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Security report for clockss.org

CLOCKSS · Education · N/a

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

64/100

Risk levelMedium

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

CLOCKSS is a well-established non-profit organization founded in 2006, specializing in digital preservation services for academic publishers and research libraries worldwide. The organization operates a sustainable online archive to ensure the long-term survival of scholarly content, leveraging award-winning LOCKSS technology. CLOCKSS assigns Creative Commons Open Access licenses to triggered content, ensuring permanent open access. The website reflects a strong market position as a global leader in digital preservation, targeting academic and research communities.

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. 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

    • 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 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 clockss.org

This scan found 28 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
62
Security headers
25
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
64

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

The business model is community-led and non-profit, governed by a board comprising librarians and publishers. CLOCKSS collaborates globally with 12 archive nodes and supports over 300 libraries and 650 participating publishers. The organization emphasizes quality assurance, sustainability, and innovation in digital preservation. The website content and structure demonstrate professionalism and trustworthiness, with clear calls to action for joining the community and accessing services. The partnership ecosystem includes reputable academic institutions and publishers, reinforcing its credibility.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS and uses security plugins such as Wordfence, indicating a baseline security posture. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, and no explicit security headers were detected in the HTML content, representing areas for improvement. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies are published, which could enhance transparency and readiness. The absence of a cookie consent mechanism may affect GDPR compliance. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could benefit from enhanced DNS security and formalized policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to strengthen domain name system security.
  2. Implement and verify HTTP security headers such as Content Security Policy and HSTS.
  3. Publish explicit security and incident response policies on the website.
  4. Add a cookie consent banner to improve privacy compliance.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party plugins and scripts to mitigate vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
CLOCKSS
Description
CLOCKSS is a collaboration of world leading publishers and libraries providing digital preservation services for the long-term survival of digital scholarship.
Key services
Digital preservation of scholarly content, Sustainable online archive, Assigning Creative Commons Open Access licenses to triggered content
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.2, Yoast SEO plugin, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, jQuery 3.7.1, Astra WordPress Theme, BigBuilder plugin
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security plugin Wordfence (indicated by script)

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured.
  2. Content is comprehensive and focused on digital preservation services.
  3. No privacy or cookie consent banners detected, which may affect GDPR compliance.
  4. No phone numbers or physical addresses explicitly listed on main pages.
  5. Contact is primarily via contact form.
  6. Social media presence includes Twitter, LinkedIn, and Bluesky.
  7. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  8. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  9. DNSSEC not enabled, which is a minor security gap.
  10. Use of Google Analytics and Tag Manager indicates moderate user tracking.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress 6.8.2 with the Astra theme and uses Yoast SEO for optimization. It integrates Google Analytics and Tag Manager for user tracking. The site is mobile-optimized with good accessibility and SEO practices. Performance is moderate, with room for improvement in loading speed and technical modernization. The use of established plugins and frameworks indicates a stable infrastructure, but the lack of DNSSEC and security headers suggests some technical debt in security hardening.
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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