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Security report for cnr.it

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche · Government · Italy

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 Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) is Italy's national public research council, operating across multiple scientific and technological domains including biomedicine, chemistry, environment, ICT, physics, and humanities. The website serves as a comprehensive portal for research activities, organizational information, news, events, and services targeting researchers, businesses, citizens, schools, journalists, and administrative personnel. It holds a strong market position as a key national research institution with international relevance. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 7 CMS with jQuery 1.9 and Bootstrap frameworks, supplemented by Font Awesome icons and Matomo analytics for privacy-conscious user tracking. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and well-structured, though the use of outdated CMS and libraries poses potential security risks. Performance is moderate, and SEO practices are adequately implemented. From a security perspective, HTTPS is enforced, and some security best practices are observed, including disabling cookies in analytics. However, the outdated Drupal version and jQuery library represent vulnerabilities. The site lacks advanced security headers and publicly available incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies. Privacy compliance is strong with comprehensive privacy and cookie policies, though no explicit cookie consent mechanism is detected. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and content-rich, reflecting the stature of a national research institution. Strategic improvements in CMS modernization, security header implementation, and enhanced privacy consent mechanisms would further strengthen its security posture and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • 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 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 cnr.it

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.

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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
62
Security headers
55
Email security
75
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention cnr.it, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
16,485
Employees
348
Customers
13,273
Third parties
2,864
Weak passwords
18%

Latest record dated 2026-06-18 · 643 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for cnr.it.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –mailadmin.amministrazione.cnr.it2026-06-18
  • –listmgr2.cnr.it2026-06-18
  • –webmailnew.sic.rm.cnr.it2026-06-13
  • –listmgr2.cnr.it2026-06-11
  • –utenti.cnr.it2026-06-11

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)Monitor on Breach(opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

CNR operates as a government-funded research entity with a broad portfolio of scientific disciplines and services. Its business model focuses on public research, innovation, and knowledge dissemination, supported by state funding and European projects. The target audience includes academic researchers, industry partners, educational institutions, and the general public. The organization maintains a transparent governance structure and actively engages with stakeholders through events, publications, and social media. Growth indicators include ongoing research projects, international collaborations, and public engagement initiatives. The partnership ecosystem is implied through references to European research infrastructures and national collaborations. The website content and structure support CNR's mission to be a leading research institution in Italy and Europe.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enforcement and privacy-conscious analytics. However, the use of Drupal 7, which is no longer supported, and an outdated jQuery version introduces significant security risks. The absence of advanced security headers such as Content Security Policy and lack of publicly available incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies indicate areas for improvement. No exposed sensitive data or obvious vulnerabilities were detected in the HTML content. The security culture appears to prioritize privacy but would benefit from modernization and formalized security documentation. Compliance with GDPR is evident through detailed privacy policies, but cookie consent mechanisms could be enhanced.

Recommendations

  1. Upgrade the Drupal CMS to a supported and secure version to mitigate known vulnerabilities.
  2. Update jQuery and other JavaScript libraries to current secure versions.
  3. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content Security Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options.
  4. Develop and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to improve transparency and incident response readiness.
  5. Introduce an explicit cookie consent mechanism to enhance GDPR compliance and user privacy control.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Description
Il Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) è l'ente pubblico di ricerca italiano che opera in diversi ambiti scientifici e tecnologici, promuovendo la ricerca, l'innovazione e lo sviluppo del Paese. Offre servizi di ricerca in scienze biomediche, chimica, materiali, energia, ambiente, ingegneria, ICT, fisica, matematica, scienze umane, bio-agroalimentare e patrimonio culturale.
Key services
ricerca scientifica e tecnologica, progetti di ricerca, formazione e dottorati, valorizzazione della ricerca, servizi e utilità per la comunità scientifica, editoria scientifica
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 7, jQuery 1.9, Bootstrap, Font Awesome 4.7.0, Matomo Analytics, MediaBoxes plugin
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Matomo analytics with disabled cookies

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Marketing tools
Matomo Analytics
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a public research council site with comprehensive scientific and organizational content.
  2. Uses Drupal 7 CMS which is outdated and may pose security risks.
  3. Good presence of privacy and cookie policies, but no explicit cookie consent mechanism detected.
  4. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy.
  5. Social media presence is strong and consistent with official branding.
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  7. Website is well structured with clear navigation and multilingual support (Italian and English).
  8. HTTPS is enforced and analytics use privacy-conscious Matomo with disabled cookies.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 7 CMS with Bootstrap and jQuery 1.9, supplemented by Font Awesome icons and MediaBoxes for media display. Matomo analytics is used with cookies disabled, reflecting a privacy-conscious approach. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible with good SEO practices. Performance is moderate, likely impacted by legacy CMS and scripts. The hosting provider is not explicitly identified but appears to be managed within CNR or affiliated infrastructure. Technical debt is evident due to outdated CMS and libraries, posing risks to security and maintainability. Modernization opportunities include CMS upgrade, library updates, and enhanced security configurations to reduce technical risks and improve user experience.
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. 73/100Medium29 findingsView report
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