Skip to main content

Security report for alaveteli.org

mySociety / UKCOD · Government · United Kingdom

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

Security score

60/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Alaveteli is an open-source Freedom of Information platform developed and maintained by mySociety, a UK-based non-profit organization. The platform enables citizens worldwide to make public information requests to government bodies, promoting transparency and accountability. With over 1,000,000 requests made across 25+ jurisdictions, Alaveteli holds a strong market position as a trusted tool for civic engagement and government openness. The website provides comprehensive documentation, community support, and access to the open-source codebase on GitHub, reflecting a collaborative and transparent business model. Technically, the website employs modern JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and Modernizr, integrates Google services for analytics and search, and features a responsive design optimized for multiple devices. While the site performs moderately well and offers good mobile optimization, it lacks some advanced security configurations such as DNSSEC and security HTTP headers. The absence of explicit privacy and cookie policies indicates room for improvement in privacy compliance. From a security perspective, the domain registration is consistent and legitimate, with no suspicious patterns detected. However, the lack of DNSSEC and security headers reduces the overall security posture. No critical vulnerabilities or WAF blocks were detected, and the site is fully accessible. The use of Google Analytics implies moderate user tracking, but no explicit data retention or privacy compliance details are provided. Overall, Alaveteli presents a professional, trustworthy, and well-established platform with a clear mission and community focus. Strategic improvements in privacy policy publication, security header implementation, and DNS security would enhance its security and compliance standing, further strengthening user trust and regulatory alignment.

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

8 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 alaveteli.org

This scan found 26 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.

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
72
Security headers
15
Email security
70
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
60

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

Alaveteli operates within the government transparency and non-profit sector, targeting citizens, public bodies, and governments globally. Its open-source business model leverages community contributions and commercial support via mySociety and its subsidiary SocietyWorks Ltd. The platform's competitive advantage lies in its established presence, extensive deployments, and active community engagement. Revenue streams likely include commercial services, donations, and support contracts. The partnership ecosystem includes mySociety and SocietyWorks, with strong ties to open government initiatives. Growth indicators include over one million FOI requests facilitated and multilingual support. Strategic observations highlight the importance of enhancing privacy compliance and security posture to maintain leadership in the civic tech space.

Security posture

The current security maturity level is moderate. The domain uses clientTransferProhibited and clientUpdateProhibited statuses, indicating domain transfer protection. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, and no security HTTP headers were detected in the HTML content, which are important for mitigating common web attacks. The site uses HTTPS (implied by the URL), but SSL configuration details are not provided. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were identified. Incident response and security policies are not published, limiting transparency. Compliance with GDPR is not explicitly demonstrated due to missing privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the security culture appears basic but could benefit from formalized policies and technical enhancements.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement comprehensive security HTTP headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Publish clear and comprehensive privacy and cookie policies detailing GDPR compliance and data handling practices.
  4. Develop and publish an incident response policy including dedicated security contact channels.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and conduct regular security audits to identify and remediate vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Legal name
mySociety
Registration number
03277032
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
mySociety / UKCOD
Description
mySociety’s Freedom of Information software, open source and ready to be deployed anywhere in the world. Alaveteli is an open-source platform for making public freedom of information requests to public bodies, helping citizens request information and view/comment on others’ requests. It is used worldwide to open up governments and public bodies.
Key services
Freedom of Information request platform, Open source software, Community support, Documentation and deployment guidance
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Google Tag Manager, Google Custom Search Engine, Modernizr, Responsive Nav, svgeezy
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
60/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of clientTransferProhibited and clientUpdateProhibited domain statuses

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager)
Marketing tools
Google Custom Search Engine
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and navigation
  2. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found on main pages
  3. Strong open source and community focus
  4. Use of modern JavaScript libraries and Google services for analytics and search
  5. No security headers or DNSSEC detected, representing moderate security posture
  6. WHOIS data supports legitimacy and organizational transparency
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern JavaScript-based front end with libraries like jQuery, Modernizr, and responsive navigation scripts. Google services are integrated for analytics and search functionality. The site is mobile responsive and has a clear navigation structure. However, there is no detected CMS or backend technology disclosed. Performance is moderate with room for optimization. The absence of DNSSEC and security headers indicates technical debt in security best practices. The site does not appear to use advanced frameworks or platforms beyond standard web technologies. Technical risks include potential DNS spoofing and lack of protection against common web vulnerabilities due to missing security headers.
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 alaveteli.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 alaveteli.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.