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Security report for assistancedogs.org.au

Assistance Dogs Australia · Non-profit · Australia

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

66/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Assistance Dogs Australia is a well-established non-profit charity focused on providing trained assistance dogs to Australians with mobility challenges, autism, and PTSD. The organization holds recognized accreditations and maintains a strong market position within the Australian non-profit sector. Their website reflects a professional and trustworthy image, offering comprehensive information about their services, volunteer opportunities, and donation channels. The digital infrastructure is built on WordPress with modern plugins and tracking tools, supporting a good user experience and engagement. Security measures such as HTTPS, reCAPTCHA, and anti-spam plugins are in place, although some security headers could be improved. Privacy compliance is evident with clear privacy and cookie policies, and GDPR considerations are addressed. Overall, the site demonstrates a mature digital presence with room for enhanced security policies and incident response transparency.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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

6 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

  3. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

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

Keep watching assistancedogs.org.au

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.

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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
75
Security headers
15
Email security
70
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
66

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 organization operates primarily through donations, fundraising, and corporate partnerships, targeting individuals with disabilities and supporters in Australia. Their business model is service-oriented, providing assistance dogs free to clients, which positions them as a key player in the non-profit assistance dog sector. The website's content strategy includes storytelling, news updates, and calls to action that foster community engagement and donor trust. Partnerships with fundraising platforms and corporate sponsors enhance their reach and funding capabilities. The presence of multiple social media channels and newsletter signups indicates active audience engagement and growth potential.

Security posture

The website employs standard security practices including HTTPS encryption, Google reCAPTCHA for form protection, and an anti-spam plugin. However, explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security are not detected, representing an area for improvement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found in the analysis. The absence of a dedicated security policy or incident response page suggests a potential gap in transparency and preparedness. Overall, the security posture is solid but could benefit from enhanced header configurations and documented security governance.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers like CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to strengthen defense against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response plan on the website to improve transparency and stakeholder confidence.
  3. Regularly update WordPress core, themes, and plugins to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to comply with WCAG standards for broader inclusivity.
  5. Monitor WHOIS data and domain registration details to ensure consistency and legitimacy.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Assistance Dogs Australia
Description
Assistance Dogs Australia is a charity that provides fully trained Assistance Dogs to people with mobility needs, autism or post-traumatic stress.
Key services
Training and placement of assistance dogs, Programs for people with physical disabilities, autism, PTSD, Volunteer and corporate partnership opportunities, Fundraising and donation campaigns
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Divi Theme, Gravity Forms, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, CleanTalk Anti-Spam, WonderPlugin Slider, Popup Maker, Google reCAPTCHA v2 Invisible
Frameworks
Yoast SEO
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA on forms
  • Anti-spam plugin (CleanTalk)
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Bing Ads, Facebook Pixel, Crazy Egg
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Bing Ads
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Crazy Egg
Marketing tools
Popup Maker
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally maintained charity site for Assistance Dogs Australia.
  2. Content is rich with news, stories, and calls to action for donations and volunteering.
  3. Multiple social media channels are linked and active.
  4. Forms use Google reCAPTCHA and anti-spam measures.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  6. WHOIS data is incomplete but site appears legitimate.
  7. Good SEO and accessibility practices observed.
  8. No explicit security policy or incident response info found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress using the Divi theme and several popular plugins including Gravity Forms, CleanTalk Anti-Spam, and Popup Maker. It integrates multiple analytics and marketing tools such as Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and Crazy Egg for user behavior tracking and campaign optimization. The site is mobile responsive with good SEO practices implemented via Yoast SEO. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in caching and asset optimization. The technical stack is modern and widely supported, though hosting provider details are not explicitly identified. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the organization's digital goals effectively.
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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