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Security report for variety.com

Variety · Media · United States

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, Email security and 1 other check.

Security score

73/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Variety is a well-established entertainment media company providing news, film reviews, awards coverage, and industry conference information. It operates under the parent company Penske Media Corporation and targets a broad audience interested in the entertainment industry. The website is built on WordPress and leverages modern technologies such as Google Tag Manager and Cxense for content personalization and analytics. It employs cookie consent mechanisms compliant with privacy regulations. Security posture is good with HTTPS and domain transfer protections, though DNSSEC is not enabled. No critical vulnerabilities or security policies were found in the analyzed content. Overall, the site is professional, content-rich, and trustworthy.

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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

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

  2. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • High

      No DMARC record found

      DMARC provides email authentication and reporting

      What to do: Add DMARC record: "v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com"

  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
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching variety.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.

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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
42
Security headers
40
Email security
75
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
100
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

Variety holds a strong market position as a leading entertainment news outlet with a large audience. Its business model centers on media publishing and advertising revenue, supported by partnerships and industry events. The company benefits from its long domain history and association with Penske Media Corporation. The site integrates multiple advertising and tracking technologies, indicating a mature digital marketing strategy. However, explicit contact and compliance information is limited in the analyzed content, suggesting potential areas for transparency improvement.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security foundation with HTTPS, clientTransferProhibited domain status, and cookie consent implementation. The absence of DNSSEC and explicit security policies or incident response contacts are gaps that could be addressed. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. Security headers appear minimal but sufficient for baseline protection. The site would benefit from enhanced security headers and a published vulnerability disclosure policy to improve security maturity and trust.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service pages accessible from the homepage.
  3. Add a security.txt file and incident response contact information to facilitate vulnerability reporting.
  4. Implement additional security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Content-Type-Options.
  5. Improve accessibility features to meet higher standards and enhance user experience for all users.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Variety
Description
Entertainment news, film reviews, awards, film festivals, box office, entertainment industry conferences
Key services
Entertainment news, Film reviews, Awards coverage, Film festivals, Box office reporting, Industry conferences
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, jQuery, Google Tag Manager, Cxense (content personalization), OneTrust (cookie consent), AWS DNS hosting
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Client transfer prohibited status on domain
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager, Cxense
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Google DoubleClick, BlogHer Ads
Tracking pixels
Cxense, OneTrust
Marketing tools
OneTrust Cookie Consent
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 entertainment media outlet with extensive content.
  2. Uses modern web technologies and consent management.
  3. No explicit privacy or terms of service pages detected in the provided content.
  4. Domain is well-established and trustworthy.
  5. Advertising and tracking are extensive but transparent with consent mechanisms.
  6. No security incidents or vulnerabilities detected from the content.
  7. No direct contact information or security policy found in the analyzed content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses WordPress CMS hosted on AWS infrastructure with a modern tech stack including jQuery and Google Tag Manager. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and SEO practices. The site uses multiple external ad and tracking services, which are well integrated with consent management. Technical debt appears low, but opportunities exist to improve security headers and accessibility compliance. The site is professionally designed with consistent branding and clear navigation, supporting a positive user experience.
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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