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Security report for transparentadvertising.org

The Trade Desk · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS and GDPR outside view.

Security score

64/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The website transparentadvertising.com serves as a Transparency and Control Portal enabling users to opt out of targeted advertising based on UID2 identifiers derived from their email or phone number. It is associated with The Trade Desk, a recognized advertising technology company, and provides a focused service within the UID2 ecosystem to enhance user privacy and control. The site is professionally designed with clear navigation and uses modern technologies such as jQuery and Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise to secure form submissions and prevent automated abuse. However, the absence of WHOIS data for the domain raises questions about domain registration legitimacy, although the site’s linkage to The Trade Desk mitigates some concerns. Privacy compliance is partially addressed with a privacy policy present, but lacks a cookie consent mechanism and explicit contact information. Security posture is moderate with use of reCAPTCHA but missing security headers and other best practices. Overall, the site is safe, professional, and serves a niche privacy function in advertising technology.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  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

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching transparentadvertising.org

This scan found 17 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

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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
0
Security headers
75
Email security
75
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
64

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 business operates in the technology sector, specifically in advertising technology, providing a transparency and opt-out service for UID2-based targeted advertising. The Trade Desk is the parent company, indicating a strong market position and established business model focused on identity-based advertising solutions. The portal targets consumers concerned about privacy and ad targeting, offering a direct opt-out mechanism. The business model leverages user data control to build trust and comply with privacy regulations. The partnership ecosystem includes The Trade Desk and related advertising technology providers. Growth indicators include integration with UID2 ecosystem and use of advanced bot protection. The company’s operations emphasize transparency and user empowerment in digital advertising.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level. It employs Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise to protect against automated abuse and includes form input validation. However, it lacks visible security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options, which are important for mitigating common web vulnerabilities. No explicit contact channels for security or incident response are provided on the site, though a vulnerability reporting link to The Trade Desk’s main site exists. There is no evidence of a published security policy or security.txt file. GDPR compliance is partially indicated by the presence of a privacy policy but lacks cookie consent mechanisms. Overall, the security posture is functional but could be improved to meet higher compliance and protection standards.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Add a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  3. Publish a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure and improve transparency.
  4. Provide explicit contact information for security and privacy inquiries to improve trust and incident response readiness.
  5. Conduct a WHOIS domain registration review to ensure domain legitimacy and update registration details if necessary.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Trade Desk
Description
This website provides a portal for users to opt out of targeted advertising based on UID2 identifiers generated from their email or phone number. It supports transparency and control for users within the UID2 advertising ecosystem.
Key services
UID2 opt-out portal, User transparency and control over targeted advertising
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 3.6.0, jQuery UI 1.13.1, Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise for bot protection
  • Form input validation via JavaScript

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google reCAPTCHA
Marketing tools
Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website provides a user opt-out portal for UID2 targeted advertising.
  2. No WHOIS data available for domain, raising legitimacy questions.
  3. Site uses Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise for bot protection.
  4. Privacy policy is present but no cookie consent mechanism detected.
  5. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found on site.
  6. Vulnerability reporting link points to The Trade Desk's main site.
  7. No security headers detected in provided data.
  8. No terms of service or cookie policy pages detected.
  9. Site content is safe and suitable for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern JavaScript stack with jQuery 3.6.0 and jQuery UI 1.13.1 for UI components, and integrates Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise for bot mitigation. The HTML structure is valid and includes responsive design elements for mobile optimization. SEO and accessibility features are basic but functional. No CMS or hosting provider information is discernible from the content. Performance is moderate, with asynchronous loading of scripts and minimal external dependencies. Technical debt appears low, but improvements in security headers and privacy compliance mechanisms are recommended to reduce risk and enhance user trust.
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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