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Security report for b-on.pt

Biblioteca do Conhecimento Online (b-on) · Education · Portugal

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and Security headers.

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

b-on is a Portuguese digital knowledge platform operated by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and developed by FCCN. It provides access to scientific journals, e-books, and other academic resources primarily targeting students, researchers, health professionals, and publishers within Portugal. The platform is positioned as a key national resource for academic content access and open access initiatives. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern JavaScript libraries and integrates analytics tools such as Google Analytics and Hotjar. The site is mobile optimized and offers a good user experience with clear navigation and relevant content. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enforced and secure forms, but lacks visible security headers and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms. Privacy compliance is basic, with no cookie consent banner detected and limited explicit GDPR indicators. Overall, the website is trustworthy and professionally maintained, with strong government and research institution affiliations.

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

  2. 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';…

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Keep watching b-on.pt

This scan found 19 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
45
Email security
85
DNS health
90
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
10
Average
69

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 platform operates as a non-profit service funded by government and research foundations, focusing on providing access to scientific knowledge. Its business model centers on collaboration with academic institutions and publishers, offering services such as content access, search portals, link resolvers, and preservation. The partnership ecosystem includes FCCN, FCT, EBSCO, and various Portuguese universities and research centers. The platform's market position is strong within Portugal's academic and research sectors, supported by government backing and a broad member base. Growth indicators include recent rebranding and expansion of content agreements. The absence of direct contact emails and phone numbers suggests a controlled communication channel primarily via web forms.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and secure login forms. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and HSTS reduces its defense-in-depth posture. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response information is publicly available, which could hinder coordinated security incident handling. The use of third-party analytics and tracking tools introduces moderate user tracking, but no explicit cookie consent mechanism was found, indicating partial GDPR compliance. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided content. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a government-affiliated educational platform but could be improved with enhanced headers, transparency, and privacy controls.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a security.txt file and vulnerability disclosure policy to facilitate responsible reporting and incident response.
  3. Introduce a cookie consent banner and explicit privacy policy updates to improve GDPR compliance and user transparency.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to meet modern standards and improve user experience for all visitors.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize privacy risks and optimize performance.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Biblioteca do Conhecimento Online (b-on)
Description
b-on is a digital service provided by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and developed by FCCN. It offers access to scientific knowledge and digital content collections, targeting students, researchers, health professionals, and publishers in Portugal. It facilitates access to scientific journals, e-books, and other academic resources.
Key services
Access to scientific content, Search portal, Link resolver service, Mobility services, Preservation services, Open access support
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.4.7, jQuery, Modernizr, Flexslider, Chosen jQuery plugin, Google Fonts (Roboto), Google Analytics, Hotjar, AddThis
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure login form with POST method
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Hotjar
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Hotjar, AddThis
Marketing tools
Hotjar, AddThis
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a government-affiliated educational platform providing access to scientific content.
  2. Content is primarily in Portuguese with English alternate language available.
  3. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found; contact is via forms.
  4. No cookie consent banner or explicit privacy compliance mechanisms detected.
  5. Uses modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  7. Security headers are missing or not visible in provided data.
  8. No vulnerability disclosure or security policy pages found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern WordPress CMS platform using version 6.4.7, leveraging popular JavaScript libraries such as jQuery, Modernizr, and Flexslider for UI enhancements. Google Fonts and Google Analytics are integrated for typography and analytics respectively, alongside Hotjar for user behavior tracking and AddThis for social sharing. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design elements and includes SEO-friendly meta tags and language alternates. Performance is moderate, with no critical errors or broken elements detected. However, the lack of visible security headers and cookie consent mechanisms indicates areas for technical improvement. Hosting provider details were not explicitly found in the content. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the business goals but could benefit from security and privacy enhancements.
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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