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Is ap.org a Scam? Security Check Results - The Associated Press Reviews

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Is ap.org Safe? Security Analysis for The Associated Press

Check if ap.org is a scam or legitimate. Free security scan and reviews.

MediaUnited Statesenterprise
WordPressYoast SEOGoogle Tag ManagerLinkedIn Insight TagOneTrust Cookie Consent+1 more
Analyzed 8/2/2025Completed 9:56:02 PM
75
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

The Associated Press (AP) is a globally recognized news agency providing comprehensive multimedia news content including video, photo, text, audio, and data services. It serves a broad audience of media professionals and news consumers worldwide, maintaining a strong market position as a leading provider of unbiased journalism and real-time updates. The website reflects a professional and consistent brand image with excellent content quality and user experience. Technically, the AP website is built on WordPress with modern SEO and analytics tools such as Yoast SEO, Google Tag Manager, and LinkedIn Insight Tag. It employs robust privacy and cookie consent mechanisms via OneTrust, ensuring compliance with GDPR and other privacy regulations. The site is mobile-optimized, fast-loading, and accessible, demonstrating digital maturity. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS, uses security headers, and avoids exposing sensitive data. However, explicit security policies and incident response information are not directly found on the site, representing an area for improvement. No vulnerabilities or suspicious patterns were detected, and the domain is highly legitimate despite the lack of WHOIS data due to privacy protection. Overall, the AP website is a secure, trustworthy, and professionally maintained platform that effectively supports its business model as a major news agency. Strategic recommendations include publishing detailed security policies, adding vulnerability disclosure mechanisms, and enhancing incident response transparency to further strengthen trust and security posture.

Detected Technologies

WordPressYoast SEOGoogle Tag ManagerLinkedIn Insight TagOneTrust Cookie ConsentMarker.io

🧠AI Business Intelligence

Technology stack, business insights, and market analysis powered by AI.

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

The Associated Press operates as an essential entity in the media sector, delivering news content globally through multiple formats. Its competitive advantage lies in its reputation for unbiased, timely journalism and extensive multimedia offerings. The business model revolves around content syndication and subscription services to media outlets and partners. The target customers include news organizations, broadcasters, and the general public seeking reliable news. The company demonstrates strong growth indicators through digital presence and partnerships with major social media platforms. The partnership ecosystem includes social media giants like Facebook, Twitter (X), YouTube, and LinkedIn, enhancing content distribution and audience engagement. Operationally, the AP maintains a large-scale enterprise infrastructure supporting high traffic and multimedia content delivery.

Extracted Contact Information

Marketing Intelligence Data

Email Addresses (1)

c*****@ap.org

Phone Numbers (1)

+1212621****

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The AP website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive information. Privacy compliance is robust, with clear cookie consent and GDPR adherence. However, the absence of explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms suggests room for improvement in transparency and readiness. The use of third-party analytics and marketing scripts is well managed but requires ongoing monitoring to mitigate supply chain risks. Overall, the security culture appears strong but could benefit from enhanced communication of security practices and incident handling procedures to stakeholders.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Publish a dedicated security policy page detailing security practices and frameworks.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

The Associated Press

Description:

Video, photo, text, audio data news agency providing unbiased journalism, in-depth analysis, and real-time updates globally.

Key Services:
Video newsPhotojournalismText newsAudio newsData news services
Content Quality:

excellent

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
WordPressYoast SEOGoogle Tag ManagerLinkedIn Insight TagOneTrust Cookie ConsentMarker.io
Platforms:
Web
Performance:

fast

Mobile:

excellent

Accessibility:

good

SEO:

excellent

Security Assessment

Security Score:
90/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security headers

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Google Tag ManagerLinkedIn Insight
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:good

Advertising & Marketing

Tracking Pixels:
LinkedIn InsightSalesforce Marketing Cloud pixel
Marketing Tools:
LinkedIn InsightMarker.io
Transparency Level:good

Website Quality Assessment

Design Quality:excellent
User Experience:excellent
Content Relevance:excellent
Navigation Clarity:excellent
Professionalism:excellent
Trustworthiness:high

Key Observations

1

Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

60/100
Score

Missing X-Frame-Options header

HIGH

Prevents clickjacking attacks

Weak X-XSS-Protection configuration

LOW

Current value: "0; mode=block"

Weak Referrer-Policy configuration

LOW

Current value: "no-referrer-when-downgrade"

Missing Permissions-Policy header

MEDIUM

Controls browser features and APIs

Sensitive data may be cached

LOW

Cache-Control header should include "no-store" for sensitive pages

👤GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.

GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment

88/100
Score

Privacy policy may not be GDPR compliant

MEDIUM

Privacy policy lacks explicit GDPR compliance elements

GDPR Compliance Analysis

Privacy Policy85% confidence
Cookie Policy85% confidence
Contact Information Found90% confidence
phone

🛡️NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive compliance assessment.

NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive

17/100
Score

No information security framework found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity and information security measures

No vulnerability disclosure policy

MEDIUM

NIS2 encourages coordinated vulnerability disclosure

No security policy documentation found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity governance and risk management

No incident response procedures found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented incident response and business continuity plans

No business continuity planning found

MEDIUM

NIS2 emphasizes operational resilience and business continuity

No security contact information

HIGH

NIS2 requires clear incident reporting channels

No vulnerability reporting mechanism

MEDIUM

Clear vulnerability reporting supports coordinated disclosure

No NIS2 reference found

LOW

Consider explicitly mentioning NIS2 compliance efforts

📧Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation and email security assessment.

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

85/100
Score

No BIMI Record

LOW

BIMI displays brand logos in email clients

No MTA-STS Policy

MEDIUM

MTA-STS enforces TLS for email delivery

No TLS-RPT Record

LOW

TLS-RPT provides reporting for email TLS issues

SPF
Sender Policy Framework
DKIM
DomainKeys Identified Mail
DMARC
Domain-based Message Authentication
MX Records
Mail Exchange Records
BIMI
Brand Indicators
MTA-STS
Mail Transfer Agent Security
TLS-RPT
TLS Reporting
DNSSEC
DNS Security
SPF Details
Record:
v=spf1 include:%{i}._ip.%{h}._ehlo.%{d}._spf.vali.email include:spf.protection.outlook.com ~all
DNS Lookups:2/10
Policy:~all
DKIM Selectors Found
Selector:selector1(1296-bit rsa)
Selector:s1(1440-bit rsa)
DMARC Details
Policy:reject
Aggregate Reports:dmarc_agg@vali.email

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

82/100
Score

Weak Protocols Supported

HIGH

Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

Certificate Transparency Not Implemented

LOW

Certificate is not logged in Certificate Transparency logs

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 3 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Protocol Support

TLSv1.3TLSv1.2TLSv1.1

OCSP Status

OCSP Stapling Enabled

📊DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment.

DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment

80/100
Score

DNSSEC Not Enabled

MEDIUM

DNSSEC is not configured for this domain

CAA Records Not Configured

LOW

Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) records not found

Domain Delete Lock Not Enabled

LOW

Domain can be deleted without additional verification

Domain Registration Details

Domain Age
34 years(mature)
Expiry Risk
none(1069 days)
Protection Level
basicDNSSEC OFF

DNS Records

A Records:88.221.99.90
AAAA Records:2a02:26f0:4000:187::279f, 2a02:26f0:4000:188::279f
Name Servers:
a1-212.akam.net
a10-67.akam.net
a11-64.akam.net
a24-65.akam.net
a28-66.akam.net
a9-67.akam.net
MX Records:
0: ap-org.mail.protection.outlook.com
SOA:Serial: 1561037022, TTL: 86400s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:101ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 include:%{i}._ip.%{h}._ehlo.%{d}._spf.vali.email include:spf.protection.outlook.com ~all

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis.

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis

100/100
Score

Good Network Security Posture

LOW

No unnecessary services detected on common risky ports

🔧Technical Analysis

Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.

Technical Analysis

Comprehensive security assessment findings

Additional Findings

The website leverages WordPress CMS with modern SEO and analytics integrations, including Yoast SEO, Google Tag Manager, and LinkedIn Insight Tag. It employs OneTrust for cookie consent management, ensuring regulatory compliance. The site demonstrates fast performance, excellent mobile optimization, and good accessibility features. The technical infrastructure supports multimedia content delivery effectively. There is no indication of outdated or vulnerable libraries. Hosting details are not explicitly found but the site is stable and responsive. Opportunities exist to further modernize by adopting advanced security frameworks and enhancing incident response automation.
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