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Security report for climatecentral.org

Climate Central · Non-profit · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

54/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Climate Central is a reputable non-profit organization dedicated to researching and communicating the impacts of climate change. Their website offers a wealth of scientific data, interactive tools, and resources aimed at journalists, researchers, policymakers, and the general public. The organization leverages peer-reviewed science to provide authoritative climate information and supports local newsrooms through partnerships. Technically, the website is built on modern frameworks such as React and Next.js, with Contentful as the CMS, ensuring a fast, mobile-optimized, and accessible user experience. Security posture is strong with HTTPS, security headers, and no visible vulnerabilities, although explicit security policies and incident response details are not publicly available. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear privacy and cookie policies and consent mechanisms. Overall, the site demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and technical maturity.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

5 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  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 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 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 climatecentral.org

This scan found 22 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

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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
0
Security headers
30
Email security
60
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
54

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

Climate Central occupies a strong position in the non-profit climate science communication sector, offering unique data products like the Climate Shift Index and Coastal Risk Screening Tool. Their business model focuses on research dissemination and public education, supported by grants and donations. The target audience includes media professionals and the public interested in climate impacts. The organization maintains partnerships with various news outlets and leverages social media for outreach. The website's content quality and branding consistency reinforce their credibility. While WHOIS data is privacy-protected, the domain and website content align well with the organization's mission and reputation.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and secure form implementations. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. However, the absence of a published security policy, incident response plan, or vulnerability disclosure program limits transparency. There is no dedicated security contact information, which could hinder incident reporting and response. Compliance with GDPR is implied through privacy policies and cookie consent. Overall, the security measures are robust for a non-profit informational site but could be enhanced by formalizing security governance documentation.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response plan on the website.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file.
  3. Provide direct security contact emails to facilitate incident reporting.
  4. Regularly review and audit third-party scripts and analytics tools for security risks.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to meet or exceed WCAG standards.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Climate Central
Description
Climate Central researches and reports on the impacts of climate change, including sea level rise and coastal flooding, extreme weather and weather attribution, global warming and local temperature trends, carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions.
Key services
Climate Shift Index daily temperature attribution, Coastal Risk Screening Tool, Climate reporting resources, Partnership journalism support
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Next.js, Contentful CMS, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics
Frameworks
React, Next.js
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Security headers present
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with proper input types

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and interactive tools.
  2. Strong focus on climate science research and public communication.
  3. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  4. Good use of modern web technologies and analytics.
  5. Privacy and cookie policies are clearly presented with consent mechanisms.
  6. No direct contact emails or phone numbers publicly listed; contact via form.
  7. WHOIS data is unavailable, likely due to privacy protection, but no red flags detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using a modern tech stack including React and Next.js, supported by Contentful CMS for content management. It integrates Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for tracking and marketing insights. The site is well-optimized for performance and mobile responsiveness, with good SEO practices evident in meta tags and structured data. No significant technical debt or outdated technologies were observed. Hosting details are not explicitly identified but the site loads quickly and reliably. Opportunities exist to improve technical documentation around security and privacy compliance.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 67/100Medium34 findingsView report
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