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Is gulfnews.com a Scam? Security Check Results - Gulf News Reviews

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Is gulfnews.com Safe? Security Analysis for Gulf News

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

MediaUnited Arab Emirateslarge
Google Tag ManagerGoogle AdsenseGoogle RecaptchaChartbeatAmazon Ads+3 more
Analyzed 9/5/2025Completed 1:17:38 PM
66
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

Gulf News is a leading media organization providing comprehensive news coverage focused on the UAE, including business, travel, lifestyle, and local updates. It holds a strong market position as the largest news portal in the UAE, targeting a general audience with a broad range of news and informational services. The website demonstrates a mature digital infrastructure with integration of multiple advertising and analytics technologies, ensuring monetization and audience measurement capabilities. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enforced and bot protection via Google Recaptcha; however, the absence of key security headers and privacy policies indicates room for improvement in compliance and security best practices. Overall, the website is professional, content-rich, and trustworthy, but should enhance privacy compliance and security headers to strengthen user trust and regulatory adherence.

Detected Technologies

Google Tag ManagerGoogle AdsenseGoogle RecaptchaChartbeatAmazon AdsPubMaticProject AgoraConscent SDK

🧠AI Business Intelligence

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

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

Gulf News operates primarily in the media sector, leveraging advertising revenue through multiple ad networks and tracking services. Its competitive advantage lies in its extensive local coverage and brand recognition within the UAE market. The business model is content-driven with monetization via advertising and partnerships. The target customer segment is the general public interested in UAE news and related topics. The website's partnership ecosystem includes major ad networks and analytics providers, supporting its revenue streams and audience insights. Strategic observations suggest focusing on enhancing privacy compliance and security transparency to maintain market leadership and user trust.

Extracted Contact Information

Marketing Intelligence Data

Email Addresses (3)

g*****@gnonline.onmicrosoft.com
f*****@gulfnews.com
s*****@gulfnews.com

Phone Numbers (1)

150*******

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website exhibits a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enabled and use of Google Recaptcha for bot mitigation. However, the lack of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options presents potential risks including clickjacking and MIME sniffing vulnerabilities. No exposed sensitive data or obvious vulnerabilities were detected in the provided content. Compliance gaps exist due to missing privacy and cookie policies, which are critical for GDPR and other data protection regulations. Incident response and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not evident, indicating limited readiness for security incidents. Overall, the security posture is functional but requires enhancements to align with best practices and regulatory requirements.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Implement comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with clear consent mechanisms to improve GDPR compliance.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

Gulf News

Description:

Get the latest update on UAE, business, life style, UAE jobs, gold rate, Exchange rate, UAE holidays, Dubai police, RTA and prayer times from UAE’s largest news portal.

Key Services:
news updatesbusiness newstravel newsgold rate informationprayer timescinema listings
Content Quality:

excellent

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
Google Tag ManagerGoogle AdsenseGoogle RecaptchaChartbeatAmazon AdsPubMaticProject AgoraConscent SDK
Performance:

moderate

Mobile:

good

Accessibility:

basic

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
70/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of Google Recaptcha for bot protection
  • Use of third-party ad and analytics scripts with async loading

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
ChartbeatGoogle Tag Manager
Tracking Level:extensive
Privacy Compliance:poor

Advertising & Marketing

Ad Networks:
Google AdsensePubMaticAmazon AdsProject Agora
Tracking Pixels:
Chartbeat
Marketing Tools:
Conscent SDK
Transparency Level:basic

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 major UAE news portal with extensive content and advertising integration.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

40/100
Score

Weak Strict-Transport-Security configuration

LOW

Current value: "max-age=86400"

Missing X-Frame-Options header

HIGH

Prevents clickjacking attacks

Missing X-Content-Type-Options header

MEDIUM

Prevents MIME type sniffing

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

53/100
Score

No Cookie Policy found

HIGH

GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

No Cookie Consent Banner found

HIGH

GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

No Data Protection Officer mentioned

LOW

Large organizations may need to designate a DPO under GDPR

Privacy policy may not be GDPR compliant

MEDIUM

Privacy policy lacks explicit GDPR compliance elements

GDPR Compliance Analysis

Privacy Policy85% confidence
Cookie Policy0% confidence
Contact Information Found90% confidence
emailphone

🛡️NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive compliance assessment.

NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive

25/100
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 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

92/100
Score

No DMARC reporting

LOW

DMARC aggregate reports not configured

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:spf.protection.outlook.com ip4:194.170.193.80 ip4:83.110.73.200 include:spf.mandrillapp.com include:authsmtp.com include:zeptomail.net -all
DNS Lookups:4/10
Policy:-all
DKIM Selectors Found
Selector:selector1(1296-bit rsa)
Selector:s1(1440-bit rsa)
DMARC Details
Policy:quarantine
MTA-STS Details

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

57/100
Score

Weak Protocols Supported

HIGH

Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

Certificate Transparency Not Implemented

LOW

Certificate is not logged in Certificate Transparency logs

SSL Certificate Expires Within 90 Days

MEDIUM

SSL certificate expires in 70 days

Weak SSL Key Length

HIGH

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

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 3 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Protocol Support

TLSv1.2TLSv1.3TLSv1.1

OCSP Status

OCSP Stapling Enabled

📊DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment.

DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment

85/100
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 Registration Details

Domain Age
27 years(mature)
Expiry Risk
low(245 days)
Protection Level
strongDNSSEC OFF

DNS Records

A Records:104.18.90.198, 104.18.93.198, 104.18.91.198, 104.18.94.198, 104.18.92.198
Name Servers:
edns1.ultradns.biz
edns1.ultradns.com
edns1.ultradns.net
edns1.ultradns.org
MX Records:
20: gulfnews-com.mail.protection.outlook.com
10: gulfnews-com.mail.protection.outlook.com
SOA:Serial: 2019062203, TTL: 3600s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:83ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com ip4:194.170.193.80 ip4:83.110.73.200 include:spf.mandrillapp.com include:authsmtp.com include:zeptomail.net -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 utilizes a modern technology stack including Google Tag Manager, Adsense, Chartbeat analytics, Amazon Ads, and PubMatic for advertising and tracking. Scripts are loaded asynchronously to optimize performance. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design and viewport settings. However, no specific CMS or hosting provider information was detected. Performance is moderate with potential improvements in accessibility and SEO. The technical infrastructure supports a high-traffic news portal but should focus on improving security headers and privacy compliance to reduce technical risks.
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