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Security report for bates.org.au

Digital Daisy Bates · Non-profit · Australia

High risk. 9 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

45/100

Risk levelHigh

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

Digital Daisy Bates is a specialized academic and cultural heritage project that digitizes and provides access to Daisy Bates' extensive collection of Aboriginal Australian language and cultural records. The website serves researchers, Aboriginal communities, and academics interested in Indigenous languages and culture, offering a searchable archive of over 23,000 pages of historical linguistic data. The project is supported by reputable Australian institutions including the National Library of Australia and the University of Melbourne, enhancing its credibility and trustworthiness. Technically, the website employs standard web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, with Google Analytics and Tag Manager for visitor tracking. The site is hosted under an Australian registrar with DNS hosted on CrazyDomains. While the site is functional and content-rich, it lacks advanced technical features such as DNSSEC and security headers, and has only basic mobile optimization and accessibility features. SEO and metadata are minimal but adequate for the niche audience. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS but does not implement common security headers or a vulnerability disclosure policy. No privacy or cookie policies are present, and no consent mechanisms for tracking are implemented, which may pose compliance risks under GDPR or similar regulations. No contact information or incident response channels are provided, limiting user support and transparency. Overall, the website is a valuable and trustworthy academic resource with good content quality and business credibility. However, it would benefit from enhanced security practices, privacy compliance improvements, and clearer contact information to strengthen its security posture and user trust.

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

9 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  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 bates.org.au

This scan found 29 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

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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
15
Email security
60
DNS health
60
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
35
Average
45

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

Digital Daisy Bates occupies a niche academic and cultural heritage market focused on Indigenous Australian languages. Its competitive advantage lies in exclusive access to a unique historical collection digitized in collaboration with major Australian cultural institutions. The business model is non-commercial, relying on academic grants and institutional support. The target customers are researchers, Aboriginal communities, and linguists. Growth indicators include ongoing academic citations and institutional partnerships. The ecosystem includes the National Library of Australia, University of Melbourne, and Australian Research Council, which provide credibility and resources. The project operates as a small-scale, specialized digital archive with a focus on preservation and accessibility rather than commercial revenue.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a basic security maturity level with HTTPS enabled but lacks critical security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options. The absence of DNSSEC reduces DNS security. No privacy or cookie policies and no consent mechanisms for tracking pose compliance risks, especially under GDPR. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided, limiting transparency and preparedness. The use of Google Analytics and Tag Manager without consent mechanisms indicates moderate user tracking without clear privacy safeguards. Overall, the security posture is functional but requires improvements to meet modern compliance and security standards.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with explicit user consent mechanisms to improve GDPR compliance.
  2. Add security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  3. Enable DNSSEC for the domain to strengthen DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  4. Provide clear contact information and establish an incident response and vulnerability disclosure policy to improve transparency and user trust.
  5. Enhance mobile optimization and accessibility features to improve user experience and broaden accessibility.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Digital Daisy Bates
Description
A digital archive project providing access to Daisy Bates' extensive collection of Aboriginal Australian language and cultural records, in collaboration with the National Library of Australia and academic institutions.
Key services
Access to over 23,000 pages of Aboriginal language wordlists and cultural records, Search and browse functionality for vocabularies and words, Technical documentation and metadata about the collection
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
65/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled (implied by URL https://)
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML content

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is an academic and cultural heritage digital archive.
  2. No privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found.
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly provided.
  4. No forms or user input fields detected.
  5. Uses Google Analytics and Tag Manager for tracking without visible cookie consent mechanism.
  6. No security headers detected in provided data.
  7. WHOIS data consistent with Australian academic project.
  8. Content is safe and suitable for general audiences.
  9. No advertising or affiliate programs detected.
  10. Good trust indicators via institutional partnerships and testimonials.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a straightforward technology stack with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, supplemented by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager for analytics. The hosting and DNS are managed by Australian providers consistent with the project's geographic focus. Performance is moderate with basic mobile responsiveness and accessibility. SEO is minimal but sufficient for the academic niche. The absence of a CMS suggests a static or custom-built site. Technical debt appears low but modernization opportunities include adding security headers, enabling DNSSEC, and improving mobile and accessibility compliance to reduce risks and enhance user experience.
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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