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Security report for archive-it.org

Internet Archive · Non-profit · United States

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

Security score

61/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Archive-It is a service operated by the Internet Archive, a reputable 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in the US, founded in 2005. The website offers digital archiving, web archiving, text and data mining, and digital preservation services targeted primarily at libraries, archives, governments, nonprofits, and educational institutions. The platform is positioned as a leading service in digital cultural heritage preservation with a large partner ecosystem. Technically, the website uses modern web technologies including Bootstrap and ES modules, with moderate performance and good mobile optimization. Security posture is moderate with domain registration protections but lacks DNSSEC and visible security headers. Privacy and cookie policies are not present on the homepage, indicating room for compliance improvement. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and safe for general audiences.

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 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

    • 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

Keep watching archive-it.org

This scan found 25 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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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
40
Email security
70
DNS health
70
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

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

The Internet Archive's Archive-It service operates as a non-profit digital preservation platform with a strong market position supported by over 1,200 partner organizations worldwide. Its business model focuses on providing web archiving and digital preservation tools to institutions that require long-term access to digital cultural heritage. The service ecosystem includes web archiving, text and data mining (ARCH), and digital preservation (Vault). The organization benefits from a strong brand, consistent messaging, and a clear mission. Growth is supported by partnerships with libraries, universities, and government entities. Revenue streams likely include service subscriptions and grants. The partnership ecosystem is robust, with dedicated partner portals and integration with the main Internet Archive site.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level. Domain registration includes clientTransferProhibited and clientUpdateProhibited status, which protects against unauthorized transfers and updates. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, which is a recommended security enhancement. No security headers are visible in the HTML content, and no explicit privacy or security policies are published on the homepage. There is no evidence of a published vulnerability disclosure or incident response process. The site uses HTTPS (implied by domain and analytics script URLs), but SSL configuration details are unknown. Overall, while no critical vulnerabilities are evident, the site could improve its security posture by implementing DNSSEC, security headers, and publishing security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement and publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with GDPR compliance details.
  3. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  4. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and security readiness.
  5. Improve accessibility features and SEO optimization to enhance user experience and discoverability.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Internet Archive
Description
Archive-It is a service by the Internet Archive providing user-controlled, web-based services for creating curated, publicly accessible web archives and born-digital collections. It also offers text and data mining services (ARCH) and digital preservation services (Vault).
Key services
Web Archiving, Text & Data Mining, Digital Preservation
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Bootstrap CSS, JavaScript ES Modules, Custom JavaScript (carouscroll.js, public_site.js)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
60/100
Good practices seen
  • Domain status includes clientTransferProhibited and clientUpdateProhibited

Analytics and tracking

Services
Custom analytics from analytics.archive-it.org
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
analytics.archive-it.org
Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured.
  2. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found on the homepage.
  3. Contact information is only available via a contact page, no direct emails or phone numbers on homepage.
  4. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information found.
  5. Uses custom analytics script hosted on own subdomain.
  6. No DNSSEC enabled, which is a security improvement opportunity.
  7. No visible security headers in HTML content; actual HTTP headers unknown.
  8. No forms detected on homepage; contact likely via dedicated contact page.
  9. No social media links found in the provided HTML content.
  10. Content is safe and suitable for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern front-end stack with Bootstrap CSS and JavaScript ES modules for interactive components like carousels. The site loads fonts from Google Fonts and uses a custom analytics script hosted on its own subdomain, indicating control over data collection. The site appears mobile-optimized with responsive design elements. No CMS or backend platform is explicitly detected. Hosting provider is not explicitly identified but likely managed by Internet Archive infrastructure. Performance is moderate with no obvious broken elements. Technical debt appears low, but improvements in security headers and privacy compliance are recommended to reduce risk and improve trust.
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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