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Security report for wbur.org

WBUR · Media · United States

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

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

WBUR is a prominent public radio station based in Boston, affiliated with NPR, providing local news, radio programs, podcasts, and events. The website serves a broad audience interested in news and cultural programming, supported by donations and memberships. The digital infrastructure is modern, leveraging Next.js, WordPress CMS, and multiple analytics and advertising technologies. Security posture is strong with HTTPS, security headers, and privacy policies in place, though there is room to improve by adding explicit security policies and vulnerability disclosures. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and well-optimized for performance and accessibility.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 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

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

    • 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 wbur.org

This scan found 26 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
62
Security headers
15
Email security
75
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
63

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

WBUR holds a strong market position as Boston's NPR affiliate, offering a diverse range of audio and written content. Its business model relies on public funding, donations, memberships, and sponsorships. The site integrates with multiple partners including Boston University and NPR, and uses standard advertising and analytics platforms. The presence of extensive contact information and transparency documents supports credibility. Growth opportunities may include expanding digital engagement and enhancing security transparency.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and use of reCAPTCHA to protect forms. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, the absence of a public security policy or incident response contact limits transparency. The site complies with privacy regulations and provides cookie consent mechanisms. Regular audits of third-party scripts and adding a vulnerability disclosure program would further strengthen security.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and frameworks.
  2. Implement a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  3. Provide clear incident response contact information for security issues.
  4. Regularly review and update third-party scripts and analytics tools to mitigate risks.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to meet or exceed WCAG standards.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Registration number
Chamber of Commerce
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
WBUR
Description
WBUR is Boston's NPR, featuring NPR news and programs such as On Point and Here & Now.
Key services
Local news coverage, Radio programs, Podcasts, Events, Newsletters
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React (Next.js), Google reCAPTCHA, Google Tag Manager, Google Ads (AdSense), Chartbeat, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, DoubleClick, Resonate Analytics
Frameworks
Next.js
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of reCAPTCHA for forms
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure external scripts
  • Privacy policy and cookie consent

Analytics and tracking

Services
Chartbeat, Google Analytics (via GTM), Resonate Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google AdSense, DoubleClick
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Chartbeat, Resonate Analytics
Marketing tools
Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional public radio station site affiliated with NPR
  2. Content is rich with news, podcasts, events, and multimedia
  3. Strong presence of privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms
  4. Multiple contact methods including email, phone, and contact forms
  5. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools
  6. No evidence of malicious or suspicious content
  7. WHOIS data is unavailable or malformed, likely due to privacy protection
  8. Advertising and tracking are present but transparent and standard for media sites
Technical notes

Notes

WBUR's website uses a modern tech stack including React with Next.js, WordPress CMS, and integrates multiple third-party services for analytics, advertising, and user engagement. The site is well-optimized for performance and mobile responsiveness. The use of multiple preconnect and preload hints improves loading speed. The site architecture supports rich multimedia content and dynamic navigation. Technical risks are minimal but include dependency on third-party scripts which require ongoing monitoring.
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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