Skip to main content

Security report for usatoday.com

USA TODAY · Media · United States

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

77/100

Risk levelLow

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

USA TODAY is a leading national news media organization delivering comprehensive coverage across news, sports, entertainment, finance, and technology. Owned by Gannett, it operates at an enterprise scale with a strong market position in the US media landscape. The website offers award-winning journalism supported by a robust digital infrastructure. Technically, the site leverages modern web technologies including Polymer, web components, and a sophisticated advertising and analytics ecosystem integrating multiple third-party services. The site is well optimized for performance, mobile responsiveness, and accessibility, providing an excellent user experience. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement, security headers, and cookie consent mechanisms in place, although there is room for improvement in publishing incident response contacts and vulnerability disclosure policies. Overall, the site demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and compliance with privacy regulations such as GDPR. The WHOIS data for the subdomain is not separately registered, which is typical and consistent with the main domain's legitimacy. The site is safe for general audiences with no adult or explicit content detected.

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

2 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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

  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 usatoday.com

This scan found 20 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.

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
62
Security headers
40
Email security
82
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
100
Average
77

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

USA TODAY operates primarily as an advertising and subscription-based news media business targeting a broad general audience. Its competitive advantage lies in its established brand, extensive content offerings, and integration with Gannett's media network. Revenue streams include digital advertising through multiple ad networks and premium content subscriptions. The company maintains a strong partnership ecosystem with major ad tech providers and analytics platforms. Growth indicators include continuous investment in digital technologies and content quality. The business model emphasizes multimedia journalism and user engagement through newsletters and social media. Strategic observations highlight the importance of maintaining privacy compliance and evolving digital monetization strategies to sustain market leadership.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and a robust cookie consent framework via OneTrust. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the analyzed content. However, the absence of publicly available incident response contacts and a security.txt file indicates potential gaps in vulnerability disclosure readiness. Compliance with GDPR is evident through consent mechanisms and privacy policy disclosures. The extensive use of third-party ad and analytics scripts necessitates ongoing monitoring to mitigate supply chain risks. Overall, the security maturity is high but could be enhanced by formalizing incident response transparency and vulnerability reporting channels.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosure and improve transparency.
  2. Make incident response contact information publicly accessible to enhance trust and readiness.
  3. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and ad scripts to mitigate supply chain risks.
  4. Enhance data retention policy disclosures to align with privacy best practices.
  5. Continue investing in security awareness and culture to maintain high security standards.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
USA TODAY
Description
USA TODAY delivers current national and local news, sports, entertainment, finance, technology, and more through award-winning journalism, photos, and videos.
Key services
News reporting, Sports coverage, Entertainment news, Finance and technology news, Video journalism
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Polymer, Web Components, Google Publisher Tags, Prebid.js, OneTrust Consent Management, Taboola, Adobe Analytics, Amazon APS, Criteo, Rubicon, OpenX, Sonobi, TripleLift, TrustX, Undertone, Yieldmo, IAS, LiveIntent
Frameworks
Polymer
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of CSP
  • Cookie consent management
  • No exposed sensitive data detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Chartbeat
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Amazon APS, Criteo, Rubicon, OpenX, Sonobi, TripleLift, TrustX, Undertone, Yieldmo, Taboola, Teads
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, IAS, LiveIntent, Adobe Analytics
Marketing tools
OneTrust Consent Management, Adobe Audience Manager
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a major US national news media outlet with extensive content and multimedia.
  2. Strong privacy and cookie consent mechanisms are implemented.
  3. Comprehensive advertising and analytics ecosystem with multiple ad networks and tracking services.
  4. Modern web technologies and frameworks used for performance and user experience.
  5. No security or content blocking detected; site is fully accessible.
  6. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerabilities detected in the analyzed content.
  7. WHOIS data for subdomain is not separately available, consistent with standard subdomain usage.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern technology stack including Polymer web components and extensive JavaScript frameworks. It integrates multiple advertising and analytics platforms such as Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Taboola, and various header bidding partners. The site is hosted on Gannett's CDN infrastructure, ensuring fast content delivery and scalability. Performance optimizations include lazy loading, responsive design, and accessibility features. The technical implementation reflects a high level of digital maturity with opportunities to further streamline third-party integrations and enhance security monitoring. Technical risks primarily relate to the complexity of the ad ecosystem and the need for continuous updates to maintain security and performance.
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. 72/100Medium28 findingsView report
Reviews of this site

Share your experience with usatoday.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 usatoday.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.