Skip to main content

Is designboom.com a Scam? Security Check Results - Designboom Reviews

D

Is designboom.com Safe? Security Analysis for Designboom

Check if designboom.com is a scam or legitimate. Free security scan and reviews.

MediaN/amedium
WordPressGoogle Tag ManagerMatomo AnalyticsConsentmanager.netPrebid.js+4 more
Analyzed 9/7/2025Completed 4:37:30 AM
68
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

Designboom is a well-established digital magazine founded in 1999, specializing in architecture, design, and art news. It targets a professional and creative audience, offering daily news, interviews, event coverage, and a design shop. The website demonstrates a strong market position as a leading media outlet in its niche, supported by consistent branding and high-quality content. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with a modern tech stack including Google Tag Manager, Matomo Analytics, and a consent management platform, ensuring GDPR compliance and user privacy. Performance and mobile optimization are good, though accessibility could be improved. Security posture is strong with HTTPS, security headers, and no visible vulnerabilities, but lacks published security policies or incident response information. The absence of WHOIS data is a concern for transparency but does not detract from the site's apparent legitimacy based on content and social media presence. Overall, Designboom is a professional, trustworthy media platform with room for improvement in security transparency and contact information availability.

Detected Technologies

WordPressGoogle Tag ManagerMatomo AnalyticsConsentmanager.netPrebid.jsGoogle DoubleClickFlickity carouselLato fontFontello icons

🧠AI Business Intelligence

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

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

Designboom operates as a digital media publisher in the architecture and design sector, leveraging content marketing and advertising revenue streams. Its competitive advantage lies in its early establishment and reputation as a go-to source for design culture news. The business model includes editorial content, competitions, events, and an online shop. The target customers are professionals and enthusiasts in architecture and design worldwide. The company maintains a broad partnership ecosystem through social media and advertising networks. Growth indicators include frequent content updates and active social engagement. Strategic observations suggest enhancing direct contact channels and publishing formal security and privacy governance documents to strengthen business credibility.

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and GDPR-compliant cookie consent mechanisms. Use of multiple analytics and advertising scripts is managed with user consent. However, the lack of explicit security policies, incident response plans, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms indicates gaps in transparency and readiness. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. The site would benefit from publishing a security.txt file and providing contact channels for security incidents. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be elevated with formal documentation and communication.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and user trust.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

Designboom

Description:

est. 1999 designboom is the first and most popular digital magazine for architecture & design culture. daily news for a professional and creative audience.

Key Services:
daily newsarchitecture coveragedesign culture contentart newsinterviewscompetitionseventsshop
Content Quality:

excellent

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
WordPressGoogle Tag ManagerMatomo AnalyticsConsentmanager.netPrebid.jsGoogle DoubleClickFlickity carouselLato fontFontello icons
Frameworks:
WordPress theme framework
Platforms:
WordPress CMS
Performance:

moderate

Mobile:

good

Accessibility:

basic

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
85/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Consent management platform for GDPR
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of async scripts to improve load

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Google AnalyticsMatomoMicrosoft Clarity
Tracking Level:extensive
Privacy Compliance:good

Advertising & Marketing

Ad Networks:
Google DoubleClickFuse PlatformConfiant
Tracking Pixels:
Microsoft ClarityMatomo
Marketing Tools:
Consentmanager.net
Transparency Level:good

Website Quality Assessment

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

Key Observations

1

Website is a professional digital magazine focused on architecture, design, and art.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

30/100
Score

Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

HIGH

Forces HTTPS connections

Missing X-Content-Type-Options header

MEDIUM

Prevents MIME type sniffing

Missing Content-Security-Policy header

HIGH

Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

Missing X-XSS-Protection header

MEDIUM

Legacy XSS protection (deprecated but still recommended)

Missing Referrer-Policy header

LOW

Controls referrer information sent with requests

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

100/100
Score
No issues found

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

60/100
Score

DMARC not enforcing

MEDIUM

DMARC policy is set to "none"

No DKIM record found

MEDIUM

DKIM adds cryptographic signatures to emails

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 a mx ip4:194.233.167.77 include:t.contactlab.it include:_spf.xtsystem.it -all
DNS Lookups:4/10
Policy:-all
DMARC Details
Policy:none
Aggregate Reports:dmarc@xtsystem.it
Forensic Reports:dmarc@xtsystem.it

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

75/100
Score

SSL Certificate Expires Within 90 Days

MEDIUM

SSL certificate expires in 83 days

Weak SSL Key Length

HIGH

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

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 2 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Certificate Details

Subject:designboom.com
Issuer:WE1
Valid Until:11/29/2025 (83 days)
SANs:designboom.com, *.designboom.com

OCSP Status

OCSP Stapling Disabled

📊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

DMARC Policy Set to None

LOW

DMARC is configured but not enforcing any policy

DNS Records

A Records:104.26.12.2, 104.26.13.2, 172.67.72.110
AAAA Records:2606:4700:20::ac43:486e, 2606:4700:20::681a:c02, 2606:4700:20::681a:d02
Name Servers:
alex.ns.cloudflare.comDNS only
beth.ns.cloudflare.comDNS only
MX Records:
10: avas03.priv.cloud.xtsystem.it
SOA:Serial: 2382162579, TTL: 1800s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:48ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 a mx ip4:194.233.167.77 include:t.contactlab.it include:_spf.xtsystem.it -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

Designboom's technical infrastructure is based on WordPress CMS with a custom theme and uses modern web technologies including asynchronous JavaScript loading, responsive images, and a consent management platform. The site integrates multiple analytics tools (Google Analytics, Matomo, Microsoft Clarity) and advertising networks (Google DoubleClick, Fuse Platform). Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization. SEO is well addressed with proper meta tags, Open Graph, and structured data (JSON-LD). Accessibility is basic and could be improved. Hosting provider details are not explicit. The technical setup supports a professional digital media operation but should focus on continuous performance optimization and security audits.
Analyze Another Website