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Security report for bsc.es

Barcelona Supercomputing Center · Technology · Spain

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

61/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) is a leading public research consortium in Spain specializing in high performance computing (HPC). The organization provides supercomputing resources, conducts advanced research, and facilitates technology transfer to industry. Their market position is strong within the European HPC ecosystem, supported by recognized excellence certifications such as Severo Ochoa and HR Excellence in Research. The website targets researchers, academic institutions, industry partners, and students, offering services including access to the MareNostrum supercomputer, research projects, and educational programs. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 7 with a mature technology stack including jQuery, Shadowbox, and Google reCAPTCHA. Analytics are implemented via Google Analytics and Piwik/Matomo, with a clear cookie consent mechanism in place. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and use of CAPTCHA on forms, though some security headers could be improved. Overall, the security posture is good with no critical vulnerabilities detected. Privacy compliance is strong, featuring comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with GDPR alignment. The domain registration details are consistent with the organization's identity and history, reinforcing trustworthiness. Strategically, BSC should enhance security headers, maintain up-to-date CMS versions, and consider publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy to further strengthen security culture and transparency.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
25/ 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

7 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 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 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 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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  • 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
52
Security headers
45
Email security
60
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
25
Average
61

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

BSC operates as a public research entity funded by Spanish government and European sources, focusing on HPC research and technology transfer. Its competitive advantage lies in its access to one of Europe's most powerful supercomputers and a broad portfolio of research projects. Revenue streams likely include public funding, project grants, and collaboration contracts. The target customers include academic researchers, industry partners requiring HPC resources, and students seeking advanced training. Growth indicators include recent spin-offs and AI research initiatives. The partnership ecosystem includes government bodies, universities, and European research networks. The organization's market presence is well established with strong branding and trust signals.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and CAPTCHA protection on forms. Cookie consent is implemented with opt-in mechanisms, supporting GDPR compliance. However, some standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options are not explicitly detected and should be added to enhance protection against common web attacks. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were found. Incident response contact information is not explicitly provided, which could be improved. Overall, the security culture appears proactive but can benefit from formalizing vulnerability disclosure and incident response channels.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Regularly update Drupal core and contributed modules to mitigate known vulnerabilities.
  3. Publish a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure.
  4. Enhance visibility of incident response contacts for security issues.
  5. Conduct periodic security audits and penetration testing to identify and remediate potential risks.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Description
Barcelona Supercomputing Center is a public research consortium focused on high performance computing, providing supercomputing resources, research, and technology transfer services.
Key services
Supercomputing resources (MareNostrum), Research projects in HPC and related fields, Technology transfer and collaboration with companies, Education and training programs
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 7, jQuery 1.8, Shadowbox, Google reCAPTCHA, Google Analytics (gtag.js), Piwik/Matomo analytics, FlexSlider, AddThis, LinkedIn platform script
Frameworks
Drupal 7
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA on forms
  • Cookie consent mechanism with opt-in
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Piwik with DoNotTrack enabled

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Piwik/Matomo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Piwik/Matomo
Marketing tools
AddThis
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally maintained public research center site
  2. Strong focus on HPC research, education, and technology transfer
  3. Comprehensive cookie consent and privacy policies in place
  4. Multiple social media channels actively linked
  5. Use of legacy Drupal 7 CMS but well maintained
  6. No signs of blocking or WAF interference
  7. Good security posture with room for header improvements
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses Drupal 7 CMS with a variety of contributed modules and libraries such as jQuery 1.8, Shadowbox, FlexSlider, and Google reCAPTCHA. Analytics are implemented via Google Analytics and Piwik/Matomo. The site is hosted likely on BSC's own infrastructure or dedicated hosting, with SSL/TLS properly configured. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization. The site is mobile responsive and accessible, with good SEO metadata including Open Graph and Twitter cards. Technical debt is present due to the use of Drupal 7, which is an older CMS version, suggesting a future upgrade path is advisable. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the organization's needs effectively but modernization would improve security and performance.
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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