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Security report for awaplusd.org

Association for Women in Architecture & Design · Other · United States

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Association for Women in Architecture & Design is a well-established non-profit professional society dedicated to advancing and supporting women in architecture and allied design fields. Their offerings include scholarships, fellowships, professional development, and networking opportunities, supported by a sister foundation (AWAF). The organization maintains an active online presence and partnerships with reputable industry organizations, positioning itself as a key advocate for women in the built environment. Technically, the website is built on the Squarespace platform, leveraging modern web technologies including Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise for form security and Typekit fonts for branding consistency. The site is mobile-optimized and demonstrates good SEO and accessibility practices, though some accessibility features could be enhanced. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS with HSTS and uses CAPTCHA to protect forms, indicating a solid security posture. However, the absence of visible privacy and cookie policies, as well as lack of incident response or vulnerability disclosure information, represents compliance and transparency gaps. Overall, the website is professional and trustworthy, but improvements in privacy compliance and transparency would strengthen its security and user trust profile.

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

7 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 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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube

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

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

Keep watching awaplusd.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.

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
62
Security headers
50
Email security
70
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
65

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 as a small-sized non-profit entity focused on the architecture and design sector, specifically targeting women professionals. Its business model revolves around membership fees, sponsorships, events, and educational programming. The nearly 100-year history and presence of a dedicated foundation for scholarships indicate a mature and stable operation. The partnership ecosystem includes recognized industry groups, enhancing credibility and reach. Growth indicators include active social media engagement and ongoing event programming. The organization’s operations emphasize community building, professional advancement, and advocacy within a niche market segment.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security maturity level with enforced HTTPS, HSTS, and use of Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise to mitigate automated abuse. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. However, the lack of published security policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms limits transparency and preparedness. Compliance with GDPR or other privacy regulations is not clearly indicated, and cookie consent mechanisms are absent. The security culture appears cautious but could benefit from enhanced communication and formalized policies to improve user trust and regulatory compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy to improve legal compliance and user trust.
  2. Implement a security.txt file or dedicated vulnerability disclosure page to facilitate responsible reporting.
  3. Add incident response contact information, such as a security or abuse email address, to enhance transparency.
  4. Enhance website accessibility features to meet higher standards and improve inclusivity.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to ensure no vulnerabilities are introduced.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Association for Women in Architecture & Design
Description
The Association for Women in Architecture + Design’s mission is to advance and support women who work in the built environment. They provide scholarships and a mid-career fellowship via their Foundation (AWAF). The organization fosters an inclusive environment for professional development and networking in architecture and allied design fields.
Key services
Professional support and advancement for women in architecture and design, Scholarships and fellowships via AWAF Foundation, Events, programming, and professional development, Resource library and job postings, Membership and networking
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Squarespace CMS, Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise, Typekit Fonts, JavaScript libraries (YUI 3, Moment.js, CLDR), Squarespace proprietary scripts and styles
Platforms
Squarespace
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced with HSTS
  • Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise used on forms
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

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 using Squarespace CMS
  2. Content is focused on supporting women in architecture and design professions
  3. No visible privacy or cookie policies, which is a compliance gap
  4. WHOIS data is unavailable, indicating privacy protection or query failure
  5. Active social media presence across major platforms
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious content
  7. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed on homepage or footer
  8. Newsletter subscription form present with Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise protection
  9. Multiple sponsor and partner logos linked to reputable organizations
Technical notes

Notes

The website is hosted on Squarespace, a reputable managed platform that provides reliable hosting and CMS capabilities. The technology stack includes modern JavaScript libraries and Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise for security. Performance is moderate, with good mobile optimization and SEO metadata in place. The site uses Typekit fonts for consistent branding. Technical debt appears low due to the managed nature of the platform, but reliance on third-party scripts requires ongoing monitoring. Opportunities exist to improve accessibility and privacy compliance features to align with best practices.
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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