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Security report for burnet.edu.au

The Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health Ltd · Healthcare · Australia

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

72/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health Ltd is a well-established Australian-based medical research institute and accredited international NGO focused on improving global health outcomes. The organization operates a professional website that highlights its research themes, projects, career opportunities, and fundraising initiatives. The site targets researchers, healthcare professionals, donors, students, and the general public interested in medical research and public health. It maintains a strong market position as a reputable non-profit entity with international partnerships and a broad geographic footprint.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 100 · Medium
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

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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';…

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • 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

  3. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching burnet.edu.au

This scan found 20 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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Recommended

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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
65
Security headers
70
Email security
75
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
72

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

Burnet Institute's business model relies on competitive government grants, philanthropic donations, and partnerships with various national and international organizations. The website reflects a mature digital presence with clear navigation, comprehensive content, and trust signals such as accreditation and charity registration. The organization actively engages with its audience through social media and fundraising campaigns, indicating a robust partnership ecosystem and community support. The absence of direct contact emails or phone numbers on the site suggests a preference for controlled communication channels, likely to manage inquiries efficiently.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a strong security posture with HTTPS enforcement, modern security headers, and the use of reCAPTCHA on forms to prevent abuse. Tracking and analytics tools such as Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, and Hotjar are implemented responsibly without exposing sensitive data. However, the lack of a published security policy, incident response plan, or vulnerability disclosure mechanism represents an area for improvement. The WHOIS data is unavailable, likely due to privacy protection, which is justified for this type of organization but limits external verification of domain ownership.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a visible cookie consent banner to enhance privacy compliance and user trust.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response information to improve transparency.
  3. Add a vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file to facilitate responsible security reporting.
  4. Consider listing a Data Protection Officer contact to align with GDPR and data protection best practices.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to ensure they remain secure and up to date.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health Ltd
Description
Burnet is an Australian-based medical research institute and an accredited international NGO. We strive for a better, fairer, healthier world.
Key services
Medical research, Health projects, Published research, Career and study opportunities, Commercialisation of technologies, Community support and fundraising
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Font Awesome 6.6.0, Typekit fonts, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, Google reCAPTCHA, Google Maps API, JavaScript ES modules
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of reCAPTCHA on forms
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security headers
  • No vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Hotjar
Marketing tools
Hotjar
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenge.
  2. WHOIS data is unavailable due to privacy or query failure.
  3. Site uses modern web technologies and tracking tools.
  4. No explicit security or incident response policies found.
  5. Privacy policy is comprehensive but no cookie consent banner detected.
  6. Contact information is provided via contact page but no direct emails or phone numbers found in HTML.
  7. Social media presence is strong with multiple verified platforms.
  8. Content is professionally presented and relevant to healthcare research.
  9. No suspicious or malicious domains linked.
  10. No adult or NSFW content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern technology stack including Font Awesome icons, Typekit fonts, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, and Google reCAPTCHA, indicating a mature and well-maintained digital infrastructure. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and good accessibility features. Performance is fast with efficient loading of assets. No CMS or hosting provider was explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary platform. SEO is well implemented with proper meta tags and Open Graph data. The technical setup supports a professional user experience with minimal technical debt.
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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