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Security report for astro.sk

Astronomický ústav Slovenskej akadémie vied · Government · Slovakia

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and DNS health.

Security score

54/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Astronomický ústav Slovenskej akadémie vied is a Slovak public research institution specializing in astronomy and astrophysics. It operates under the Slovak Academy of Sciences and provides research, educational programs, and public outreach in the field of astronomy. The website serves as an information portal for researchers, students, and the general public interested in astronomical sciences. It features news, events, scientific publications, and contact information for the institution. The site is bilingual with Slovak as the primary language and English as an alternate. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern plugins and libraries such as jQuery and FontAwesome, providing a moderate performance and good mobile optimization. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enforced but lacks some security headers and incident response contact details. Privacy compliance is partial with a privacy policy page present but no cookie consent mechanism. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and serves its academic and public mission effectively.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
10/ 100 · Critical
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. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • Critical

      EU business without adequate privacy measures

      EU businesses are subject to strict GDPR requirements

      What to do: Implement comprehensive GDPR compliance including privacy policy, cookie consent, and data protection measures

    • 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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Facebook

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

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

Keep watching astro.sk

This scan found 23 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
85
Security headers
80
Email security
55
DNS health
55
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
10
Average
54

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 institution holds a strong position as a national research entity within Slovakia's academic ecosystem. Its business model is government-funded research and public service. The website reflects a focus on transparency and outreach, with official documents, contact forms, and social media integration. Partnerships with other Slovak and international astronomy-related organizations are evident. The presence of HRS4R certification indicates adherence to research standards and quality. The target audience includes academic researchers, students, and the general public interested in astronomy. The website content and structure support these audiences with relevant scientific and educational resources.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS and avoids exposing sensitive data in its HTML content. However, it lacks important security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options, which could improve protection against common web attacks. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response contacts are provided, which limits transparency in security matters. The contact form includes CAPTCHA to reduce spam but no advanced security controls are evident. The use of up-to-date WordPress and plugins is positive but requires ongoing maintenance to mitigate vulnerabilities. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could be enhanced with additional best practices and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Add a cookie consent banner to comply with GDPR and improve privacy compliance.
  3. Publish a security.txt file and provide clear incident response contact information.
  4. Regularly audit and update WordPress core, themes, and plugins to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to improve compliance and user experience for all users.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Astronomický ústav Slovenskej akadémie vied, v. v. i.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Astronomický ústav Slovenskej akadémie vied
Description
Astronomický ústav Slovenskej akadémie vied is a public research institution focused on astronomy and astrophysics research, education, and popularization in Slovakia.
Key services
Astronomical research, Scientific publications, Educational programs and seminars, Public events and popularization, Observatory operations
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.7.1, jQuery 3.7.1, jQuery UI, FontAwesome 6.7.1, Ultimate Social Media Icons plugin, Full Width Responsive Slider WP plugin
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of nonce for AJAX in social media plugin

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook SDK
Marketing tools
Ultimate Social Media Icons plugin, follow.it subscription form
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a Slovak public research institution for astronomy.
  2. Content is in Slovak with English alternate language available.
  3. Uses WordPress CMS with standard plugins.
  4. No cookie consent mechanism detected.
  5. Contact form collects personal data including name, email, message, and captcha.
  6. Social media presence on Facebook and Instagram.
  7. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page.
  8. HRS4R certification indicates commitment to research standards.
  9. No phone numbers explicitly labeled found.
  10. No terms of service page detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses WordPress 6.7.1 as its CMS platform, leveraging jQuery and jQuery UI libraries for interactivity. FontAwesome is used for icons, and the site includes plugins for social media icons and a full-width responsive slider. The site is served over HTTPS with no visible mixed content issues. Performance is moderate with some custom JavaScript and CSS. Mobile optimization is good with responsive design elements. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and structured navigation. Accessibility is basic but could be improved. Hosting provider details are not explicitly found. Overall, the technical infrastructure is modern and suitable for the institution's needs but could benefit from enhanced security and privacy features.
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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