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Security report for apell.info

APELL · Technology · Belgium

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

56/100

Risk levelMedium

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

APELL is a European non-profit association founded in 2020 that serves as an umbrella organization for national Open Source business associations across Europe. It focuses on advocacy, representation, and empowerment of Open Source businesses to influence European policy and promote a sovereign, inclusive digital market. The organization maintains partnerships with notable technology companies and has a presence in Brussels to engage with EU institutions. The website is professionally designed, content-rich, and optimized for SEO and accessibility, reflecting a mature digital presence. Technically, the website is built on WordPress using modern plugins such as Yoast SEO and SiteOrigin Panels, with client-side technologies including jQuery. It employs HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate and uses hCaptcha to secure its contact form. However, it lacks DNSSEC and security headers, which are recommended for enhanced security. Analytics are implemented via Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, with moderate user tracking. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates good practices like HTTPS enforcement and spam protection but could improve by enabling DNSSEC, adding security headers, and publishing explicit security policies. Privacy compliance is partially met with a comprehensive privacy policy but lacks a cookie consent mechanism, which is important for EU regulations. Overall, the website is trustworthy, professional, and well-aligned with its business mission. Strategic recommendations include enhancing DNS security, implementing security headers, adding cookie consent, and publishing incident response information to strengthen security posture and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
70/ 100 · Medium
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

7 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 Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

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

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

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

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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
72
Security headers
15
Email security
80
DNS health
80
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
70
Average
56

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

APELL occupies a unique market position as a European umbrella association for Open Source business organizations, providing advocacy and representation at the EU level. Its business model is non-profit and membership-based, targeting Open Source companies and associations. The organization leverages partnerships with established technology firms to enhance influence and resources. Growth indicators include recent additions of member organizations and active policy engagement. The partnership ecosystem is diverse, including major Open Source and IT companies, which strengthens its credibility and reach. The website content and structure support its role as a policy influencer and community hub.

Security posture

The website's security maturity is moderate to good. HTTPS is properly configured, and the use of hCaptcha on forms reduces spam and automated abuse. The domain is protected with clientTransferProhibited status, preventing unauthorized transfers. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security represents gaps that could be exploited. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the content. The lack of a published security policy or incident response contact limits transparency and preparedness. Compliance with GDPR is indicated by the privacy policy, but cookie consent is missing, which is a compliance risk.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Add a cookie consent banner/mechanism to comply with EU cookie laws and GDPR.
  4. Publish a formal security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and plugins for vulnerabilities and update them promptly.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
APELL (Association Professionnelle Européenne du Logiciel Libre) ASBL
VAT number
BE 0757.465.575
Registration number
765379449482-59 (Transparency Register)
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
APELL
Description
APELL is the umbrella organisation for national Open Source business associations in Europe, founded in 2020. It aims to increase opportunities for members of its member organisations and raise awareness of the strategic importance of Open Source for Europe. It promotes a sovereign, inclusive, ethical digital market.
Key services
Advocacy and representation in European policy, Raising awareness of Open Source importance, Empowerment and engagement of member organisations, Organising conferences and events
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, jQuery, Yoast SEO plugin, SiteOrigin Panels, hCaptcha
Frameworks
SiteOrigin Corp Theme
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of hCaptcha on contact form
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
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 representation of a European Open Source business association.
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and multilingual (English and French alternate links).
  3. Use of modern WordPress plugins and SEO best practices.
  4. Contact form secured with hCaptcha to prevent spam.
  5. No visible security headers detected; opportunity for improvement.
  6. No cookie consent banner found despite EU presence, which may be a compliance risk.
  7. WHOIS data is transparent and consistent with the organization's claims.
  8. Social media presence on LinkedIn, Mastodon, and Bluesky indicates active engagement.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern WordPress CMS with a well-maintained theme and plugins, including Yoast SEO for search optimization and SiteOrigin Panels for layout management. Client-side scripts include jQuery and Google Analytics tracking. The site loads with moderate performance and is mobile-optimized with good accessibility features. The use of hCaptcha enhances form security. Hosting and DNS are managed through reputable providers (Gandi SAS and desec.io). There is room for technical improvement by enabling DNSSEC and adding security headers. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the business goals effectively with minor modernization opportunities.
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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