Skip to main content

Security report for balticseamen.com

Transportation · N/a

High risk. 11 critical or high findings in Network security, Security headers and 3 other checks.

Security score

40/100

Risk levelHigh

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

Balticseamen.com hosts a specialized online forum dedicated to maritime professionals, particularly seamen from the Baltic region and Russian-speaking community. The platform facilitates discussions on maritime work, shipping companies, job vacancies, and general off-topic conversations related to the sea industry. Established in 2009, the forum has a mature user base and a significant volume of posts and topics, indicating an active community. The business model centers around providing a free community platform with advertising revenue from Google AdSense. Technically, the website runs on the Simple Machines Forum (SMF) CMS version 2.0.2, hosted on HostGator servers. The site uses standard web technologies including JavaScript and Google Analytics for tracking. While the site is functional and moderately optimized, it lacks modern security headers and DNSSEC, and the mobile optimization is basic. The design and navigation are straightforward but not highly polished. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS and hashes passwords on login forms, which are positive indicators. However, the absence of DNSSEC, security headers like Content-Security-Policy, and lack of visible privacy or cookie policies indicate gaps in security and compliance maturity. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided. The WHOIS data shows a consistent and long-standing domain registration, supporting legitimacy. Overall, Balticseamen.com is a niche community forum with moderate technical and security posture but lacks formal privacy and security policies. Strategic improvements in security headers, privacy compliance, and user trust signals would enhance its credibility and resilience.

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

11 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: MySQL

      Port 3306 (MySQL) is publicly accessible - MySQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to MySQL using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

  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 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';…

  3. 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

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

Keep watching balticseamen.com

This scan found 30 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

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
15
Email security
70
DNS health
55
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
35
Average
40

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 · found on this site
  • 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

Balticseamen.com occupies a niche market serving maritime professionals, particularly seamen in the Baltic and Russian-speaking regions. Its competitive advantage lies in its focused community and extensive forum content, including job vacancy postings which attract both employers and job seekers. The business model relies on community engagement and advertising revenue. The absence of clear company information and contact details limits transparency but is typical for community forums. Growth indicators include a large number of posts and active users. The partnership ecosystem is not evident from the data, and no subsidiaries or parent companies are identified. The site’s operations appear stable but could benefit from enhanced business transparency and compliance to support future growth.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a basic security maturity level with HTTPS enabled and password hashing implemented on login forms. However, the lack of DNSSEC, security headers (such as CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options), and absence of privacy and cookie policies indicate compliance gaps and potential vulnerabilities. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are visible, which may delay response to security incidents. The use of third-party scripts like Google Analytics and AdSense introduces tracking and potential privacy concerns. Overall, the security posture is functional but requires improvements to meet modern standards and regulatory requirements such as GDPR.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement essential security headers including Content-Security-Policy, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with clear GDPR compliance statements.
  4. Add visible contact information and establish incident response contacts such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  5. Review and update third-party scripts and consider privacy-friendly analytics alternatives.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Description
Online forum for seamen and maritime professionals focused on discussions about sea work, shipping companies, job search, and related topics.
Key services
Discussion forums, Job vacancy postings, Information sharing about shipping companies and maritime work
Content quality
good
Branding
moderate

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Google Analytics, SHA1.js
Frameworks
Simple Machines Forum (SMF) 2.0.2
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
55/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Password hashing on login form

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Ad networks
Google AdSense
Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
basic
User experience
basic
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
basic
Trustworthiness
moderate

Key observations

  1. Website is a niche maritime forum primarily in Russian language.
  2. No privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found on the main forum page.
  3. Uses Simple Machines Forum CMS, version 2.0.2, which is somewhat dated.
  4. No advanced security headers or DNSSEC configured.
  5. Contains Google Analytics and Google AdSense scripts for tracking and advertising.
  6. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly provided on the main page.
  7. No social media links detected.
  8. Content is safe and suitable for general audiences.
  9. Website is accessible without WAF or blocking mechanisms.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Simple Machines Forum (SMF) 2.0.2 platform, a mature but somewhat dated CMS for forums. Hosting is provided by HostGator, a reputable provider. The site uses JavaScript for UI and tracking, including Google Analytics and Google AdSense for advertising. The HTML is valid and includes meta tags for description and canonical URLs, but lacks Open Graph or JSON-LD structured data. Performance is moderate with basic mobile optimization and accessibility features. The site could benefit from modernization of the tech stack, improved mobile responsiveness, and enhanced SEO and accessibility compliance to improve user experience and search visibility.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with balticseamen.com. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review balticseamen.com.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.