Skip to main content

Security report for aaos.org

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons · Healthcare · United States

Partial score · DNS & email only

70/100

0–100, higher is better. How it is calculated

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) is a leading professional association dedicated to advancing orthopaedic education, advocacy, and patient care. Their website serves as a comprehensive resource hub for orthopaedic surgeons, allied health professionals, and the public, offering educational programs, clinical guidelines, publications, and advocacy tools. The organization holds a strong market position as an authoritative source in musculoskeletal care and orthopaedics, supported by a large membership base and corporate partnerships. Technically, the website employs a modern technology stack including Google Analytics, Microsoft Application Insights, Marketo, HubSpot, and various marketing and tracking tools, integrated with responsive design frameworks to ensure good performance and accessibility. The site demonstrates good SEO practices and mobile optimization, with a professional and consistent branding approach. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses multiple security best practices, though explicit security headers and a dedicated security policy page are absent. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear privacy and cookie policies, including GDPR compliance and consent mechanisms. The WHOIS data is privacy protected, which is typical for organizations of this nature, and does not raise legitimacy concerns. Overall, the AAOS website presents a low-risk profile with strong business credibility and technical maturity. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security header implementation, publishing a security policy and incident response information, and establishing a vulnerability disclosure program to further strengthen trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
85/ 100 · Low
Checks completed
6of 7

NIS2 Art. 21(2)

  1. (a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
  2. (b) Incident handling: One indicator
  3. (c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
  4. (d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
  5. (e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
  6. (f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
  7. (g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
  8. (h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
  9. (i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
  10. (j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside

This scan rated NIS2 with an earlier keyword method that is no longer shown; rescan for the per-article view. Risk management, continuity, supply chain, training, MFA, management oversight (Art. 20) and incident reporting (Art. 23) need internal evidence, and Guard cannot tell whether NIS2 applies to this organisation.

GDPR is indicative only, based on publicly visible signals: Articles 7, 12, 13 and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Not a certification or legal assessment.

Priority findings

2 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching aaos.org

This scan found 11 issues across 5 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

Results by check

Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.

How this score is calculated

The security score runs 0–100, higher is better. It is the plain average of the security checks that completed in this scan, each counted equally. A check that could not run is left out: it counts neither as a pass nor as a fail.

Counted in this score

SSL/TLS
0
Email security
85
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
85
Average
70

Not counted

  • Security headers: did not complete in this scan.
  • NIS2 outside view: Re-weights evidence from the TLS, email, DNS, network and hygiene checks, so counting it would count that evidence twice. Shown on its own.
  • OffSeq Observations: An AI reading of the site, useful context but not reproducible evidence. Shown on its own.

Findings that cap the score at 49

Each of these is serious on its own, so while any is present the site cannot rate better than high risk, however good the other checks are.

  • The certificate is not trusted by browsers
  • The website is not served over HTTPS
  • A database, remote desktop, file-sharing or Telnet service is reachable from the internet
  • The page loads a script from a compromised source
  • The domain registration has expired
  • SPF authorises every server to send mail as the domain

Partial scans

When the site blocks Guard or most checks cannot run, the score covers only the checks that ran (usually DNS and email), is capped at 75 and is shown as partial, without a risk level.

Risk levels

  • Critical0–25
  • High26–49
  • Medium50–75
  • Low76–100

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention aaos.org, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
1,257
Employees
0
Customers
1,208
Third parties
49
Weak passwords
25%

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for aaos.org.

Select it in the checkout above.

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

AAOS operates as a non-profit professional association in the healthcare sector, focusing on orthopaedic surgery and musculoskeletal care. Its business model revolves around membership services, educational offerings, advocacy, and publication sales. The organization leverages partnerships with major orthopaedic industry players and maintains a robust digital presence to engage its target audience of healthcare professionals and patients. Revenue streams likely include membership dues, educational course fees, publication sales, and corporate sponsorships. The website's extensive content and resource offerings indicate a mature digital strategy supporting growth and member engagement.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, secure form handling, and no visible exposure of sensitive data. Use of modern analytics and marketing tools is balanced with privacy compliance measures such as cookie consent banners and detailed privacy policies. However, the absence of explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and lack of a published security policy or incident response page represent gaps. No vulnerabilities or suspicious activities were detected in the content. The WHOIS privacy protection is justified and common for professional organizations. Overall, the security posture is strong but could be improved with formalized policies and enhanced header configurations.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and verify comprehensive security headers including CSP, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and preparedness.
  3. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program and security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and marketing tools to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance accessibility compliance by adding ARIA landmarks and roles to improve usability for all users.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Description
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) provides education programs for orthopaedic surgeons and allied health professionals, champions and advances the highest quality musculoskeletal care for patients, and is the authoritative source of information on bone and joint conditions, treatments and related issues.
Key services
Education programs, Clinical practice guidelines, Publications and journals, Advocacy, Registries, Membership services
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Microsoft Application Insights, Marketo, Facebook Pixel, Clarity (Microsoft), HubSpot, Feathr, Optimizely, jQuery, Google Publisher Tags (GPT), Bugherd
Frameworks
Bootstrap (implied by navbar classes), MMMenu (mobile menu), Typeahead.js
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure forms with validation
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of modern analytics and tracking with consent

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Microsoft Application Insights, Marketo, HubSpot, Microsoft Clarity, Facebook Pixel
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ad Manager, DoubleClick
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Marketo Munchkin, Microsoft Clarity, Feathr, HubSpot
Marketing tools
Marketo, HubSpot, Feathr, Optimizely
Transparency
good

Site quality

Design
excellent
User experience
excellent
Content relevance
excellent
Navigation
excellent
Professionalism
excellent
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and navigation
  2. Strong focus on orthopaedic education, advocacy, and resources
  3. Multiple external trusted domains linked for resources and partners
  4. Comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms
  5. Use of modern analytics and marketing tools with privacy considerations
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious content or domains
  7. WHOIS data is privacy protected or unavailable, common for professional orgs
  8. No security policy or incident response page found, opportunity for improvement
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern and diverse technology stack with multiple analytics and marketing integrations such as Google Analytics, Microsoft Application Insights, Marketo, HubSpot, and Facebook Pixel. The front-end employs responsive design frameworks and JavaScript libraries to ensure good user experience across devices. Performance is moderate with asynchronous loading of scripts and deferred resources. The site structure and meta tags support SEO and accessibility. Hosting details are not explicitly identified, but the use of Google Tag Manager and CDN services suggests a robust infrastructure. Opportunities exist to improve technical documentation and security header implementation.
Standards and sources

Reference chips under each finding point to the standard, regulation or specification the finding relates to. They are taken from the official datasets below and mapped conservatively: a finding with no defensible link shows none. NIS2 and GDPR references mark where a finding is relevant evidence, not a compliance verdict. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 binds digital infrastructure and digital service providers; for other entities it is the most detailed public reading of the Article 21 measures. WCAG, EN 301 549, European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive references name the requirement an automated accessibility rule relates to; they are not a conformance verdict.

Retrieved 2026-10-25

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with aaos.org. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review aaos.org.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.