Security checks — sorted by severity
MX Records & Mail Provider
Strengths: Mail handled by Microsoft 365; 1 MX record(s) configured. Issues: Only 1 MX record — no failover if primary mail server is unavailable.
Strengths: Mail handled by Microsoft 365; 1 MX record(s) configured. Issues: Only 1 MX record — no failover if primary mail server is unavailable.
MTA-STS & TLS Reporting
Issues: No MTA-STS configured — email in transit is vulnerable to TLS downgrade attacks; sending servers cannot verify your mail server requires TLS; No TLSRPT record (_smtp._tls) — TLS delivery failures won't be reported to the domain owner.
Issues: No MTA-STS configured — email in transit is vulnerable to TLS downgrade attacks; sending servers cannot verify your mail server requires TLS; No TLSRPT record (_smtp._tls) — TLS delivery failures won't be reported to the domain owner.
DNS CAA Records
No CAA records found in the DNS tree for this domain. Without CAA, any Certificate Authority can issue certificates for this domain. Adding CAA records restricts issuance to authorised CAs only, reducing the risk of misissued certificates.
No CAA records found in the DNS tree for this domain. Without CAA, any Certificate Authority can issue certificates for this domain. Adding CAA records restricts issuance to authorised CAs only, reducing the risk of misissued certificates.
DNS Configuration
Strengths: 4 nameservers configured (ns-493.awsdns-61.com, ns-630.awsdns-14.net, ns-1470.awsdns-55.org, ns-2040.awsdns-63.co.uk); NS records span 4 providers (awsdns-61.com, awsdns-14.net, awsdns-55.org, co.uk) — genuine redundancy; SOA record present and MNAME consistent with NS set; 1 MX record(s) present; Zone transfers properly restricted on all nameservers; Address records present: 3 A record(s). Issues: DNSSEC not configured — DNS responses can be spoofed or tampered with in transit (DNS cache poisoning).
Strengths: 4 nameservers configured (ns-493.awsdns-61.com, ns-630.awsdns-14.net, ns-1470.awsdns-55.org, ns-2040.awsdns-63.co.uk); NS records span 4 providers (awsdns-61.com, awsdns-14.net, awsdns-55.org, co.uk) — genuine redundancy; SOA record present and MNAME consistent with NS set; 1 MX record(s) present; Zone transfers properly restricted on all nameservers; Address records present: 3 A record(s). Issues: DNSSEC not configured — DNS responses can be spoofed or tampered with in transit (DNS cache poisoning).
DMARC / Email Security
Strengths: DMARC policy set to quarantine; DMARC pct=100 — policy applies to all mail; Aggregate reports (rua) configured; SPF soft-fail (~all) configured; SPF DNS lookup count: 7/10 (within limit); DKIM configured (selectors: selector2, s1, s2, k1). Issues: DMARC policy is 'quarantine', not 'reject' — spoofed mail is moved to spam rather than blocked outright.
Strengths: DMARC policy set to quarantine; DMARC pct=100 — policy applies to all mail; Aggregate reports (rua) configured; SPF soft-fail (~all) configured; SPF DNS lookup count: 7/10 (within limit); DKIM configured (selectors: selector2, s1, s2, k1). Issues: DMARC policy is 'quarantine', not 'reject' — spoofed mail is moved to spam rather than blocked outright.
TLS Configuration
TLSv1.2 negotiated. Issues: TLS 1.2 negotiated (1.3 preferred).
TLSv1.2 negotiated. Issues: TLS 1.2 negotiated (1.3 preferred).
Security Headers
5/5 security headers present. Quality issues: CSP: 'unsafe-eval' allows eval() — weakens XSS protection.
5/5 security headers present. Quality issues: CSP: 'unsafe-eval' allows eval() — weakens XSS protection.
TLS Protocol Support
Strengths: TLS 1.2 supported; TLS 1.2 supported (consider enabling TLS 1.3). Protocol support: TLS 1.3: No, TLS 1.2: Yes, TLS 1.1: No, TLS 1.0: No.
Strengths: TLS 1.2 supported; TLS 1.2 supported (consider enabling TLS 1.3). Protocol support: TLS 1.3: No, TLS 1.2: Yes, TLS 1.1: No, TLS 1.0: No.
security.txt (RFC 9116)
No security.txt found. Publishing a security.txt at /.well-known/security.txt is the industry standard (RFC 9116) for vulnerability disclosure policies. Its absence may indicate a less mature security program.
No security.txt found. Publishing a security.txt at /.well-known/security.txt is the industry standard (RFC 9116) for vulnerability disclosure policies. Its absence may indicate a less mature security program.
Known Breaches
No known breaches found in public disclosure databases.
No known breaches found in public disclosure databases.
HSTS Header
HSTS enabled: max-age=15552000s (180 days). Missing includeSubDomains — subdomains not covered. Missing preload directive.
HSTS enabled: max-age=15552000s (180 days). Missing includeSubDomains — subdomains not covered. Missing preload directive.
Cookie Security
Strengths: 1 cookie(s) analyzed; All cookies have Secure flag; All cookies have HttpOnly flag; All cookies have SameSite attribute.
Strengths: 1 cookie(s) analyzed; All cookies have Secure flag; All cookies have HttpOnly flag; All cookies have SameSite attribute.
CVE Exposure
Detected technologies: cloudflare. (cloudflare detected but excluded from CVE matching — upstream infrastructure). All detected technologies are upstream CDN/proxy infrastructure. No application-level software versions exposed.
Detected technologies: cloudflare. (cloudflare detected but excluded from CVE matching — upstream infrastructure). All detected technologies are upstream CDN/proxy infrastructure. No application-level software versions exposed.
Certificate Hygiene
Strengths: Certificate valid, 294 days remaining; Issued by Amazon. Note: Wildcard certificate in use (*.domain) — covers all subdomains. Common practice; worth noting that compromise would affect all subdomains.
Strengths: Certificate valid, 294 days remaining; Issued by Amazon. Note: Wildcard certificate in use (*.domain) — covers all subdomains. Common practice; worth noting that compromise would affect all subdomains.
Recommended actions
1+ items
Steps to improve politico.com's security grade, ranked by impact.
1
Strengthen email authentication configuration
DMARC / Email Security
Email authentication is partially configured for politico.com but has gaps. Actions needed: . Until DMARC enforcement is active, spoofed emails may still reach recipients.
NIST CSFPR.AC-7
Email authentication is a required access control
How to fix this
1
Verify with: nslookup -type=txt _dmarc.politico.com
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AI Summary
What this means
politico.com scored 75/100, meeting baseline requirements but with 9 findings that require attention. The vendor can proceed with a remediation timeline agreement.
Positive signals: Known Breaches, HSTS Header, Cookie Security all passed.
4 action items identified, including 0 critical. The issues are configuration gaps, not architectural problems. A focused remediation effort of 2–5 days could address all findings.
How politico.com compares
Grade distribution across 2685 companies we've scanned. politico.com scores better than 55% of them.
88
A+
28
A
196
A-
202
B+
76
B
376
B-
138
C+
117
C
347
C-
123
D+
96
D
266
D-
632
F
politico.com — Grade C (75/100)
2685 companies scanned
At a glance
Key data points from the scan.
TLS Version
TLSv1.2
TLSv1.2 negotiated. Issues: TLS 1.2 negotiated (1.3 preferred).
DMARC Policy
p=quarantine
Strengths: DMARC policy set to quarantine; DMARC pct=100 — policy applies to all mail; Aggregate reports (rua) configured; SPF soft-fail (~all) configured; SPF DNS lookup count: 7/10 (within limit); DKIM configured (selectors: selector2, s1, s2, k1). Issues: DMARC policy is 'quarantine', not 'reject' — spoofed mail is moved to spam rather than blocked outright.
SPF Record
Present
v=spf1 a include:_spf.salesforce.com include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:_spf.qualtrics.com i
Security Headers
5/5 present
All headers configured.
HSTS
Enabled
HSTS enabled: max-age=15552000s (180 days). Missing includeSubDomains — subdomains not covered. Missing preload directive.
SSL Certificate
Valid
Strengths: Certificate valid, 294 days remaining; Issued by Amazon. Note: Wildcard certificate in use (*.domain) — covers all subdomains. Common practice; worth noting that compromise would affect all subdomains.
DNSSEC
Not enabled
Strengths: 4 nameservers configured (ns-493.awsdns-61.com, ns-630.awsdns-14.net, ns-1470.awsdns-55.org, ns-2040.awsdns-63.co.uk); NS records span 4 providers (awsdns-61.com, awsdns-14.net, awsdns-55.org, co.uk) — genuine redundancy; SOA record present and MNAME consistent with NS set; 1 MX record(s) present; Zone transfers properly restricted on all nameservers; Address records present: 3 A record(s). Issues: DNSSEC not configured — DNS responses can be spoofed or tampered with in transit (DNS cache poisoning).
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