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Security report for acm.org

Association for Computing Machinery · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

74/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a globally recognized professional organization dedicated to advancing computing as a science and profession. The website serves computing professionals, researchers, educators, and students by providing access to publications, conferences, and professional development resources. ACM holds a leading market position in the technology and education sectors, operating as a large non-profit entity. The website content is professional, comprehensive, and well-structured, targeting a specialized audience in the computing field. Technically, the website employs modern JavaScript libraries and tools such as Google Tag Manager, Cookiebot CMP for cookie consent, and Slick Carousel for UI elements. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices and moderate performance. Security-wise, the site enforces HTTPS and uses cookie consent mechanisms, but lacks explicit security headers and published security policies. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. The WHOIS data is unavailable or privacy protected, which is common for organizations of this nature and does not detract from the site's legitimacy. The site integrates multiple trusted third-party analytics and advertising services, maintaining good privacy compliance with GDPR indicators. Overall, the site demonstrates a strong security posture and business credibility, with room for improvement in publishing security policies and incident response contacts. Strategically, ACM should enhance its security transparency by publishing a security policy and incident response contact, implement additional security headers, and consider a vulnerability disclosure program to further strengthen trust and compliance.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of acm.org. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
88/ 100 · Low
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

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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 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';…

  2. 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.

    • High

      Weak Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching acm.org

This scan found 19 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

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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
47
Security headers
30
Email security
98
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
88
Average
74

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

ACM operates as a large, essential entity in the technology and education sectors, focusing on computing professionals worldwide. Its business model centers on membership services, publishing, conferences, and professional development. The organization benefits from a strong brand and market position, with a broad partnership ecosystem including major technology and media companies. Revenue streams likely include membership fees, event registrations, and publication sales. The website reflects a mature digital presence with integrated marketing and analytics tools, supporting targeted campaigns and user engagement. Growth indicators include active cookie consent management and multi-channel advertising. Strategic observations suggest ACM maintains a professional and trustworthy online presence aligned with its mission.

Security posture

The website exhibits a good security maturity level with mandatory HTTPS and a robust cookie consent mechanism allowing granular user control. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found in the HTML content. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represents an area for improvement. There is no publicly available security policy or incident response contact, which limits transparency and readiness for security incidents. Compliance with GDPR is evident through cookie consent and privacy policy. Overall, the security posture is strong but could be enhanced by formalizing security governance and disclosure practices.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  2. Implement and enforce security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  4. Enhance transparency around data protection officer contact details and compliance measures.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries to ensure no vulnerabilities or privacy risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Association for Computing Machinery
Description
The ACM is a global scientific and educational organization dedicated to advancing computing as a science and profession.
Key services
Publishing research journals and magazines, Organizing conferences and events, Providing professional development and certifications, Advocacy and community building in computing
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Google Tag Manager, Cookiebot CMP, Slick Carousel, Modernizr
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent with granular controls
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, LinkedIn Insight, Bing UET
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, LinkedIn Ads
Tracking pixels
LinkedIn Insight Tag, Bing UET
Marketing tools
Cookiebot CMP
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 no blocking or WAF challenge
  2. Comprehensive cookie consent mechanism implemented
  3. No exposed sensitive data or security vulnerabilities detected in HTML
  4. WHOIS data is unavailable or privacy protected, common for professional organizations
  5. Multiple trusted third-party integrations for analytics and advertising
  6. No direct company contact emails or phone numbers found in HTML content
  7. Contact available via web form
  8. No explicit security policy or incident response contact published
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern technology stack including JavaScript libraries like Slick Carousel and Modernizr, and integrates Google Tag Manager and Cookiebot for analytics and cookie management. The site is mobile responsive and accessible, with good SEO metadata and Open Graph tags. Performance is moderate, with potential optimization opportunities in script loading and asset management. No CMS or hosting provider was explicitly detected. The technical infrastructure supports a professional and user-friendly experience but could benefit from additional security hardening and performance tuning to improve loading speed and resilience.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 73/100 −1Medium28 findingsView report
  2. 74/100Medium27 findingsView report
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