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Security report for apwg.org

Anti-Phishing Working Group, Inc · Technology · United States

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

Security score

56/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) is a well-established non-profit organization founded in 2004, dedicated to unifying the global response to cybercrime, particularly phishing. It operates a membership-based model serving cybercrime professionals, law enforcement, government, and researchers worldwide. The organization provides key services including phishing activity reports, research programs, and annual symposiums, positioning itself as a leader in the anti-phishing and cybercrime domain. Technically, the website is built on a modern WordPress platform with a variety of plugins and analytics tools, indicating a moderate level of digital maturity. Security posture is generally good with HTTPS enabled and domain registration protections, but lacks some advanced security headers and published security policies. Privacy compliance is partial, with a cookie consent mechanism present but no explicit privacy or terms of service policies found. Overall, the website is professional and trustworthy, though improvements in transparency and security documentation are recommended.

Scanned

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

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
50/ 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. 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 apwg.org

This scan found 22 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

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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
52
Security headers
15
Email security
95
DNS health
85
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
50
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

APWG holds a strong market position as a global coalition against cybercrime, leveraging partnerships with industry leaders and government entities. Its revenue streams likely include membership fees and sponsorships. The target audience includes cybersecurity professionals, researchers, and cryptocurrency stakeholders. The organization benefits from a broad partnership ecosystem, including ICANN and various cybersecurity firms. Growth indicators include active research publications and annual events. The business model emphasizes collaboration and information sharing, which is critical in the cybersecurity sector. Strategic observations suggest that enhancing public-facing security policies and contact transparency could further strengthen stakeholder trust.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid baseline security posture with HTTPS enforced and domain transfer protections. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options represents areas for improvement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. The lack of a published security policy or incident response contact channels limits transparency and may impact incident handling efficiency. Compliance with GDPR and other privacy regulations is not explicitly documented, though cookie consent is implemented. Overall, the security maturity is moderate, with recommendations to formalize security documentation and enhance technical controls.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to strengthen DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement and publish comprehensive security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options.
  3. Publish explicit privacy policy and terms of service documents accessible from the homepage.
  4. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  5. Provide clear contact information for security incidents and data protection officer if applicable.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Anti-Phishing Working Group, Inc
Description
APWG is a global coalition unifying the response to cybercrime through data exchange, research, and public awareness. It offers membership opportunities for cybercrime professionals, manages research programs, and hosts events such as the Symposium on Electronic Crime Research.
Key services
Phishing Activity Trends Reports, Cybercrime data exchange, Research programs and publications, Annual research symposium, Membership community, Sponsor solutions
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.1, WooCommerce 9.8.5, WPBakery Page Builder, Slider Revolution, Stackable Ultimate Gutenberg Blocks Premium, Kadence Blocks, Ultimate Blocks, Event Tickets, Google Analytics, Amplitude Analytics
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status
  • Use of security plugins (Wordfence script detected)
  • No exposed sensitive data found in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Amplitude Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Amplitude Analytics
Marketing tools
Amplitude
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-established non-profit focused on anti-phishing and cybercrime research.
  2. Content is comprehensive with membership, research, events, and sponsorship information.
  3. No explicit privacy policy or terms of service found on the homepage or main navigation.
  4. Cookie consent mechanism is present and active.
  5. No visible contact emails or phone numbers explicitly labeled as company contacts on the homepage.
  6. Use of modern WordPress plugins and analytics tools indicates moderate technical maturity.
  7. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page detected.
  8. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  9. Domain WHOIS data is consistent and domain is long-lived, supporting trustworthiness.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress 6.8.1 with WooCommerce and multiple premium plugins such as WPBakery Page Builder and Slider Revolution, indicating a feature-rich but potentially complex infrastructure. The use of Google Analytics and Amplitude for analytics shows investment in user behavior tracking and data-driven insights. Performance is moderate, with responsive design and mobile optimization in place. However, the site could benefit from improved accessibility features and SEO enhancements. Hosting details are limited, but the registrar is Network Solutions, LLC. The technical stack is modern but requires ongoing maintenance to avoid plugin vulnerabilities and ensure optimal performance.
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. 50/100Medium33 findingsView report
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