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Security report for chicagoquantum.org

Chicago Quantum Exchange · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE) is a leading collaborative consortium focused on advancing quantum science and technology. It connects top universities, national laboratories, and industry partners in the US Midwest to drive research, workforce development, and economic growth in quantum technologies. The organization is well-positioned as a central intellectual hub with significant government and corporate investment backing. The website reflects a professional and comprehensive digital presence, leveraging Drupal 10 CMS and modern web technologies. It provides clear navigation, rich content, and structured data to support discoverability and user engagement. Security posture is generally good with HTTPS and domain transfer protections, though improvements are needed in DNS security and security headers. Privacy compliance is lacking due to missing privacy and cookie policies. Overall, CQE demonstrates strong business credibility and technical maturity, with opportunities to enhance compliance and security transparency.

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

7 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 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

    • 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

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

Keep watching chicagoquantum.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.

Daily monitoring

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
85
Security headers
50
Email security
40
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
63

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

CQE operates as a large-scale academic and industry partnership consortium in the quantum technology sector. Its business model centers on collaborative research, education, and economic development, supported by multiple prestigious partner institutions. The target audience includes researchers, students, industry professionals, and government stakeholders. The organization benefits from strong brand recognition and trust signals through its affiliations with major universities and national labs. Revenue streams likely include government grants, corporate sponsorships, and educational programs. The partnership ecosystem is robust, enhancing CQE's competitive advantage in the quantum technology landscape. Strategic observations highlight the importance of expanding privacy and security policies to align with regulatory expectations and stakeholder trust.

Security posture

CQE's website employs HTTPS and has domain transfer protections, indicating a baseline security posture. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represents gaps that could expose the site to DNS spoofing or clickjacking attacks. No vulnerability disclosures or incident response contacts are provided, limiting transparency and readiness communication. The use of third-party analytics and tag management scripts introduces moderate tracking but no evident vulnerabilities. Overall, the security maturity is moderate with room for improvement in policy transparency, technical controls, and incident preparedness.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers (CSP, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options) to mitigate common web attacks.
  3. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with user consent mechanisms to improve compliance.
  4. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting and incident response.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and libraries to minimize security risks.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Chicago Quantum Exchange
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Chicago Quantum Exchange
Description
The Chicago Quantum Exchange advances the science and engineering of quantum information, prepares the quantum workforce, and drives the quantum economy by connecting top universities, national labs, and industry partners. It is a Midwest-based intellectual hub and a central driver of US leadership in quantum technologies.
Key services
Research collaboration, Education and training, Quantum workforce development, Driving quantum economy and industry partnerships
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, jQuery, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Modernizr, Google Fonts
Frameworks
Drupal CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured with clear navigation.
  2. Content is focused on quantum research, education, and economic development.
  3. No privacy or cookie policies found, which is a compliance gap.
  4. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information.
  5. Uses modern CMS (Drupal 10) and includes Google Analytics and Tag Manager for tracking.
  6. Contact information is clearly provided including email, phone, and physical address.
  7. No signs of adult or questionable content; content is safe for general audiences.
  8. Domain WHOIS data is consistent and supports legitimacy of the organization.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10 CMS, leveraging modern JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and Modernizr, and integrates Google Tag Manager and Analytics for tracking. Hosting is provided by Bluehost Inc., a reputable provider. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices with proper meta tags and structured data. Performance is moderate, with asynchronous loading of scripts and use of external font services. Technical debt appears low, but the absence of DNSSEC and security headers indicates areas for modernization. Overall, the infrastructure supports stable and professional operations but would benefit from enhanced security configurations and privacy 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

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