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Security report for apwg.org

Anti-Phishing Working Group, Inc · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in DNS health, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

50/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) is a well-established non-profit organization focused on unifying the global response to cybercrime, particularly phishing and smishing attacks. Founded in 2004, APWG provides a collaborative platform for industry, law enforcement, government, and academic researchers to exchange curated cybercrime data, conduct research, and promote public awareness. Their key services include phishing email and smishing text reporting, a global cybercrime data clearinghouse (eCrime Exchange), and research programs. The organization targets cybercrime professionals and stakeholders worldwide, positioning itself as a trusted leader in the anti-phishing domain. Technically, the website is built on a modern React and Next.js framework with Craft CMS as the content management system. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, clear navigation, and professional design quality. Performance is moderate, and SEO practices are adequately implemented. However, accessibility features are basic, and some security best practices such as DNSSEC and security headers are missing. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS with a domain status that prevents unauthorized transfers, indicating stable ownership. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers suggests room for improvement. No explicit incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies are published, and cookie consent mechanisms are not evident, which may impact compliance with privacy regulations. No contact emails or phone numbers are publicly listed, with contact primarily via a web form. Overall, APWG's website is professional, trustworthy, and content-rich, serving its niche audience effectively. Security posture is solid but could be enhanced with additional measures. Privacy compliance is basic but present. The domain registration data aligns well with the organization's identity, supporting legitimacy. Strategic improvements in security policies, privacy mechanisms, and transparency would further strengthen the site's credibility and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

8 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • Critical

      DNS Resolution Failed

      Unable to resolve domain A records

      What to do: Verify domain is properly configured and not expired

  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';…

  3. 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

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

Keep watching apwg.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.

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
52
Security headers
20
Email security
80
DNS health
55
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
53
Average
50

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

APWG operates as a membership-based non-profit organization specializing in cybercrime data exchange and research. Its market positioning is strong within the cybersecurity community, leveraging long-standing industry relationships and a global membership base. The business model focuses on collaboration among cybercrime professionals, law enforcement, and academia, providing valuable data and research outputs. Revenue streams likely include membership fees and sponsorships. The organization maintains a partnership ecosystem with research institutions and sponsors, enhancing its influence and reach. Growth indicators include ongoing events like eCrime conferences and active research publications. The company demonstrates strategic focus on emerging cybercrime threats such as smishing and QR code attacks, maintaining relevance in a dynamic threat landscape.

Security posture

APWG exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and domain transfer protections in place. However, the lack of DNSSEC implementation and missing security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represent gaps that could be exploited. The absence of a published incident response policy or security contact channels limits transparency and readiness communication. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files were found, which are best practices for security engagement. Privacy compliance is basic, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism detected. Overall, the site is secure for visitors but would benefit from enhanced security controls and compliance documentation to meet evolving regulatory and threat requirements.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to protect against DNS spoofing and improve DNS security.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Publish a clear incident response policy and provide dedicated security contact channels (e.g., security@ or abuse@ emails).
  4. Add a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  5. Develop and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting and transparency.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Anti-Phishing Working Group, Inc
Description
Unifying The Global Response To Cybercrime through curated data exchange, research, public policy and public awareness messaging.
Key services
Phishing email reporting, Smishing text reporting, eCrime Exchange data clearinghouse, Research programs, Public awareness messaging, Membership collaboration
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Next.js, Bulma CSS
Frameworks
React, Next.js
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is focused on anti-phishing and cybercrime research and reporting.
  3. No explicit privacy or cookie consent banners detected, though privacy policy page exists.
  4. No visible contact emails or phone numbers; contact is via contact form.
  5. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy found.
  6. Modern React/Next.js tech stack with Craft CMS backend inferred.
  7. No advertising or tracking scripts detected.
  8. Good branding consistency and professional presentation.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using a modern React and Next.js framework, ensuring a responsive and dynamic user experience. Craft CMS is used as the backend content management system, inferred from asset URLs. The site loads multiple CSS and JavaScript chunks asynchronously, indicating modular and optimized frontend delivery. Mobile optimization is good, with responsive design elements and image srcsets for different resolutions. SEO is supported by appropriate meta tags and structured navigation. However, accessibility features are basic and could be improved. Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization in asset delivery and caching. No third-party advertising or tracking scripts were detected, indicating a privacy-conscious implementation. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but could benefit from enhanced accessibility and security enhancements.
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. 56/100Medium27 findingsView report
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