# BeaverCheck Audit Report — https://thewire.in **Date:** April 22, 2026 **URL:** https://thewire.in **Overall Grade:** C (71/100) **Report:** https://beavercheck.com/results/8af39db8-9ba9-46da-b1ef-f4edbf736426 ## Top Findings 1. **[CRITICAL]** Content-Security-Policy header is missing — Security > Security Headers 2. **[CRITICAL]** HSTS header is missing — Security > Security Headers 3. **[CRITICAL]** No Content-Security-Policy header found — Security > Content Security Policy 4. **[CRITICAL]** Page weighs 9.6 MB (6.8 MB transferred) — Performance > Page Weight Budget 5. **[CRITICAL]** 5 link(s) with no accessible text — Accessibility > Link & Button Quality --- ## Lighthouse Scores | Category | Score | |----------|-------| | Performance | 45 | | Accessibility | 77 | | Best Practices | 81 | | SEO | 77 | --- ## Security ### Security Headers (F — 35/100) *4 of 10 headers properly configured* - **[CRITICAL]** HSTS header is missing — Strict-Transport-Security forces browsers to use HTTPS, preventing downgrade attacks. Add the header with a max-age of at least 1 year. - **[PASS]** X-Content-Type-Options is properly configured - **[PASS]** X-Frame-Options is properly configured - **[PASS]** Referrer-Policy is properly configured - **[WARNING]** Permissions-Policy header is missing — Controls which browser features (camera, microphone, geolocation) are allowed. Set it to restrict unused features. - **[CRITICAL]** Content-Security-Policy header is missing — CSP is the most important header for preventing XSS attacks. See the CSP section for detailed analysis. - **[WARNING]** Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy header is missing — COOP isolates your browsing context, preventing cross-origin side-channel attacks. Set to 'same-origin'. - **[WARNING]** Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy header is missing — COEP prevents loading cross-origin resources without explicit permission. Required for SharedArrayBuffer and high-resolution timers. - **[WARNING]** X-Powered-By header reveals technology stack — This header discloses server technology (e.g. Express, PHP), helping attackers target known vulnerabilities. Remove it. - **[PASS]** Server header is present without version info ### Content Security Policy (F — 0/100) *No enforcing CSP policy found* - **[CRITICAL]** No Content-Security-Policy header found — CSP is the most effective defense against XSS attacks. Add a Content-Security-Policy header to restrict resource loading. ### TLS & Certificates (A+ — 100/100) *TLS 1.3, 7 checks passed* - **[PASS]** TLS 1.3 is used - **[PASS]** Strong cipher suite is used - **[INFO]** HTTP/2 is not negotiated — HTTP/2 provides multiplexing and header compression for better performance. - **[PASS]** Certificate is valid (expires in 64 days) - **[PASS]** Certificate chain has 3 certificates - **[PASS]** Certificate uses modern signature algorithm - **[PASS]** Certificate covers 2 domain(s) - **[PASS]** Certificate is issued by a trusted CA ### Cookie Security (A+ — 100/100) *No cookies set — no cookie security risks* - **[PASS]** No cookies set — no cookie security risks --- ## Advanced Security ### Subresource Integrity (D — 40/100) *1 of 3 external resources have SRI* - **[WARNING]** External script from www.googletagmanager.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[WARNING]** External script from thewirehindi.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[PASS]** script from code.jquery.com has SRI protection ### JS Library Vulnerabilities (A+ — 100/100) *No known vulnerabilities* - **[PASS]** No known JavaScript library vulnerabilities detected ### Information Leakage (A+ — 100/100) *No exposures* - **[PASS]** security.txt is present — good practice - **[PASS]** No sensitive files exposed ### Email Security (D — 50/100) *DMARC: none* - **[WARNING]** DMARC policy is none — monitoring only — This only monitors, it doesn't block spoofed emails. Change to p=quarantine or p=reject. ### Permissions-Policy (D — 40/100) *No header set* - **[WARNING]** No Permissions-Policy header — Consider adding a Permissions-Policy header to restrict browser feature access from embedded content. ### CORS Configuration (B — 80/100) *No CORS headers* - **[PASS]** No CORS headers present — secure default --- ## Performance ### Page Weight Budget (F — 0/100) *6.8 MB transferred, 70 requests* - **[CRITICAL]** Page weighs 9.6 MB (6.8 MB transferred) - **[WARNING]** Images are 4.1 MB — compress or use modern formats — Convert images to WebP/AVIF and resize to display dimensions to reduce transfer size. - **[WARNING]** JavaScript is 906 KB — consider code splitting or lazy loading — Large JavaScript bundles delay interactivity. Split code by route or defer non-critical scripts. - **[INFO]** CSS is 295 KB — consider purging unused styles — Remove unused CSS rules with tools like PurgeCSS to reduce stylesheet size. - **[INFO]** 70 HTTP requests - **[INFO]** Estimated 1.4 g CO2 per page load ### Third-Party Impact (D — 50/100) *86% third-party, 0 ms blocking* - **[WARNING]** Third-party code accounts for 86% of page weight (5.8 MiB of 6.8 MiB) - **[PASS]** Third-party blocking time is low (0 ms) ### Text Compression (A+ — 100/100) *All text resources are compressed* - **[PASS]** All text resources are compressed ### Image Optimization (C — 65/100) *32 images, 0 KB saveable* - **[WARNING]** https://mcmscache.epapr.in/mcms/428/e1cd68ed471152... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** https://m.thewire.in/images/g_pre_src.png is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. ### JS Execution Cost (D — 40/100) *2292ms total JS execution* - **[WARNING]** Unattributable: 762ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** https://m.thewire.in/: 729ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-65DW...: 430ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** https://elections.thewire.in/cdn-cgi/challenge-pla...: 305ms CPU time - **[INFO]** https://elections.thewire.in/election-diary/widget...: 66ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** Third-party scripts: 2292ms (100% of total) ### Font Loading (A+ — 100/100) *2 fonts (64 KB)* - **[INFO]** 2 font(s) use font-display: swap (FOUT risk but functional) ### JS Bundles (B — 80/100) *5 scripts, 60 KB unused* - **[WARNING]** https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-65DW...: 60 KB unused (38%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[INFO]** Total unused JavaScript: 60 KB ### Resource Caching (A+ — 100/100) *All resources properly cached* - **[PASS]** No caching issues found ### Critical Rendering Path (A+ — 100/100) *No render-blocking resources* - **[PASS]** No render-blocking resources detected ### Resource Hints (A+ — 100/100) *No optimization needed* - **[PASS]** No resource hint issues ### Page Weight Inventory (D — 45/100) *70 resources · 6.8 MB · 60 KB savings available* - **[WARNING]** Page weight 5.8 MB over 1MB target - **[INFO]** ~60 KB of savings available - **[WARNING]** 66 third-party resources (86% of weight) - **[INFO]** 9 resources over 200KB ### Render-Blocking Resources (A+ — 100/100) *No render-blocking resources detected* - **[PASS]** No render-blocking resources detected in ### Third-Party Resources (A+ — 100/100) *No third-party resources detected* --- ## Content Quality ### Links (A — 95/100) *35 links checked, 34 healthy, 1 broken* - **[WARNING]** 34 of 35 links are healthy - **[CRITICAL]** Broken link: https://www.instagram.com/thewirein/ — Found in . Returns HTTP 429. ### Mixed Content (A+ — 100/100) *No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS.* - **[PASS]** No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS ### Open Graph (F — 0/100) *No Open Graph tags found — social sharing previews will be generic.* - **[WARNING]** No Open Graph meta tags found — Without og:title, og:description, and og:image, social media platforms will generate a generic preview when your page is shared. ### Structured Data (C — 40/100) *No structured data (JSON-LD) found.* - **[INFO]** No structured data (JSON-LD) found — Adding structured data helps search engines understand your content and can enable rich results. --- ## Infrastructure ### DNS Records (A+ — 95/100) *1 A records, 7 ms lookup* - **[PASS]** Resolves to 1 IPv4 address(es) - **[INFO]** Single A record — no DNS redundancy — Multiple A records provide failover if one server goes down. - **[INFO]** No IPv6 (AAAA) records - **[PASS]** 2 nameserver(s) configured - **[PASS]** 5 mail exchanger(s) configured - **[INFO]** CAA records not checked — CAA record lookup requires a specialized DNS resolver. This check will be available in a future update. - **[PASS]** SPF record present in TXT - **[PASS]** DNS resolution time: 7 ms ### Redirect Chain (A+ — 100/100) *No redirects — direct access* - **[PASS]** No redirects — direct access ### IPv6 Readiness (C — 60/100) *No IPv6 support* - **[INFO]** No IPv6 (AAAA) records found — IPv6 support is increasingly important for global accessibility. About 40% of internet users have IPv6 connectivity. ### Crawlability (C — 65/100) *robots.txt present, sitemap with 0 URLs* - **[PASS]** robots.txt is present - **[PASS]** sitemap.xml is present - **[WARNING]** sitemap.xml contains invalid XML — Search engines may not be able to parse the sitemap. Fix XML validation errors. - **[WARNING]** sitemap.xml is empty — no URLs found — An empty sitemap provides no value. Add entries for your pages. - **[INFO]** robots.txt does not reference a sitemap — Add a 'Sitemap:' directive to robots.txt so search engines can discover your sitemap. ### URL Variants (A+ — 100/100) *www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS* - **[PASS]** www/non-www redirect configured correctly (preferred: non-www) - **[PASS]** HTTP correctly 301-redirects to HTTPS ### Domain Intelligence (A+ — 100/100) *thewire.in — via GoDaddy, 12 years, 1 months old, hosted on Google Cloud* - **[PASS]** Domain registered until Apr 29, 2027 (1 years remaining) - **[INFO]** DNSSEC is not enabled — DNSSEC protects against DNS spoofing attacks. While not required, enabling DNSSEC adds an additional layer of security. Contact your DNS provider to enable it. - **[PASS]** Registrar: GoDaddy - **[WARNING]** Registrar lock is NOT enabled — The domain can be transferred without an unlock step. Enable registrar lock (clientTransferProhibited) in your registrar's control panel to protect against unauthorized or accidental transfers. - **[PASS]** Hosting: Google Cloud --- ## Compliance ### WCAG Compliance (A+ — 100/100) *No testable criteria* ### Cookie Consent & Privacy (A+ — 100/100) *privacy policy found* - **[PASS]** Privacy policy link found - **[PASS]** Terms of service link found - **[INFO]** No cookie consent banner detected - **[INFO]** This is an automated check, not legal advice — BeaverCheck detects technical indicators of consent management. This does not constitute a legal compliance assessment. Consult a privacy professional for GDPR/CCPA compliance. ### Language & i18n (A — 90/100) *Lang attribute present* - **[PASS]** attribute is present - **[PASS]** value is valid - **[INFO]** No Content-Language HTTP header - **[INFO]** Language signals are inconsistent — The attribute and Content-Language header should agree. ### Readability & Typography (A+ — 100/100) *Font sizes and tap targets checked* ### Viewport Configuration (A+ — 100/100) *Viewport properly configured* - **[PASS]** Viewport meta tag is present - **[PASS]** width=device-width is set - **[PASS]** User zooming is allowed ### Third-Party Trackers (A+ — 95/100) *3 trackers detected* - **[INFO]** 3 third-party trackers detected — Found 2 analytics, 0 advertising, 0 marketing, 1 tag manager trackers. ### Cookie & Tracker Inventory (A+ — 100/100) *0 cookies · 3 trackers · 0 pre-consent* - **[INFO]** 3 third-party tracker(s) detected on page --- ## Legal ### Legal Page Ecosystem (C — 60/100) *2 of 7 expected legal pages detected* - **[PASS]** Privacy Policy detected — Found at /privacy-policy, linked from footer. - **[PASS]** Terms of Service detected — Found at /terms, linked from footer. - **[INFO]** Cookie Policy not detected — No link matching common Cookie Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Cookie Policy, especially those collecting user data. - **[INFO]** Accessibility Statement not detected — No link matching common Accessibility Statement URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Accessibility Statement, especially those collecting user data. - **[INFO]** DMCA / Copyright Notice not detected — No link matching common DMCA / Copyright Notice URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a DMCA / Copyright Notice, especially those collecting user data. - **[INFO]** Refund / Returns Policy not detected — No link matching common Refund / Returns Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Refund / Returns Policy, especially those collecting user data. - **[INFO]** Acceptable Use Policy not detected — No link matching common Acceptable Use Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Acceptable Use Policy, especially those collecting user data. ### Copyright Notice (C — 55/100) *No copyright notice detected* - **[INFO]** No copyright notice detected — No copyright notice detected in the page content. While not legally required in most jurisdictions (copyright exists automatically), a notice is standard practice and signals site ownership. ### Regulatory Indicators *1 regulatory indicator(s) detected* - **[INFO]** This is a technical scan, not a legal assessment — BeaverCheck detects technical indicators that may suggest regulatory relevance. This is not a compliance audit and should not be relied upon for legal decisions. Consult qualified legal counsel for compliance assessments. - **[INFO]** GDPR indicators detected (moderate confidence) — Indicators suggesting GDPR may be relevant: Privacy policy page found. EU General Data Protection Regulation — governs collection and processing of personal data of EU residents. ### Third-Party Data Sharing *1 third-party service(s) detected* - **[INFO]** Data inventory for transparency purposes — This inventory identifies third-party services that receive data from your site visitors. Under regulations like GDPR (Article 30), maintaining records of data processing activities is commonly considered a best practice. This automated scan provides a starting point — it may not capture all data flows. - **[INFO]** 1 third-party services across 1 categories — 1 third-party services detected across 1 categories: Analytics (1). Each of these services receives some user data from your site visitors. - **[INFO]** Google Analytics (Analytics) — Detected via script URL. Typically collects: Page views, User behavior, Demographics, Device info, IP address. Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy. Data Processing Agreement available. ### Compliance Badges (C — 55/100) *0 compliance badge(s) detected* - **[INFO]** No compliance badges detected — No recognized compliance certification badges or seals were found. This is common — many sites do not display compliance badges. --- ## Availability ### CDN & Delivery (B — 80/100) *Google Cloud CDN* - **[PASS]** Site is served via Google Cloud CDN CDN ### HTTP Caching (A+ — 95/100) *max-age=300 (5 minutes)* - **[PASS]** Cache-Control header is set - **[PASS]** Effective TTL: 5 minutes (max-age=300) - **[PASS]** ETag present — enables conditional (304) responses ### Transport Security (A — 85/100) *HTTP/3, HSTS, and TLS version analysis* - **[PASS]** HTTP/3 (QUIC) supported — The server advertises HTTP/3 via Alt-Svc for faster connections on mobile networks. - **[WARNING]** Missing Strict-Transport-Security header — HSTS tells browsers to only use HTTPS, preventing SSL stripping attacks. - **[PASS]** TLS 1.3 in use (fastest handshake, 1-RTT) --- ## Accessibility ### Landmark Structure (D — 50/100) *1 landmarks* - **[CRITICAL]** No
landmark found — Screen reader users cannot quickly navigate to the primary content. Wrap your main content in
. - **[PASS]** 1