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Is news.com.au a Scam? Security Check Results - news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site for latest headlines

news.com.au Security Report Summary

news.com.au received a security score of 71 out of 100 in Guard's comprehensive security analysis, classified as "Moderate Risk". This report covers news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site for latest headlines's website security posture. news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site for latest headlines operates in the Media industry in Australia.

news.com.au is a leading Australian news website providing comprehensive coverage across sports, entertainment, finance, politics, and national breaking news. It targets a broad Australian audience seeking timely and reliable news content. The site is positioned as a major media outlet in Australia with a large content offering and strong brand presence. Technically, the website leverages modern web technologies including WordPress CMS, advanced JavaScript libraries, CDN delivery via Akamai, and performance monitoring tools like SpeedCurve LUX. The infrastructure supports fast loading times and good mobile responsiveness, enhancing user experience. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement, security headers, and no visible vulnerabilities, although explicit privacy and cookie policies are not detected in the provided content. Advertising and tracking are implemented using industry-standard tools such as DoubleClick and Outbrain, with extensive user tracking. Overall, the site demonstrates a mature digital presence with high professionalism and trustworthiness, though improvements in privacy transparency and contact information visibility are recommended.

The security scan identified 27 findings across security headers, SSL/TLS, DNS health, email security, GDPR compliance, and NIS2 compliance analysis modules.

Technologies detected: JavaScript, AMP (Google AMP story player), Outbrain, Vidora, Akamai (CDN), SpeedCurve LUX, DoubleClick GPT, Identity Rampart (authentication), Tealium (tag management).

About this security scan

Guard performs automated security assessments of websites by analyzing SSL/TLS certificates, HTTP security headers, DNS configuration, email authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), GDPR compliance indicators, NIS2 directive compliance, network exposure, and AI-powered business intelligence. Each report provides domain-specific findings, risk scores, and actionable recommendations.

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Is news.com.au Safe? Security Analysis for news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site for latest headlines

https://news.com.au

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

MediaAustralialarge
JavaScriptAMP (Google AMP story player)OutbrainVidoraAkamai (CDN)+4 more
Analyzed 9/5/2025Completed 1:54:09 AM6mo ago
71
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

Above Media avg (58)

10,000+

Domains scanned

500+

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Reg. No. 40203410806 • VAT LV40203410806

Support: guard@offseq.com+371 2256 5353

AI Summary

news.com.au is a leading Australian news website providing comprehensive coverage across sports, entertainment, finance, politics, and national breaking news. It targets a broad Australian audience seeking timely and reliable news content. The site is positioned as a major media outlet in Australia with a large content offering and strong brand presence. Technically, the website leverages modern web technologies including WordPress CMS, advanced JavaScript libraries, CDN delivery via Akamai, and performance monitoring tools like SpeedCurve LUX. The infrastructure supports fast loading times and good mobile responsiveness, enhancing user experience. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement, security headers, and no visible vulnerabilities, although explicit privacy and cookie policies are not detected in the provided content. Advertising and tracking are implemented using industry-standard tools such as DoubleClick and Outbrain, with extensive user tracking. Overall, the site demonstrates a mature digital presence with high professionalism and trustworthiness, though improvements in privacy transparency and contact information visibility are recommended.

Detected Technologies

JavaScriptAMP (Google AMP story player)OutbrainVidoraAkamai (CDN)SpeedCurve LUXDoubleClick GPTIdentity Rampart (authentication)Tealium (tag management)

6 urgent findings need attention

6 high

Continuous monitoring

Keep news.com.au under constant watch

Guard tracks your live infrastructure daily: certificate expiry, DNS & mail authentication drift, uptime changes, subdomain inventory, and unexpected tracker or content shifts. A full timeline captures every diff so you can prove remediation and spot regressions instantly.

Security drift alerts

Risk score drops, new high-severity issues, and header hardening gaps

Compliance watch

GDPR / NIS2 posture changes with governance evidence snapshots

Infrastructure surface

Unexpected open services, SSL expiry, DNS & email authentication changes

Content & tracker intelligence

Marketing tech shifts, analytics drift, and AI recommendation updates

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Security Headers

6 findings

45/100

GDPR Compliance

2 findings

80/100

NIS2 Compliance

8 findings

17/100

Email Security

5 findings

70/100

🧠AI Business Intelligence

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

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

The website operates in the media sector, focusing on news publishing with a business model centered on advertising and content monetization. It serves a large Australian audience with diverse news categories, indicating a broad market reach. The site benefits from partnerships with advertising networks and content recommendation platforms. Competitive advantages include brand recognition, extensive content breadth, and integration of modern digital marketing tools. Revenue streams likely include display advertising, sponsored content, and subscription services. The company ecosystem includes social media channels for audience engagement. Growth indicators are positive given the site's large scale and technological investments. Strategic observations suggest focusing on enhancing privacy compliance and incident response transparency to maintain market trust.

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The security maturity of news.com.au is solid, with HTTPS enforced and multiple security headers implied by the content. The site uses modern authentication mechanisms and content delivery networks to protect and optimize content delivery. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. However, the absence of explicit privacy policies, cookie consent banners, and incident response contact details indicates gaps in compliance and transparency. There is no evidence of a published vulnerability disclosure policy or security certifications. The site should improve in these areas to align with GDPR and other regulatory requirements. Incident response readiness is unclear due to lack of contact channels. Overall, the security posture is good but could be enhanced by formalizing privacy and security governance documentation.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism to improve compliance and user trust.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site for latest headlines

Description:

Read the latest headlines covering sports, entertainment, finance, politics and national breaking news. Be on it with Australia's leading news site.

Key Services:
News publishingSports coverageEntertainment newsFinance newsPolitics newsNational breaking news
Content Quality:

excellent

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
JavaScriptAMP (Google AMP story player)OutbrainVidoraAkamai (CDN)SpeedCurve LUXDoubleClick GPTIdentity Rampart (authentication)Tealium (tag management)
Frameworks:
WordPress (implied by wp-content paths)Newscorpau News DNA theme
Platforms:
Web desktopMobile (implied by responsive meta tags)
Performance:

fast

Mobile:

good

Accessibility:

good

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
85/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of modern JS libraries with async/defer
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Authentication via Rampart
  • Use of CSP and referrer policies

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
SpeedCurve LUXTealium
Tracking Level:extensive
Privacy Compliance:basic

Advertising & Marketing

Ad Networks:
DoubleClickOutbrain
Tracking Pixels:
TealiumSpeedCurve LUXOutbrain
Marketing Tools:
Tealium Tag ManagementOutbrain content recommendation
Transparency Level:basic

Website Quality Assessment

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

Key Observations

1

Website is a major Australian news portal with extensive content and categories

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🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

45/100
Score

Weak Strict-Transport-Security configuration

LOW

Current value: "max-age=600 ; includeSubDomains"

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

👤GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.

GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment

80/100
Score

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

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

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📧Email Security

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

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

70/100
Score

Complex SPF record

LOW

Too many include statements can cause lookup limits

DMARC not enforcing

MEDIUM

DMARC policy is set to "none"

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:_netblocks.google.com include:_netblocks2.google.com include:_netblocks3.google.com include:amazonses.com include:spf-00596a01.pphosted.com include:43576715.spf06.hubspotemail.net ip4:54.153.181.121 ip4:54.66.128.228 ip4:54.153.165.87 ip4:5 4.153.206.226 ip4:54.66.242.85 ip4:54.79.96.63 ip4:3.24.200.4 ip4:13.55.111.68 ip4:54.153.177.198 ip4:54.253.169.173 ip4:5.61.117.96/28 ip4:149.96.5.3 ip4:148.139.125.23 ip4:148.139.124.21 ip4:149.96.6.2 ip4:199.91.136.28 ip4:149.96.5.6 ip4:148.139.125.24 ip4:149.96.6.6 ip4:148.139.125.21 ip4:149.96.5.209 ip4:148.139.124.24 ip4:199.91.140.28 ip4:148.139.125.22 ip4:149.96.6.3 ip4:149.96.6.209 ip4:149.96.5.2 ip4:148.139.124.23 ip4:149.96.6.7 ip4:148.139.124.22 ip4:149.96.5.7 ip4:199.91.140.28 ip4:37.98.232. 2 ip4:148.139.1.2 ip4:148.139.1.31 ip4:149.96.13.2 ip4:199.91.139.23 ip4:199.91.141.22 ip4:37.98.232.26 ip4:37.98.235.2 ip4:37.98.232.12 ip4:199.91.137.2 ip4:199.91.137.26 ip4:148.139.0.2 ip4:199.91.136.26 ip4:148.139.2.2 ip4:199.91.140.26 ip4:199.91.141. 24 ip4:148.139.3.2 ip4:199.91.139.145 ip4:37.98.234.2 ip4:199.91.136.28 ip4:199.91.139.22 ip4:199.91.141.23 ip4:199.91.141.145 ip4:149.96.14.2 ip4:199.91.139.24 ip4:148.139.0.31 ip4:149.96.133.2 ip4:148.139.104.16 ip4:199.91.136.28 ip4:148.139.105.16 ip4: 149.96.195.2 ip4:149.96.220.2 ip4:199.91.140.28 ip4:149.96.2.26 ip4:103.23.67.26 ip4:103.23.66.26 ip4:149.96.194.2 ip4:149.96.132.2 ip4:149.96.221.2 ip4:103.23.65.2 ip4:149.96.1.26 ip4:148.139.105.17 ip4:148.139.104.17 ip4:103.23.64.2 ip4:35.80.141.6 ip4: 208.185.229.45 include:cust-spf.exacttarget.com ~all
DNS Lookups:7/10
Policy:~all
DKIM Selectors Found
Selector:google(1296-bit rsa)
Selector:k1(1296-bit rsa)
Selector:s1(1440-bit rsa)
DMARC Details
Policy:none
Subdomain Policy:none
Aggregate Reports:fcf164dee01b786@rep.dmarcanalyzer.com
Forensic Reports:fcf164dee01b786@for.dmarcanalyzer.com

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

90/100
Score

Mixed Content Detected

MEDIUM

1 resources loaded over insecure HTTP

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 2 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Certificate Details

Subject:news.com.au
Issuer:DigiCert Global G2 TLS RSA SHA256 2020 CA1
Valid Until:9/4/2026 (364 days)
SANs:news.com.au, *.adelaidenow.com.au, *.api.news +87 more

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

Domain Registration Details

Protection Level
strongDNSSEC OFF

DNS Records

A Records:2.18.73.127
AAAA Records:2a02:26f0:41:68f::ebe, 2a02:26f0:41:681::ebe, 2a02:26f0:41:6a3::ebe, 2a02:26f0:41:6a1::ebe, 2a02:26f0:41:689::ebe
Name Servers:
a1-246.akam.netDNS only
a12-67.akam.netDNS only
a13-64.akam.netDNS only
a18-65.akam.netDNS only
a5-66.akam.netDNS only
a8-67.akam.netDNS only
asia1.akam.net
ns1-24.akam.net
ns1-50.akam.net
usc1.akam.net
usc4.akam.net
usw1.akam.net
usw4.akam.netDNS only
usw5.akam.netDNS only
MX Records:
10: mxb-00596a01.gslb.pphosted.com
10: mxa-00596a01.gslb.pphosted.com
SOA:Serial: 2021072260, TTL: 600s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:94ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 include:_netblocks.google.com include:_netblocks2.google.com include:_netblocks3.google.com include:amazonses.com include:spf-00596a01.pphosted.com include:43576715.spf06.hubspotemail.net ip4:54.153.181.121 ip4:54.66.128.228 ip4:54.153.165.87 ip4:5 4.153.206.226 ip4:54.66.242.85 ip4:54.79.96.63 ip4:3.24.200.4 ip4:13.55.111.68 ip4:54.153.177.198 ip4:54.253.169.173 ip4:5.61.117.96/28 ip4:149.96.5.3 ip4:148.139.125.23 ip4:148.139.124.21 ip4:149.96.6.2 ip4:199.91.136.28 ip4:149.96.5.6 ip4:148.139.125.24 ip4:149.96.6.6 ip4:148.139.125.21 ip4:149.96.5.209 ip4:148.139.124.24 ip4:199.91.140.28 ip4:148.139.125.22 ip4:149.96.6.3 ip4:149.96.6.209 ip4:149.96.5.2 ip4:148.139.124.23 ip4:149.96.6.7 ip4:148.139.124.22 ip4:149.96.5.7 ip4:199.91.140.28 ip4:37.98.232. 2 ip4:148.139.1.2 ip4:148.139.1.31 ip4:149.96.13.2 ip4:199.91.139.23 ip4:199.91.141.22 ip4:37.98.232.26 ip4:37.98.235.2 ip4:37.98.232.12 ip4:199.91.137.2 ip4:199.91.137.26 ip4:148.139.0.2 ip4:199.91.136.26 ip4:148.139.2.2 ip4:199.91.140.26 ip4:199.91.141. 24 ip4:148.139.3.2 ip4:199.91.139.145 ip4:37.98.234.2 ip4:199.91.136.28 ip4:199.91.139.22 ip4:199.91.141.23 ip4:199.91.141.145 ip4:149.96.14.2 ip4:199.91.139.24 ip4:148.139.0.31 ip4:149.96.133.2 ip4:148.139.104.16 ip4:199.91.136.28 ip4:148.139.105.16 ip4: 149.96.195.2 ip4:149.96.220.2 ip4:199.91.140.28 ip4:149.96.2.26 ip4:103.23.67.26 ip4:103.23.66.26 ip4:149.96.194.2 ip4:149.96.132.2 ip4:149.96.221.2 ip4:103.23.65.2 ip4:149.96.1.26 ip4:148.139.105.17 ip4:148.139.104.17 ip4:103.23.64.2 ip4:35.80.141.6 ip4: 208.185.229.45 include:cust-spf.exacttarget.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

How does news.com.au compare?

See how news.com.au stacks up against similar websites in the same industry.

🔧Technical Analysis

Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.

Technical Analysis

Comprehensive security assessment findings

Additional Findings

The website is built on WordPress with a custom theme (Newscorpau News DNA) and uses a variety of modern JavaScript libraries and third-party services for analytics, advertising, and content delivery. It employs CDN services (Akamai) and performance monitoring tools (SpeedCurve LUX) to ensure fast and reliable user experience. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with structured data (JSON-LD) for SEO and social media integration. Technical debt appears low with asynchronous script loading and prefetching strategies. Opportunities exist to improve privacy-related technical implementations such as cookie consent and data protection mechanisms. The hosting environment is robust, likely managed by a major media group with enterprise-grade infrastructure.
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PDF Report & Export

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Marketing Intelligence

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49.90 €one-time • Incl. 21% VAT

Plan Comparison

FeaturePDF ReportMarketing+
Full security analysis
Professional PDF export
Email delivery
Lifetime access + unlock code
Contact emails & phones
Marketing outreach data

Already purchased?

Order summary

Domainnews.com.au
Access tierFull report or marketing add-on

Digital reports are delivered immediately after payment. By continuing you acknowledge the withdrawal waiver described in our Returns & Refunds policy.

VisaMastercardApple PayGoogle Pay

Secure payments processed via EveryPay. Prices in EUR; Incl. 21% VAT.

SEQ SIA

Lastadijas 12 k-3, Riga, Latvia, LV-1050

Reg. No. 40203410806 • VAT LV40203410806

Support: guard@offseq.com+371 2256 5353

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