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Security report for cochrane.org

The Cochrane Collaboration · Healthcare · United Kingdom

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

78/100

Risk levelLow

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

The Cochrane Collaboration is a globally recognized non-profit organization dedicated to producing trusted health evidence through systematic reviews and evidence synthesis. Their website reflects a mature digital presence with a professional design, multi-language support, and comprehensive content targeting scientists, policymakers, healthcare professionals, and the public. The organization is well-positioned in the healthcare sector, influencing major health guidelines such as those from WHO. Technically, the site is built on Drupal 10 with modern libraries and includes Matomo analytics, demonstrating a commitment to privacy and data-driven improvements. Security posture is strong with HTTPS and cookie consent mechanisms, though some security headers and explicit policies could be enhanced. Overall, the site is trustworthy, accessible, and professionally maintained, supporting the organization's mission to improve health decisions worldwide.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 100 · Low
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

2 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

  2. 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 cochrane.org

This scan found 19 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
77
Security headers
55
Email security
80
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
78

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

Cochrane operates as a large non-profit entity in the healthcare sector, leveraging a global network and open access publishing to maintain leadership in evidence-based health information. Their business model focuses on providing free and custom evidence services, supported by collaborations and translations. The website's content and structure indicate a strong emphasis on credibility and impact, with citations by WHO and a broad international reach. The absence of direct contact emails or phone numbers on the main page suggests a controlled communication approach, typical for large organizations. Their use of Matomo analytics aligns with privacy-conscious data collection practices. The organization’s VAT and registration details confirm legitimacy and compliance with UK regulations.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS and employs cookie consent mechanisms, reflecting good baseline security and privacy practices. No security headers were detected in the HTML content, indicating room for improvement in HTTP header security controls such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options. There is no visible security policy or incident response information, which could enhance transparency and preparedness. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found in the content. The use of Matomo analytics suggests a preference for privacy-respecting tracking. Overall, the security posture is solid but could be strengthened by adding explicit security headers and public security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and configure security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection to enhance browser security.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Consider providing direct verified contact emails or phone numbers for security and general inquiries to improve trust and communication.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and analytics tools to ensure no privacy or security risks.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
The Cochrane Collaboration
VAT number
GB 718 2127 49
Registration number
03044323
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Cochrane Collaboration
Description
Cochrane is a global non-profit organization that produces trusted health evidence to inform health decisions worldwide. They collaborate globally to produce systematic reviews and evidence syntheses that influence health guidelines and policies.
Key services
Systematic reviews and evidence synthesis, Open access health evidence and learning resources, Custom evidence services and tools, Translation of evidence into multiple languages
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Font Awesome 6, jQuery 3.7.1, Matomo Analytics
Frameworks
Drupal CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
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 no blocking detected.
  2. Strong global health evidence focus with multi-language support.
  3. No exposed sensitive data or security issues found in HTML content.
  4. Cookie consent and privacy policies are well implemented.
  5. WHOIS data unavailable, likely due to privacy protection or query failure.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10 CMS, leveraging modern JavaScript libraries such as jQuery 3.7.1 and Font Awesome 6 for UI icons. The presence of Matomo analytics indicates a privacy-focused approach to user tracking. The site is mobile optimized with good accessibility features and SEO practices, including proper meta tags and language alternates. Performance is moderate, likely due to rich media content such as videos and images. The technical stack is modern and well-maintained, though hosting provider details are not explicitly identified. There is an opportunity to improve security headers and provide more detailed technical documentation for security and 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

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