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Security report for ainowinstitute.org

AI Now Institute · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 9 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

61/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The AI Now Institute website represents a professional research and advocacy organization focused on the societal impacts and governance of artificial intelligence. The site positions the organization as a recognized thought leader in AI ethics and policy, offering research publications, policy analysis, and public advocacy. The domain age and registration details align well with the organization's founding in 2017, supporting credibility and legitimacy. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern SEO and analytics tools such as Yoast SEO Premium and Google Tag Manager. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and well-structured, providing a positive user experience. Hosting and DNS are managed via Cloudflare and Squarespace Domains, ensuring reliable infrastructure. Performance is moderate with good SEO practices. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS with proper domain status flags to prevent unauthorized domain changes. However, it lacks DNSSEC and explicit security headers, which are recommended to enhance security posture. No privacy or cookie policies were found, indicating compliance gaps with GDPR and related regulations. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided. Overall, the website is trustworthy and professional but would benefit from improved privacy compliance and enhanced security headers. The absence of contact emails or phone numbers on the homepage limits direct communication channels. Strategic improvements in privacy and security policies would strengthen user trust and regulatory compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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

9 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 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';…

  2. GDPR outside view

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

    • 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

    • 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 ainowinstitute.org

This scan found 24 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.

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  • 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
75
Security headers
25
Email security
50
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
61

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

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 ainowinstitute.org, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for ainowinstitute.org right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

AI Now Institute operates as a medium-sized essential entity in the technology sector, specializing in AI research and policy advocacy. Its market position is that of a reputable research institute influencing AI governance discourse. The business model centers on producing research publications and engaging in public policy advocacy. The target audience includes policymakers, academics, and the general public interested in AI ethics. The organization maintains active social media channels and partners with design firms for website development. Revenue streams are likely grant and donation-based, typical for non-profit research entities. The website content and update frequency indicate ongoing active operations and engagement with current AI issues.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security maturity level. HTTPS is enforced, and domain registration includes protective status flags. However, the lack of DNSSEC and missing security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represent areas for improvement. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. The absence of published security policies or incident response contacts suggests limited transparency in security governance. Compliance with GDPR is partial due to missing privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a research institute website but should be enhanced to meet best practices and regulatory requirements.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with GDPR compliance details.
  3. Implement a cookie consent mechanism to inform users and obtain consent for tracking.
  4. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  5. Provide clear contact information for security incidents and vulnerability disclosures to improve transparency.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
AI Now Institute
Description
We challenge & reimagine the current trajectory for AI.
Key services
research publications, policy analysis, public advocacy
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.3, Yoast SEO Premium, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Flickity carousel
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status clientDeleteProhibited and clientTransferProhibited

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional research institute site focused on AI policy and ethics.
  2. Content is rich with recent publications and announcements.
  3. No explicit privacy or cookie policies found, which is a compliance gap.
  4. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed on homepage content.
  5. Social media presence includes X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and Bluesky.
  6. Site uses modern WordPress CMS with SEO and analytics tools.
  7. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information found.
  8. No visible security headers in HTML content; recommend adding.
  9. No signs of WAF or content blocking detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern WordPress CMS platform with Yoast SEO Premium plugin for search engine optimization. It uses Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for tracking and analytics. The site includes Flickity for carousel functionality and is hosted with DNS managed by Cloudflare, providing performance and security benefits. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible with a clean, professional design. Performance is moderate, with no critical technical debt or outdated libraries detected. Opportunities exist to enhance security headers and implement DNSSEC for improved resilience. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a robust and user-friendly web presence.
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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