Skip to main content

Security report for biodiversitydatascience.com

biodiversityDS · Other · Portugal

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

Security score

60/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Biodiversity Data Science is a specialized research and educational platform focused on leveraging data science tools to support biodiversity conservation and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The website offers research publications, project descriptions, data science courses, code resources, and a podcast to engage researchers, policymakers, and environmental stakeholders. The platform positions itself as a niche player in the environmental data science domain with a strong emphasis on marine biodiversity and climate change impacts. Technically, the website is built using the Jekyll static site generator and incorporates modern front-end libraries such as Bootstrap, jQuery, and Font Awesome. It demonstrates good mobile optimization, clear navigation, and SEO best practices. Google Analytics is used for user tracking, indicating moderate data collection practices. However, no privacy or cookie policies are present, which is a compliance gap. From a security perspective, the site lacks visible security headers and formal security policies. The WHOIS data is missing or indicates the domain may not be registered, which raises concerns about domain legitimacy and trustworthiness. No forms or sensitive data inputs are present, reducing immediate risk exposure. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could be improved with better policy disclosures and technical hardening. The overall risk assessment suggests the website is a credible source of biodiversity data science content but requires improvements in domain registration transparency, privacy compliance, and security best practices to enhance trust and reduce potential vulnerabilities.

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 biodiversitydatascience.com

This scan found 26 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
72
Security headers
15
Email security
60
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
60

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 website targets a specialized audience of researchers, environmental scientists, and policymakers interested in biodiversity conservation and climate change. Its business model revolves around disseminating research, providing educational resources, and fostering community engagement through podcasts and social media. The platform's competitive advantage lies in its focused niche and integration of data science methodologies with environmental conservation. Partnerships and collaborations are implied through featured projects and partner logos, although no explicit business partnerships are detailed. Growth indicators include active publication updates and diverse content offerings. Revenue streams are not explicitly stated, suggesting a primarily academic or non-profit orientation.

Security posture

The current security maturity level is moderate with no critical vulnerabilities detected in the visible content. The absence of security headers and privacy policies indicates compliance gaps, particularly with GDPR and related regulations. There is no evidence of incident response readiness or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms. Data protection practices are minimal, with no explicit data protection officer or contact information for security incidents. The use of Google Analytics introduces moderate user tracking, which should be balanced with privacy disclosures. Overall, the security culture appears basic and would benefit from formalized policies and technical enhancements.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies to ensure GDPR compliance.
  2. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  3. Verify and update WHOIS domain registration information to improve legitimacy and trustworthiness.
  4. Establish a vulnerability disclosure policy and provide clear incident response contact channels.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and conduct regular security audits to maintain a strong security posture.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
biodiversityDS
Description
Leveraging data science for biodiversity conservation and supporting the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Key services
Biodiversity data science research, Publications and research dissemination, Data science courses and code resources, Podcast on biodiversity and data science, Climate and biodiversity data provision
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Bootstrap, jQuery, Font Awesome, Themify Icons, Simple Line Icons, Owl Carousel, Magnific Popup, Justified Gallery, SAL (Scroll Animation Library), Jekyll
Frameworks
Jekyll
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
60/100
Good practices seen
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content on biodiversity data science.
  2. No privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found on the site.
  3. Contact information includes email link and physical address in footer.
  4. No forms detected on the homepage or main content.
  5. Social media presence on X (Twitter) and Bluesky.
  6. Uses modern front-end libraries and Jekyll static site generator.
  7. Google Analytics is used for tracking.
  8. No explicit security headers or policies visible in HTML.
  9. WHOIS data is missing or domain not registered, which is a risk factor.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern static site generator (Jekyll) combined with popular front-end libraries like Bootstrap and jQuery, ensuring responsive design and good user experience. Performance is moderate, with no major issues detected. SEO is well addressed through meta tags and Open Graph data. However, the absence of visible security headers and incomplete WHOIS data represent technical risks. Hosting provider details are not discernible from the content. The site lacks forms, reducing attack surface but also limiting interactive capabilities. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid for a content-focused site but requires improvements in security and compliance 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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with biodiversitydatascience.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 biodiversitydatascience.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.