.
  3. Publish a clear privacy policy and terms of service to improve compliance and user trust.
  4. Add incident response contact information and consider a vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to improve inclusivity and compliance with standards.

Contact details published on the site

Registration number
company number 07130747
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Quietus
Description
The leading independent voice in music and cultural criticism. Visit The Quietus now for reviews, news, interviews and more >
Key services
Music reviews, Cultural criticism, News, Interviews
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics (gtag.js), Facebook Pixel, Cookiebot (consent management), WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, Flickity carousel, ElasticPress
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Cookie consent management implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security_storage consent granted in gtag

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel
Marketing tools
Cookiebot
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website uses modern tracking and consent technologies.
  2. No explicit privacy or terms of service pages found in provided content.
  3. Social media presence is active and linked.
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in HTML content.
  5. Good SEO and structured data implementation.
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure found.
  7. No security headers detected in provided data.
  8. Cookie consent is managed via Cookiebot with user interaction loading.
  9. Domain is well-established and not privacy protected.
Technical notes

Notes

The Quietus website is built on WordPress with a modern tech stack including Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, and Cookiebot for analytics and consent management. Hosting is provided by Linode, a reputable provider. The site uses Yoast SEO for optimization and Flickity for carousel UI components. Performance is moderate with good mobile responsiveness. Structured data in JSON-LD format is implemented for SEO benefits. There is room for improvement in accessibility and security header implementation. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional media publishing platform with opportunities for modernization and enhanced security.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with thequietus.com. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review thequietus.com.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.