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https://thehindu.com

Infrastructure

· 9 checks — DNS, redirects, IPv6, crawlability, URL variants, and domain intelligence rolled into one auditable list.
SCORE
94
GRADE
A
FIX
0
REVIEW
3
PASS
6
INFO
0
Probed from Sao Paulo, Brazil
301 Moved Permanently
Checks
9
6 PASS 3 REVIEW
B
URL Variants
www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS
REVIEW
www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS
Critical::
Both www and non-www versions serve content
Got: Both variants return 200 Expected: One variant 301-redirects to the other
Info::
HTTP correctly 301-redirects to HTTPS

www / non-www

200https://www.thehindu.com/
200https://thehindu.com/

Inconsistent — duplicate content risk

HTTP → HTTPS

301http://thehindu.com/ → https://www.thehindu.com/

Consistent

B
TLS Certificate Expiry & Recommendations
85 days until leaf cert expires — 3 issues to address
REVIEW

Certificate validity

85
days left
0d 30d 60d 90d+

Recommended actions

  • Enable HSTS: Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
  • 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
B
CDN & Delivery
Cloudflare
REVIEW
Cloudflare
Info::
Site is served via Cloudflare CDN (edge: GRU)
Got: cf-ray: 9eceac98dc27f1f1-GRU
CDN Detected: Cloudflare
Provider Cloudflare Evidence cf-ray: 9eceac98dc27f1f1-GRU
A+
DNS Records
2 A records, 6 ms lookup
PASS
2 A records, 6 ms lookup
Info::
Resolves to 2 IPv4 address(es)
Got: 104.18.8.4, 104.18.9.4
Info::
Has 2 IPv6 (AAAA) record(s)
Got: 2606:4700::6812:804, 2606:4700::6812:904
Info::
2 nameserver(s) configured
Got: damon.ns.cloudflare.com, serena.ns.cloudflare.com
Info::
1 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: 6 ms
Got: 6 ms
A104.18.8.4, 104.18.9.4
AAAA2606:4700::6812:804, 2606:4700::6812:904
CNAME—
NSdamon.ns.cloudflare.com, serena.ns.cloudflare.com
MX
5 mail.thehindu.com
TXT
google-site-verification=1ePlR3u9MSoz6raCNX_9oJbEyRlYtQMICxrvQ0PuPUk
google-site-verification=1glsUlQ1uV6t6oyZR1KSxMZo5EOe4Id8tW6AFOCboro
google-site-verification=Sc8AxcU5k2bVvMdlOX1-i4_2nHETNEwMl7lxZIwqxsI
google-site-verification=g-IVy9mPxCz7M5Bw1FY3HwObtDqXmMl3id1a-9axIgc
kvfdtb54n4ffbykfsyc5by9pmf30w9ys
SPF v=spf1 mx a ip4:54.165.189.82 ip4:180.179.47.5 ip4:52.23.220.156 ~all
CAALookup not available with standard resolver
Resolved in 6 ms

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
1 redirect(s), 81 ms total
PASS
1 redirect(s), 81 ms total
Info::
Single redirect
Got: https://thehindu.com → https://www.thehindu.com/ (301)
Info::
WWW normalization redirect

https://thehindu.com

24 ms · HTTP/1.1

301

https://www.thehindu.com/

57 ms · HTTP/1.1 FINAL

#URLStatusTimeProtocolServer
1https://thehindu.com30124 msHTTP/1.1cloudflare
2https://www.thehindu.com/20057 msHTTP/1.1cloudflare

See the visual redirect chain in the HTTP Probe tab →

A+
IPv6 Readiness
IPv6 reachable (1 ms)
PASS
IPv6 reachable (1 ms)
Info::
IPv6 is configured and reachable at 2606:4700::6812:804, 2606:4700::6812:904
Got: 1 ms connect
IPv6 Ready
AAAA Records 2606:4700::6812:804, 2606:4700::6812:904 Connection Reachable (1 ms)
A+
Crawlability
robots.txt present, sitemap with 903 URLs
PASS
robots.txt present, sitemap with 903 URLs
Info::
robots.txt is present
Got: 4139 bytes
Info::
sitemap.xml is present
Info::
sitemap.xml is valid XML
Info::
sitemap.xml contains 903 entries
Info::
robots.txt references sitemap
robots.txt 200 OK
Size 4139 B Sitemaps referenced 9 User-agents ia_archiver, Bytespider, Anthropic-ai, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot, FacebookBot, CCBot, YouBot, *, GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, Amazonbot, Claude-Web, Meta-ExternalAgent Blocking No — crawling allowed
User-agent: *
Disallow: /cgi-bin/
Disallow: /cdn-cgi/*
Disallow: /config/
Disallow: */analysis-logger/*
Disallow: /todays-paper/*article*.ece*
Disallow: /migration_catalog/
Disallow: */getapplink*
Disallow: /summercamp/
Disallow: */wf.fragment/*
Disallow: /poll/vote.do
Disallow: /photo/10000/
Disallow: */photo/10000/
#Disallow: /newsletter/*
Disallow: /news-service/*
#Disallow: /ebooks/
Disallow: /search/
Disallow: /SEARCH/
Disallow: /Search/
Disallow: /22390678/
Disallow: /walkathon
Disallow: /heelsonwheels
Disallow: /archive/print/
#Disallow: /todays-paper/
#Disallow: /static/content/
#Disallow: /static/
Disallow: /todayspaper/
Disallow: /today-paper/
Disallow: /thseweekend
Disallow: /ywsummercamp
Disallow: /frnf2014
Disallow: /summermusic
Disallow: /summercamp
Disallow: /yw25
Disallow: /thischess
Disallow: /ywquiz
Disallow: /mumbaiedition
Disallow: /marathon
Disallow: /flndrmk-spl
Disallow: /system/
Disallow: /sachin
Disallow: /supermom2016
Disallow: /ywq2015
Disallow: /fooddirectory
Disallow: /chennaicoastalcleanup
Disallow: /onam-1
Disallow: /onam-2
Disallow: /hohkidscarnival
Disallow: /HOW2014
Disallow: /how2014
Disallow: /cookingcontest
Disallow: /youngworld
Disallow: /impulse2014
Disallow: /mssaward2015
Disallow: /mssaward2016
Disallow: /wow2015
Disallow: /wow2017/chennai/
Disallow: /wow2017/bangalore/
Disallow: /tickets2016/
Disallow: /tickets2017/
Disallow: /tickets2018/
Disallow: /ticket2018/
Disallow: /ywsummercamp/
Disallow: /tags/TH category/
Disallow: /tags/TopicRoot_TH/
Disallow: /thehindu/
Disallow: /200*
Disallow: /201*
Disallow: */http:*
Disallow: */https:*
Disallow: */mailto:*
Disallow: *.ecehttp*
Disallow: *.ece1http*
Disallow: *.ece2http*
Disallow: /brandhub/sponsored-content/
Disallow: /coupons/
Disallow: *?homepage*
Disallow: *?service*
Disallow: *?type*
Disallow: */1000*
# Blocking ptid and gl parameter URLs that are causing crawl budget wastage
#Disallow: /*?*_ptid=*
Disallow: /*?*_gl=*
# Block picture sitemap because urls are noindex therein
Disallow: /sitemap/archive/picture/
# Block all space or %20 suffixed with http or https protocols
Disallow: * http:*
Disallow: * https:*
Disallow: *;http:*
Disallow: *;https:*
Disallow: *%20http:*
Disallow: *%20https:*
Disallow: */couponRedirect
Disallow: *?redirect=
Disallow: *?store=
Disallow: /tag/*/*/
# Blocked until duplicate profile bylines fixed
#Disallow: /profile/
# profile articles allowed
Allow: /profile/*article*.ece
# profile exceptions allowed for pages with page=1 for redirects
Allow: /profile/contributor/?
Allow: /profile/photographers/?
Allow: /profile/author/?
Allow: /profile/contributor/$
Allow: /profile/photographers/$
Allow: /profile/author/$
Allow: /profile/$
Disallow: /sitemap/archive*
Disallow: */fragment/*
Disallow: /sitemap/
Allow: /sitemap/$
Allow: /sitemap/update/all.xml$
Allow: /sitemap/update/section.xml$
Allow: /sitemap/liveblog.xml$
Allow: /sitemap/googlenews/all/all.xml$
#Disallow: /*utm_*
Disallow: /*click_url*
Disallow: /*theme/images/th-online/th-circle-white.svg
#Blocking pagination
#Disallow: /*?page=*
#Disallow URLs ending with hyphen
Disallow: /*-$
Disallow: *//*
Disallow: */fontawesome-*



#Disallow Wayback machine which is a problem crawler
User-Agent: ia_archiver
Disallow: /




# Blocking AI crawlers
User-agent: GPTBot
User-agent: ChatGPT-User
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
User-agent: PerplexityBot
User-agent: Amazonbot
User-agent: Bytespider
User-agent: ClaudeBot
User-agent: Claude-Web
User-agent: Meta-ExternalAgent
User-agent: FacebookBot
User-agent: CCBot
User-agent: Anthropic-ai
User-agent: YouBot
Disallow: /




# Sitemaps
Sitemap: https://www.thehindu.com/sitemap/googlenews/all/all.xml
Sitemap: https://www.thehindu.com/sitemap/update/all.xml
Sitemap: https://www.thehindu.com/sitemap/update/section.xml
Sitemap: https://www.thehindu.com/feeder/default.rss
Sitemap: https://www.thehindu.com/?service=videositemap
Sitemap: https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/feeder/default.rss
Sitemap: https://www.thehindu.com/shorts/feeder/default.rss
Sitemap: https://www.thehindu.com/sport/feeder/default.rss
Sitemap: https://www.thehindu.com/business/feeder/default.rss
sitemap.xml 200 OK
Type URL Set URLs 903 entries Valid XML Yes
Sample URLs:
A+
Domain Intelligence
thehindu.com — via eNom, LLC, 30 years, 6 months old
PASS
thehindu.com — via eNom, LLC, 30 years, 6 months old
Info::
Domain registered until Mar 2, 2028 (1 years, 10 months 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.
Info::
Registrar: eNom, LLC
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.
Domain expiry

599 days

March 2, 2028

SSL certificate

85 days

Issued by Google Trust Services

Domain age

30 years, 6 months

Registered March 1, 1996

DNSSEC

Not enabled

Protects against DNS spoofing

Hosting

Unknown

2606:4700::6812:904

Registrar

eNom, LLC

Unlocked 2 NS records
Expiry timeline
Today
+1 year
Domain expiry SSL expiry Danger zone (≤30 days)
Recommended actions
  • Enable DNSSEC to protect visitors from DNS spoofing
  • Enable registrar lock (clientTransferProhibited) to block unauthorized domain transfers
Registrar eNom, LLC
Created March 1, 1996 (30 years, 6 months ago)
Expires March 2, 2028 (1 years, 10 months)
Last Updated February 28, 2023
Name Servers damon.ns.cloudflare.com, serena.ns.cloudflare.com
DNSSEC Not enabled
Hosting
IP Address 2606:4700::6812:904
Data source: rdap (0.4s)

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

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.

Why this matters

Without registrar lock, an attacker who phishes your registrar credentials can transfer the domain in minutes — total brand hijack.

Learn more ▾

Registrar lock (clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited, clientDeleteProhibited) requires extra verification before any transfer/update/delete. Every major registrar offers it free. Combined with 2FA on your registrar account, it's the strongest defense against domain hijacking.

Source: ICANN / domain-security best practice

A+
HTTP Probe Timing
Total 24 ms — DNS, TCP, TLS, TTFB, content transfer breakdown
PASS
DNS Lookup DNS Lookup — time to resolve the domain name to an IP address.
6 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.
8 ms
Time to First Byte Time to First Byte — how long the server takes to respond with the first byte of data.
25 ms
Total Time Total request time from DNS lookup through full response.
25 ms

Connection waterfall

DNS Lookup 6 ms TCP Connect 2 ms TLS Handshake 8 ms Server Processing 8 ms Content Transfer 0 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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