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Security report for cerge-ei-foundation.org

CERGE-EI Foundation · Education · United States

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

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The CERGE-EI Foundation is a U.S.-based non-profit organization dedicated to supporting modern economics education in post-transition and transition economies, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Southern Caucasus. The foundation offers programs such as faculty development, teaching fellowships, distance learning, and study abroad opportunities, positioning itself as a niche educational supporter in its regional market. The website is professionally designed using the Wix platform, featuring structured data for local business information and basic SEO optimizations. Technically, the site employs modern JavaScript polyfills and Wix's Thunderbolt framework, with moderate performance and good mobile optimization. Security-wise, the site enforces HTTPS and includes cookie consent mechanisms, but lacks explicit security headers and published privacy or terms of service pages. WHOIS data is unavailable, likely due to privacy protection, which is common for non-profits but reduces domain trust verification. Overall, the site is safe, professional, and trustworthy, with room for improvement in privacy disclosures and security hardening.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
73/ 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 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';…

  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

  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 Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1

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

Keep watching cerge-ei-foundation.org

This scan found 24 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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  • 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
35
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
73
Average
70

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

CERGE-EI Foundation operates in the education and non-profit sectors, focusing on economics education in specific geographic regions. Its business model revolves around supporting academic programs and partnerships rather than commercial sales. The foundation targets academics, educational institutions, donors, and regional partners. The website content and structure indicate a small-sized organization with consistent branding and clear trust signals such as Google site verification and structured data. The absence of WHOIS details is a minor concern but typical for privacy-conscious non-profits. The foundation's ecosystem includes regional partners and educational projects, though no explicit partner domains were identified in the website content.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security posture with HTTPS enabled and cookie consent implemented, reflecting awareness of privacy regulations. Security best practices include JavaScript-based hardening of fetch and XHR requests. However, the absence of explicit security headers (e.g., Content Security Policy, HSTS) and lack of published security policies or incident response contacts indicate areas for improvement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analyzed content. The lack of a security.txt file or vulnerability disclosure mechanism limits transparency for security researchers. Overall, the site is secure for general use but could enhance its security maturity by adopting additional headers and publishing security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service pages to improve privacy compliance and user trust.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options to strengthen security posture.
  3. Add a security.txt file and incident response contact information to facilitate vulnerability reporting and improve transparency.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to meet higher standards and improve user experience for all visitors.
  5. Regularly review and update third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize privacy risks and ensure compliance with evolving regulations.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
CERGE-EI Foundation
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
CERGE-EI Foundation
Description
The CERGE-EI U.S. Foundation supports modern economics education in post-transition and transition economies in the CEE, Central Asia, and Southern Caucasus region.
Key services
Supporting modern economics education, Faculty development, Teaching fellows program, Distance learning, Study abroad programs, Symposiums and projects
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Wix.com Website Builder, Intl.Segmenter polyfill, Wix Thunderbolt framework, Google Tag Manager, Cookie Consent Banner script
Frameworks
Wix Thunderbolt
Platforms
Wix
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • Security related JavaScript overrides to harden fetch and XHR

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
minimal
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 built on Wix platform with standard Wix technologies.
  2. Content is focused on supporting economics education in specific regions.
  3. No forms detected in the provided HTML snippet; contact likely via dedicated pages.
  4. No explicit privacy or terms of service pages found in main HTML content.
  5. Cookie consent banner is implemented indicating some privacy compliance.
  6. WHOIS data is unavailable or blocked, limiting domain trust verification.
  7. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information found.
  8. No explicit security policy or incident response contacts found.
  9. Site uses HTTPS and some security hardening scripts.
  10. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Wix platform using the Thunderbolt framework, leveraging modern JavaScript polyfills and performance APIs. It loads resources from Wix's static content delivery network and integrates Google Tag Manager for analytics. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and basic accessibility features. Performance is moderate, with no critical errors detected. The technical stack is standard for Wix sites, offering ease of maintenance but limited customization. Opportunities exist to improve SEO optimization and accessibility compliance. The hosting provider is Wix, which manages infrastructure and SSL certificates, ensuring reliable uptime and HTTPS enforcement.
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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