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Infrastructure

· 9 checks — DNS, redirects, IPv6, crawlability, URL variants, and domain intelligence rolled into one auditable list.
SCORE
85
GRADE
B
FIX
2
REVIEW
1
PASS
6
INFO
0
Probed from Santa Clara, United Stated
200 OK
Checks
9
6 PASS 1 REVIEW 2 FIX
F
IPv6 Readiness
Action
IPv6 records exist but unreachable
FIX
IPv6 records exist but unreachable
Warning::
IPv6 DNS records exist but server is not reachable
Having AAAA records but an unreachable server is worse than no AAAA — clients may experience delays before falling back to IPv4.
Got: 2a04:fa87:fffd::c000:42dc
Info::
IPv6 connection error
Got: dial tcp6 [2a04:fa87:fffd::c000:42dc]:443: connect: network is unreachable
IPv6 Misconfigured
AAAA Records 2a04:fa87:fffd::c000:42dc Connection UNREACHABLE

Having AAAA records but an unreachable server is worse than no AAAA — clients may experience delays before falling back to IPv4.

Why this matters

Advertising IPv6 (AAAA records) without a reachable server means IPv6-preferring clients silently fail every connection.

Learn more ▾

Modern browsers prefer IPv6 if AAAA exists (Happy Eyeballs algorithm). If the IPv6 server isn't reachable, browsers fall back to IPv4 — but with seconds of added latency per request. Either fix IPv6 reachability or remove the AAAA records.

Source: RFC 8305 (Happy Eyeballs)

D
CDN & Delivery
Action
No CDN detected
FIX
No CDN detected
Warning::
No CDN detected
A CDN can significantly improve load times for users around the world by caching content at edge nodes closer to them.
No CDN detected

Consider using a CDN to improve global delivery speed and reduce origin load.

B
TLS Certificate Expiry & Recommendations
75 days until leaf cert expires — 4 issues to address
REVIEW

Certificate validity

75
days left
0d 30d 60d 90d+

Recommended actions

  • Extend HSTS max-age to at least 31536000 (1 year) to meet the preload list criteria
  • Add the preload directive and submit to hstspreload.org once max-age + includeSubDomains are in place
  • Enable DNSSEC on your domain for DNS spoofing protection
  • Enable OCSP stapling on your TLS server to remove a CA roundtrip and protect user privacy
A+
DNS Records
1 A records, 19 ms lookup
PASS
1 A records, 19 ms lookup
Info::
Resolves to 1 IPv4 address(es)
Got: 192.0.66.220
Info::
Single A record — no DNS redundancy
Multiple A records provide failover if one server goes down.
Info::
Has 1 IPv6 (AAAA) record(s)
Got: 2a04:fa87:fffd::c000:42dc
Info::
2 nameserver(s) configured
Got: elly.ns.cloudflare.com, gordon.ns.cloudflare.com
Info::
2 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.
Info::
SPF record present in TXT
Info::
DNS resolution time: 19 ms
Got: 19 ms
A192.0.66.220
AAAA2a04:fa87:fffd::c000:42dc
CNAME—
NSelly.ns.cloudflare.com, gordon.ns.cloudflare.com
MX
0 usb-smtp-inbound-1.mimecast.com
0 usb-smtp-inbound-2.mimecast.com
TXT
0ed1fe018a18c01fd51bff49e5bd633fade441856b
134052hpsyz5k73sv39m0sgxljsqyls7
MS=ms36891426
MS=ms48927658
_globalsign-domain-verification=esDvs5Msz39F5o97VaHcZxyKR4A6NPHRpuo9du1Tro
airtable-verification=e989fdaedddc09c0e5c782dd036dd08a
anthropic-domain-verification-bqkhj4=U4gt2pxQQDf0aqgfPI3Q8Uvtp
atlassian-domain-verification=h9MZSj2L681ZNGD+UGF5Z6/GB87QahuAI5yZdDee7puwzZVg57...
b42c6b9e-33ca-44c0-a919-3152d6b3ddfa
docusign=1ad1e6cd-4dfe-4b34-8689-5797102f132e
dropbox-domain-verification=sh3f8kienale
google-site-verification=8tVHhkiXUNoPjI09EcLgjl9V7TwSXxLV0bnIjcEmpFw
google-site-verification=DhlHJ_81bZLsrh5TLvK7ac04EG4QvEAa8hjtsiMpUTQ
google-site-verification=HgtRMjw2Jm4kQso_oGLMcQ7ndEv8wNcGa0Kquhm9KK0
google-site-verification=JJNsJJsmpgH6VoKlFj7qG9V223pIrsduvb7qQ31GNC0
google-site-verification=KsXJcvhk00hppwpZ3oNMk0GzB9M2GFUxA7XjdRVpc1U
google-site-verification=NgMXk6BZ-jqt9XTrgnGt_O7hY4xD-NEAWsfSSD2VuZQ
google-site-verification=VZcuQE1gCO7Zg1W2g_uzOzDXXICzPt74_eE-w0SRpt4
knowbe4-site-verification=bc3830115833f4f956e30f506f1da8c8
openai-domain-verification=dv-NrFR5wvpHqoGtf07m6oIH3J1
slido-domain-verification=87b6e1fe-2406-444f-90df-2cd87a594a34
SPF v=spf1 a mx include:usb._netblocks.mimecast.com include:spf.protection.outlook.c...
yahoo-verification-key=nBRGLDZQzTUnUA7c6taNupK6RrG3ZGZs0PjHJmWAkqM=
zeplin
CAALookup not available with standard resolver
Resolved in 19 ms

Multiple A records provide failover if one server goes down.

Why this matters

Single A record means a single point of failure — if that IP goes down, your site is unreachable until DNS TTL expires.

Learn more ▾

Add multiple A records for round-robin failover, or use a managed DNS provider with health-checked failover (Route 53, Cloudflare, NS1). Short TTL (60-300s) lets clients recover faster on outages.

Source: SRE practice / DNS architecture

CAA record lookup requires a specialized DNS resolver. This check will be available in a future update.

Why this matters

Informational: CAA (Certification Authority Authorization) records weren't checked in this scan.

A+
Redirect Chain
No redirects — direct access
PASS
No redirects — direct access
Info::
No redirects — direct access
Got: https://techcrunch.com

https://techcrunch.com

16 ms · HTTP/1.1 FINAL

#URLStatusTimeProtocolServer
1https://techcrunch.com20016 msHTTP/1.1nginx
A+
Crawlability
robots.txt present, sitemap with 2044 URLs
PASS
robots.txt present, sitemap with 2044 URLs
Info::
robots.txt is present
Got: 710 bytes
Info::
sitemap.xml is present
Info::
sitemap.xml is valid XML
Info::
sitemap.xml contains 2044 entries
Info::
Sitemap index with 2044 child sitemaps
Info::
robots.txt references sitemap
robots.txt 200 OK
Size 710 B Sitemaps referenced 2 User-agents Claude-Web, FacebookBot, GPTBot, omgili, *, Bytespider, CCBot, ChatGPT-User, ClaudeBot, cohere-ai, Diffbot, Google-Extended, anthropic-ai, Applebot-Extended Blocking No — crawling allowed
User-agent: *
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /wp-json/
Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
Disallow: /search/
Disallow: /?s=
Disallow: /*?customize_changeset_uuid=*

User-agent: anthropic-ai
Disallow: /

User-agent: Applebot-Extended
Disallow: /

User-agent: Bytespider
Disallow: /

User-agent: CCBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: ChatGPT-User
Disallow: /

User-agent: Claude-Web
User-agent: ClaudeBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: cohere-ai
Disallow: /

User-agent: Diffbot
Disallow: /

User-agent: FacebookBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: Google-Extended
Disallow: /

User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: omgili
Disallow: /

Sitemap: https://techcrunch.com/sitemap.xml
Sitemap: https://techcrunch.com/news-sitemap.xml
sitemap.xml 200 OK
Type Sitemap Index URLs 2044 entries Valid XML Yes
Child Sitemaps:
A+
URL Variants
www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS
PASS
www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS
Info::
www/non-www redirect configured correctly (preferred: non-www)
Info::
HTTP correctly 301-redirects to HTTPS

www / non-www

301https://www.techcrunch.com/
200https://techcrunch.com/

Preferred variant: non-www

HTTP → HTTPS

301http://techcrunch.com/ → https://techcrunch.com/

Consistent

A
Domain Intelligence
techcrunch.com — via MarkMonitor Inc., 21 years, 1 months old, hosted on WordPress.com (Automattic)
PASS
techcrunch.com — via MarkMonitor Inc., 21 years, 1 months old, hosted on WordPress.com (Automattic)
Warning::
Domain expires in 67 days
Consider enabling auto-renewal to prevent accidental expiration.
Got: Expires Jun 10, 2026
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.
Info::
Registrar: MarkMonitor Inc.
Info::
Hosting: WordPress.com (Automattic)
Got: AS2635
Domain expiry

EXPIRED

June 10, 2026

SSL certificate

75 days

Issued by Let's Encrypt

Domain age

21 years, 1 months

Registered June 10, 2005

DNSSEC

Not enabled

Protects against DNS spoofing

Hosting

WordPress.com (Automattic)

ASN AS2635

192.0.66.220

Registrar

MarkMonitor Inc.

Lock status unknown 2 NS records
Expiry timeline
Today
+1 year
Domain expiry SSL expiry Danger zone (≤30 days)
Recommended actions
  • Domain has EXPIRED — renew immediately to avoid total site outage
  • Enable DNSSEC to protect visitors from DNS spoofing
Registrar MarkMonitor Inc.
Created June 10, 2005 (21 years, 1 months ago)
Expires June 10, 2026 (2 months)
Last Updated August 26, 2025
Name Servers elly.ns.cloudflare.com, gordon.ns.cloudflare.com
DNSSEC Not enabled
Hosting
IP Address 192.0.66.220
ASN AS2635 (AUTOMATTIC - Automattic, Inc, US)
Provider WordPress.com (Automattic)
Data source: rdap (0.1s)

Consider enabling auto-renewal to prevent accidental expiration.

Why this matters

Domain expiry approaching — renew immediately and ensure auto-renew + alerting are configured.

Source: ICANN renewal policy

DNSSEC protects against DNS spoofing attacks. While not required, enabling DNSSEC adds an additional layer of security. Contact your DNS provider to enable it.

Why this matters

Without DNSSEC, an attacker who can poison your DNS can hijack your domain — and SSL certs alone don't stop them.

Learn more ▾

DNSSEC adds cryptographic signatures to DNS records, preventing forged responses from poisoning resolver caches. Without it, an attacker who controls the network path can redirect your domain to a malicious server before any HTTPS handshake happens. Most modern registrars (Cloudflare, Google Domains, Route 53) enable it with one toggle.

Source: ICANN / RFC 4033

A+
HTTP Probe Timing
Total 17 ms — DNS, TCP, TLS, TTFB, content transfer breakdown
PASS
DNS Lookup DNS Lookup — time to resolve the domain name to an IP address.
5 ms
TCP Connect TCP Connect — time to establish a TCP connection to the server.
2 ms
TLS Handshake TLS Handshake — time to complete the HTTPS encryption handshake.
5 ms
Time to First Byte Time to First Byte — how long the server takes to respond with the first byte of data.
14 ms
Total Time Total request time from DNS lookup through full response.
18 ms

Connection waterfall

DNS Lookup 5 ms TCP Connect 2 ms TLS Handshake 5 ms Server Processing 3 ms Content Transfer 3 ms
All checks on this page are automated. Results are estimates - run targeted manual reviews when the score affects a release decision.

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