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Is theintercept.com a Scam? Security Check Results - The Intercept Reviews

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Is theintercept.com Safe? Security Analysis for The Intercept

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

MediaN/amedium
WordPressGoogle Tag ManagerParselyJetpackCloudflare DNS
Analyzed 9/6/2025Completed 10:00:20 AM
65
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

The Intercept is an established independent media organization founded in 2009, specializing in investigative journalism across politics, justice, technology, and global affairs. It operates a professional, content-rich website with a strong brand presence and multiple social media channels. The site is built on WordPress, leveraging modern analytics and performance tools, and is hosted with reputable providers including Cloudflare DNS. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and domain transfer protections, though DNSSEC is not enabled and explicit security policies are not published. Privacy compliance is partially met with a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of use, but lacks a visible cookie consent mechanism. Overall, the website demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and technical maturity, supporting its role as a credible news source.

Detected Technologies

WordPressGoogle Tag ManagerParselyJetpackCloudflare DNS

🧠AI Business Intelligence

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

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

The Intercept maintains a strong market position as a progressive investigative news outlet funded primarily through donations and memberships, facilitated by a partner domain for payment processing. Its content targets a general audience interested in in-depth political and social reporting. The business model relies on independent funding and advertising, with a medium-sized operation under the parent company First Look Media. The website's consistent branding and excellent content quality reinforce its credibility and audience engagement. The partnership ecosystem includes social media platforms and donation services, supporting growth and outreach.

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website employs HTTPS with a valid SSL configuration and uses Cloudflare DNS, enhancing security and performance. Domain registration is transparent and consistent with the organization's history, with clientTransferProhibited status to prevent unauthorized transfers. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, which could improve DNS security. No explicit security policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are published, representing gaps in transparency and readiness. Forms are secured via HTTPS, and no sensitive data exposure or vulnerable libraries were detected. Overall, the security posture is good but could be improved with published policies and DNSSEC.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

The Intercept

Description:

The Intercept is a media organization providing original reporting and fearless journalism on politics, justice, technology, immigration, national security, environment, and world affairs.

Key Services:
Investigative journalismNews articlesPodcastsNewsletter
Content Quality:

excellent

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
WordPressGoogle Tag ManagerParselyJetpackCloudflare DNS
Frameworks:
WordPress theme (Intercept)Yoast SEO
Platforms:
WordPress CMS
Performance:

fast

Mobile:

excellent

Accessibility:

good

SEO:

excellent

Security Assessment

Security Score:
85/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security-focused DNS (Cloudflare)

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Jetpack StatsParselyGoogle Analytics (via GTM)
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:basic

Advertising & Marketing

Ad Networks:
Jetpack (Automattic)Parsely
Tracking Pixels:
Jetpack StatsParsely
Marketing Tools:
Parsely
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 a professional media outlet with extensive original content.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

75/100
Score

Missing Content-Security-Policy header

HIGH

Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

Weak Referrer-Policy configuration

LOW

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

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
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

70/100
Score

DMARC not enforcing

MEDIUM

DMARC policy is set to "none"

No DMARC reporting

LOW

DMARC aggregate reports not configured

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:_spf.protonmail.ch include:_spf.psm.knowbe4.com mx ~all
DNS Lookups:3/10
Policy:~all
DKIM Selectors Found
Selector:google(1416-bit rsa)
Selector:k1(1296-bit rsa)
DMARC Details
Policy:none

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

42/100
Score

Weak Protocols Supported

HIGH

Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

OCSP Stapling Not Enabled

LOW

OCSP stapling improves performance and privacy

Certificate Transparency Not Implemented

LOW

Certificate is not logged in Certificate Transparency logs

SSL Certificate Expires Within 90 Days

MEDIUM

SSL certificate expires in 72 days

Weak SSL Key Length

HIGH

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

Mixed Content Detected

MEDIUM

1 resources loaded over insecure HTTP

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 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:192.0.66.199
Name Servers:
dora.ns.cloudflare.comDNS only
lamar.ns.cloudflare.comDNS only
MX Records:
10: mail.protonmail.ch
20: mailsec.protonmail.ch
SOA:Serial: 2381557543, TTL: 1800s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:211ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 include:_spf.protonmail.ch include:_spf.psm.knowbe4.com mx ~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 Intercept's website is built on a modern WordPress CMS with a custom theme, leveraging Google Tag Manager, Parsely analytics, and Jetpack for performance and tracking. The site is optimized for mobile with responsive design and good accessibility features. Performance is fast with preloading of fonts and optimized images. SEO is well implemented with canonical tags, Open Graph metadata, and JSON-LD structured data for rich search results. Hosting uses Cloudflare DNS for reliability and security. The technical infrastructure is robust, supporting a high-quality user experience and scalable content delivery.
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