Overview
Findings
Actions
Details
Related
AI-Generated Summary
What this means
theepochtimes.com scored 72/100, meeting baseline requirements but with 5 findings that require attention. The vendor can proceed with a remediation timeline agreement.
Critical gaps in: HSTS Header, Security Headers. Positive signals: MX Records & Mail Provider, TLS Protocol Support, TLS Configuration 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 theepochtimes.com compares
Grade distribution across 2378 companies we've scanned. theepochtimes.com scores better than 47% of them.
71
A+
22
A
180
A-
181
B+
69
B
333
B-
111
C+
111
C
295
C-
110
D+
92
D
216
D-
587
F
theepochtimes.com — Grade C- (72/100)
2378 companies scanned
Security checks
Each check inspects a different part of theepochtimes.com's public security setup. Green means healthy, yellow needs attention, red is a problem.
HSTS Header
Strict-Transport-Security header is missing. Connections can be downgraded to HTTP via man-in-the-middle attacks.
Security Headers
None of the 5 recommended security headers are present (missing: CSP, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy). This exposes the application to clickjacking, MIME-sniffing, and other client-side attacks.
MTA-STS & TLS Reporting
Issues: No MTA-STS configured — email in transit is vulnerable to TLS downgrade attacks. Sending servers cannot verify that your mail server requires TLS; No TLSRPT record — TLS delivery failures won't be reported to domain owner.
DNS CAA Records
No CAA records found. Without CAA, any Certificate Authority can issue certificates for this domain. Adding CAA records restricts issuance to authorized CAs only, reducing the risk of misissued certificates.
DNS Configuration
Strengths: 2 nameservers configured (gracie.ns.cloudflare.com., justin.ns.cloudflare.com.); 5 MX records present; Zone transfers properly restricted. Issues: DNSSEC not configured — DNS responses can be spoofed.
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.
Certificate Hygiene
Strengths: Certificate valid, 157 days remaining; Issued by Sectigo Limited; 1258 certificates logged in CT. Issues: Certificates issued by 11 different CAs (threshold: 8 for 1258 logged certs) — possible misconfiguration or shadow IT. Note: Wildcard certificate in use (*.domain) — covers all subdomains. Common practice; worth noting that compromise would affect all subdomains.
MX Records & Mail Provider
Strengths: Mail handled by Google Workspace; 5 MX record(s) configured; Multiple MX records provide redundancy.
TLS Protocol Support
Strengths: TLS 1.3 supported; TLS 1.2 supported; TLS 1.3 supported (strongest). Protocol support: TLS 1.3: Yes, TLS 1.2: Yes, TLS 1.1: No, TLS 1.0: No.
TLS Configuration
TLSv1.3 negotiated with TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256-bit). Strong configuration with no deprecated protocols or weak ciphers detected.
DMARC / Email Security
Strengths: DMARC policy set to quarantine; SPF record present with soft-fail (~all); DKIM configured (selectors: default, s1, s2).
Cookie Security
No cookies set on the homepage response. No cookie security flags to evaluate.
Known Breaches
No known breaches found in public disclosure databases.
CVE Exposure
Detected technologies: cloudflare, Next.js. (cloudflare detected but excluded from CVE matching — upstream infrastructure). No version information exposed — CVE matching not possible (this is good practice).
Recommended actions
4 items
Steps to improve theepochtimes.com's security grade, ranked by impact.
1
Enable HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security)
The HSTS header is missing on theepochtimes.com. Without it, connections can be downgraded from HTTPS to HTTP via man-in-the-middle attacks. This is a straightforward server configuration change.
Compliance impact
PCI-DSS 4.0Req 6.4.1
Required application security controls
NIST 800-53SC-8
Transmission confidentiality and integrity
How to fix this
1
Add header: Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload
2
Verify all subdomains support HTTPS before adding includeSubDomains
3
Test with: curl -sI https://theepochtimes.com | grep -i strict
4
Submit to hstspreload.org after confirming the header is correct
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2
Add missing security headers (CSP, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy)
5 of 5 recommended security headers are missing on theepochtimes.com: CSP, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy. These headers protect against clickjacking, MIME-sniffing, and unauthorized browser feature access. Adding them is a server configuration change with no application code changes required.
Compliance impact
PCI-DSS 4.0Req 6.4.1
Security headers are required application controls
OWASPSecure Headers
Recommended baseline for web applications
How to fix this
1
Add a Content-Security-Policy header. Safe starting value (works with Google Fonts and inline styles/scripts): default-src 'self'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' https://fonts.googleapis.com; font-src 'self' https://fonts.gstatic.com; script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'; upgrade-insecure-requests. Test your site after adding it, then tighten over time by removing 'unsafe-inline'.
2
Add: X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
3
Add: X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN (use DENY only if you never embed your pages in iframes)
4
Add: Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin
5
Add: Permissions-Policy: camera=(), microphone=(), geolocation=()
6
Verify with: curl -sI https://theepochtimes.com | grep -iE 'content-security|x-frame|x-content|referrer|permissions'
3
Enable DNSSEC on your domain
Without DNSSEC, DNS responses for theepochtimes.com can be spoofed, potentially redirecting users to malicious sites. This requires coordination with your domain registrar to publish DS records.
Compliance impact
NIST 800-53SC-20
Secure name/address resolution service
How to fix this
1
Check if your DNS provider supports DNSSEC (Cloudflare, Route53, etc.)
2
Enable DNSSEC signing in your DNS provider dashboard
3
Add the DS record to your registrar for .com TLD
4
Verify: dig +dnssec theepochtimes.com
4
Review certificate configuration
Certificate issues found for theepochtimes.com: wildcard certificate in use. Wildcard certificates have a broader blast radius if compromised. These are operational hygiene items, not immediate security risks.
How to fix this
1
Consider replacing wildcard cert with individual certs for critical subdomains
2
Consolidate certificate issuance to 1–2 trusted CAs
At a glance
Key data points from the scan.
TLS Version
TLSv1.3
TLSv1.3 negotiated with TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256-bit). Strong configuration with no deprecated protocols or weak ciphers detected.
DMARC Policy
p=quarantine
Strengths: DMARC policy set to quarantine; SPF record present with soft-fail (~all); DKIM configured (selectors: default, s1, s2).
SPF Record
Present
v=spf1 include:_spf.theepochtimes.com include:spf.youmaker.com include:9200794a.ppspf.net ~all
Security Headers
0/5 present
Missing: CSP, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy
HSTS
Not enabled
Strict-Transport-Security header is missing. Connections can be downgraded to HTTP via man-in-the-middle attacks.
SSL Certificate
Issues
Strengths: Certificate valid, 157 days remaining; Issued by Sectigo Limited; 1258 certificates logged in CT. Issues: Certificates issued by 11 different CAs (threshold: 8 for 1258 logged certs) — possible misconfiguration or shadow IT. Note: Wildcard certificate in use (*.domain) — covers all subdomains. Common practice; worth noting that compromise would affect all subdomains.
DNSSEC
Not enabled
Strengths: 2 nameservers configured (gracie.ns.cloudflare.com., justin.ns.cloudflare.com.); 5 MX records present; Zone transfers properly restricted. Issues: DNSSEC not configured — DNS responses can be spoofed.