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Security report for academieroyale.be

Académie royale de Belgique · Education · Belgium

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

55/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Académie royale de Belgique is a well-established Belgian royal academy dedicated to the advancement of sciences, arts, letters, and societal studies. The website serves as an institutional portal providing comprehensive information about the academy's history, statutes, members, commissions, publications, and events. It targets academics, researchers, students, and the general public interested in Belgian cultural and scientific heritage. The business model is non-profit, focusing on educational and cultural dissemination supported by government and institutional partnerships. Technically, the website is built on a legacy 4D Web Server CMS platform, utilizing older JavaScript libraries such as jQuery 1.9.1 and Highslide JS. The hosting provider is OVH, a reputable European hosting company. The site demonstrates moderate performance and basic mobile optimization. SEO and accessibility features are present but could be enhanced. Privacy compliance is well addressed with GDPR-aligned cookie consent mechanisms and privacy policies. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and provides cookie consent controls, but it uses outdated JavaScript libraries with known vulnerabilities and lacks advanced security headers like CSP or HSTS. No incident response or security policy information is publicly available. No exposed sensitive data or malicious content was detected, but updating dependencies and improving security headers are recommended. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and serves its academic audience well. Strategic improvements in technical modernization and security posture would enhance resilience and user trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
25/ 100 · Critical
Checks completed
7of 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

8 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

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

    • Critical

      EU business without adequate privacy measures

      EU businesses are subject to strict GDPR requirements

      What to do: Implement comprehensive GDPR compliance including privacy policy, cookie consent, and data protection measures

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

  2. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • High

      Missing X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

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

Keep watching academieroyale.be

This scan found 28 issues across 6 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.

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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
67
Security headers
15
Email security
60
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
25
Average
55

Not counted

  • 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

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

The Académie royale de Belgique holds a strong market position as a national academic and cultural institution with a long history dating back to at least 2008 for the domain registration. Its competitive advantage lies in its official status, government partnerships, and comprehensive academic offerings including publications, events, and research support. Revenue streams are likely based on government funding, grants, and partnerships rather than commercial sales. The target customer segments include scholars, students, cultural organizations, and the informed public. The partnership ecosystem includes publishing houses, cultural heritage sites, and technology providers. The website reflects a stable operation with consistent branding and a clear mission focused on education and culture.

Security posture

The current security maturity level is moderate. HTTPS is enforced, and cookie consent is implemented in compliance with GDPR. However, the use of outdated JavaScript libraries such as jQuery 1.9.1 introduces potential vulnerabilities. The absence of advanced security headers reduces protection against common web attacks. No explicit incident response or security contact information is provided, which limits transparency and readiness. Data protection practices appear adequate for the site's scope, with no sensitive data exposure detected. Compliance gaps include lack of visible security policies and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms. Overall, the security culture appears basic but functional, with room for improvement in modernization and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Update all JavaScript libraries, especially jQuery, to the latest secure versions to mitigate known vulnerabilities.
  2. Implement advanced security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection.
  3. Publish a clear security policy and provide incident response contact channels to improve transparency and readiness.
  4. Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability assessments to proactively identify and remediate risks.
  5. Enhance mobile optimization and accessibility features to improve user experience and compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Académie royale de Belgique
Description
The website represents the Académie royale de Belgique, a Belgian royal academy focused on sciences, arts, letters, and societal studies. It provides information about the academy's history, statutes, members, commissions, associations, foundations, partners, publications, activities, and events.
Key services
Academic research support, Publications (bulletins, annuaires, memoires), Events and conferences, Cultural heritage preservation, Scholarships and grants
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 1.9.1, jQuery UI, Highslide JS, Custom JavaScript, CSS stylesheets
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
65/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent banner with configurable options
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-established academic and cultural institution portal.
  2. Content is primarily in French with structured navigation and detailed sections.
  3. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  4. Cookie consent and privacy policies are implemented in compliance with GDPR.
  5. Use of somewhat outdated JavaScript libraries may pose security risks.
  6. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in HTML; contact is via forms and dedicated contact page.
  7. Social media presence on major platforms is active and linked.
  8. No advanced security headers detected; opportunity for security improvements.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a legacy 4D Web Server CMS platform, which may limit flexibility and modernization. The front-end relies on older JavaScript libraries including jQuery 1.9.1 and Highslide JS, which are outdated and potentially vulnerable. CSS and HTML structure are functional but could benefit from modernization for better responsiveness and accessibility. Hosting is provided by OVH, a reputable provider, ensuring stable infrastructure. Performance is moderate with room for improvement in load times and mobile responsiveness. SEO is basic with meta tags present but could be enhanced with structured data and improved semantic markup. Technical debt is evident in legacy scripts and lack of modern frameworks, suggesting opportunities for modernization to reduce risk and improve maintainability.
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

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