What is this website?
iol.co.za is currently classified in the News & Media category based on observed public pages. The sampled pages were marked as English-language. Recurring page-metadata topics include south, south africa, latest.
No listed local patterns observedHomepage-only analysis is not a malware clearance. Read the scope and findings below.
How to read this report
Safety Score evaluates observed signals. Evidence Confidence measures how complete, direct, fresh, and consistent those signals are.
No automated scan can guarantee that a website is safe.
Independent evidence brief
What we observed about iol.co.za
The latest scan examined 10 public pages on iol.co.za. Website descriptions below come from the site itself. Registration, connection and threat findings were checked separately.
Purpose and visible content
On its homepage, the site says: Stay informed with IOL your trusted news outlet covering stories in South Africa: politics, crime, business, tech, culture, sports, lifestyle & more
- Mofokeng magic, Kabini heroics help to lift the dark…Despite a sluggish second-half collapse that let Guinea equalise, Bafana Bafana showed steel and tactical depth to secure…
- IOL Crime & Courts | Latest News & Updates…Get the latest crime & courts news in South Africa & from around the world
- IOL News | Latest South African NewsYour comprehensive source for the latest and trending South African news, analysis and video content. Stay up-to-date with…
Registrar and domain history
A reliable creation date was not returned by the registration lookup. The report leaves domain age unverified rather than guessing.
Connection and hosting evidence
The checked homepage returned HTTP 200 in about 2000 ms.
A valid TLS certificate was observed, expiring Dec 8, 2026.
Threat checks and score context
External malware-provider coverage was unavailable. The report does not treat this missing check as a clean result.
Safety Score: 61/100. Evidence Confidence: 65%. These measure different things.
Public content profile
Pages reviewed on iol.co.za
We sampled public pages from this website to understand its subject and contact paths. The titles and short descriptions below come from the website itself. They are not endorsements or independent safety findings.
Public page evidence
Topics and keywords observed on iol.co.za
These phrases were extracted locally from sampled public page metadata. They are observations, not search-volume or ranking estimates.
At a glance
Key findings
Report is current
The displayed evidence comes from the published immutable scan.
Confidence is separate
Unavailable evidence is shown as missing and never counted as clean.
Verify before sensitive actions
Check the exact URL and context before payments, credentials, or downloads.
Fully explainable
Why this score?
Threat providers were unavailable. The neutral uncertainty baseline is not a clean verdict.
Evidence is unavailable.
Observed DNS records and network address were checked.
Observed certificate validity and TLS protocol were checked.
Observed security header values were checked for basic protective settings. Empty values, disabled HSTS and unrecognized values receive no credit. This is not a complete browser-policy validation.
Observed site metadata and About page were checked. Publisher-supplied details are not independently verified.
Popularity is weak context, not proof of safety. Unranked sites use a neutral baseline.
Observed HTTP status and final connection scheme were checked.
Server-side analysis
Automated security checks
Homepage HTML only · Eight local rule families · local-security-v1
Checks use the fetched page and redirect chain. Scripts are not executed, forms are not submitted, and linked files are not downloaded. This is not a malware clearance.
Partial analysis. Only the first 512 KiB of the page were inspected.
No listed local patterns observed. The limited rule set cannot detect every threat or behavior.
External threat intelligence
Local checks do not query external reputation databases. An unavailable check is never a clean result.
Registration
Domain information
Infrastructure
Network & hosting
At a glance
Infrastructure summary
A compact view of the connection, DNS and security surface. These observations describe what the scanner could verify at scan time and do not prove ownership or ongoing availability.
Page telemetry
Observed page statistics
These counters describe the fetched response and sampled HTML. Script counts describe references in the markup, not a complete browser network log. Cookie counts cover observed response headers.
Encrypted transport
TLS certificate
Resolution
DNS footprint
DNSKEY presence does not verify the DNSSEC signature chain. Missing records can mean no record was returned or the lookup was unavailable.
104.20.43.164TTL —172.66.168.156TTL —2606:4700:10::6814:2ba4TTL —2606:4700:10::ac42:a89cTTL —coco.ns.cloudflare.comTTL —pete.ns.cloudflare.comTTL —1 aspmx.l.google.comTTL —10 alt3.aspmx.l.google.comTTL —10 alt4.aspmx.l.google.comTTL —10 iol.co.za.s200a1.psmtp.comTTL —20 iol.co.za.s200a2.psmtp.comTTL —30 iol.co.za.s200b1.psmtp.comTTL —40 iol.co.za.s200b2.psmtp.comTTL —5 alt1.aspmx.l.google.comTTL —5 alt2.aspmx.l.google.comTTL —0 issue "comodoca.com"TTL —0 issue "digicert.com; cansignhttpexchanges=yes"TTL —0 issue "letsencrypt.org"TTL —0 issue "pki.goog; cansignhttpexchanges=yes"TTL —0 issue "ssl.com"TTL —0 issuewild "comodoca.com"TTL —0 issuewild "digicert.com; cansignhttpexchanges=yes"TTL —0 issuewild "letsencrypt.org"TTL —0 issuewild "pki.goog; cansignhttpexchanges=yes"TTL —0 issuewild "ssl.com"TTL —amazonses:7WSf2uNTjwXlLSMt2s+GFAFT0emPbstAGHYc/ghMMYI=TTL —globalsign-domain-verification=CCF50F5A6FD72197F3F034260BF6E4A1TTL —google-site-verification=iQCzO2whcLNU6_F3xi1Dck7JMALz7869mBLTQf08wJoTTL —google-site-verification=ttxwqtvld4Cx3sAO1_v-DCg7k7ArhMMPQVx3eVvv2z0TTL —v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~allTTL —Responsible disclosure
security.txt
No readable security.txt file was observed at the standard locations. This is informational and is not evidence of malware.
Browser protections
Security headers
Header evidence is unavailable. Missing data is not treated as a clean result or proof of compromise.
Response headers
Cookie protections
No Set-Cookie header was observed on the sampled homepage response. Other pages may set cookies separately.
Detected stack
Technologies
Versions are shown only when publicly exposed by the page or response headers. An observed version is not, by itself, proof of a vulnerability.
JavaScript library advisories
JavaScript advisory analysis was not recorded for this scan.
Recommended maintenance checks
Publisher supplied
Social profiles observed on this website
These links appeared on the website. We have not independently verified ownership of the linked accounts.
Facebook
X
Instagram
TikTok
YouTube
X
YouTube
Structured facts
Website identity & response
Connection path
Redirect chain
No redirect hop was recorded for the sampled homepage.
Compared with the previous scan
What changed
This comparison uses persisted scan evidence only. A changed signal can reflect a real website change, a different response or newly available evidence.
Explainable matching
Digital fingerprint
Comparable components help find technically related websites. A match does not prove common ownership.
Material changes only
Change history
No meaningful changes recorded yet.
Visual evidence
Website screenshot
No usable browser image was saved. The website icon is separate from a screenshot and is not visual evidence of the page.
For site owners
Show your verified trust report
Place this lightweight badge in your footer to show visitors an independent, dated WebsiteVirusScanner report. It can increase visitor confidence, but it never changes or guarantees the score.
Use the current report link so visitors can verify the evidence. A badge is a transparency signal, not a paid ranking boost.
Questions about iol.co.za
FAQ
Is iol.co.za safe to visit?
The latest Safety Score is 61/100 with 65% Evidence Confidence. This is a point-in-time assessment of observed technical signals, not a guarantee. Check the exact address and avoid entering payment details if anything looks unusual.
Did the scan detect malware on iol.co.za?
External threat-provider coverage was unavailable for this scan, so malware status is unverified.
When was iol.co.za registered?
The registry lookup did not provide a reliable creation date in this scan.
Did iol.co.za have a valid TLS certificate?
The scanner observed a valid TLS certificate using TLSv1.3. A valid certificate alone does not establish that the site is safe.
Can a paid listing change this website's score?
No. Premium placement and owner-supplied pages are labelled separately. Technical evidence, the Safety Score and moderation decisions remain independent.