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Security report for crossborder.ie

The Centre for Cross Border Studies · Education · Ireland

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

Security score

58/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Centre for Cross Border Studies is a well-established non-profit organization based in Armagh, Ireland, focused on empowering citizens through cross-border cooperation on the island of Ireland and beyond. The organization offers a range of services including research and policy reports, training courses, impact assessment tools, and hosts conferences and journals to facilitate collaboration and peace-building efforts. Their website reflects a strong market position as a trusted source of information and support in this niche sector. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with a modern tech stack including jQuery, Google Analytics, and various UI enhancement libraries such as Flickity and WOW.js. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and performs moderately well, with good SEO practices and structured data implemented for enhanced search engine visibility. From a security perspective, the site employs HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate and has domain transfer protections in place. However, it lacks DNSSEC and important security headers, and does not provide explicit incident response or vulnerability disclosure information. Privacy compliance is addressed with clear privacy and cookie policies, though a cookie consent mechanism is absent. Overall, the website presents a professional, trustworthy, and content-rich platform with minor security and privacy compliance gaps. Strategic improvements in security headers, DNSSEC, and privacy consent mechanisms would enhance its security posture and compliance standing.

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

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 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 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 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. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • High

      High-Risk Service Exposed: FTP

      Port 21 (FTP) is publicly accessible - FTP - Often unencrypted file transfer

      What to do: Consider restricting access to FTP or implementing strong authentication

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

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Keep watching crossborder.ie

This scan found 23 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
80
Security headers
15
Email security
85
DNS health
80
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
68
Average
58

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 Centre for Cross Border Studies operates in the education, government, and non-profit sectors, targeting citizens, policymakers, and researchers interested in cross-border cooperation. Its business model revolves around research, policy development, training, and event organization, supported by grants and partnerships. The organization benefits from a long domain history since 2002, indicating stability and credibility. Its partnership ecosystem includes social media channels and collaborations with academic and governmental bodies. The website's content and structure support its mission effectively, with clear navigation and professional presentation fostering user engagement and trust.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and domain transfer protections enabled. The absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represents areas for improvement. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. Forms include validation and anti-spam measures, enhancing input security. The lack of published incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies limits transparency and preparedness visibility. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be elevated by implementing recommended best practices and formal security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to protect against DNS spoofing and improve domain security.
  2. Implement security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to harden the website against common web attacks.
  3. Add a cookie consent mechanism to comply fully with privacy regulations and enhance user trust.
  4. Publish an incident response policy and vulnerability disclosure guidelines to improve transparency and security readiness.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and plugins to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
The Centre for Cross Border Studies
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Centre for Cross Border Studies
Description
The Centre For Cross Border Studies empower citizens through crossborder cooperation. Our Armagh based charity are committed to ongoing peace.
Key services
Research & Policy reports, Training courses, Impact assessment toolkit, Conferences and journals, Cross-border project support
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, jQuery, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Ajax Search Pro plugin, LiteSpeed Cache, Flickity carousel, Magnific Popup, WOW.js
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure form inputs with validation

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally maintained non-profit organization site focused on cross-border cooperation and research.
  2. Content is rich, well structured, and includes multiple sections such as news, events, publications, and training.
  3. Multiple social media channels are linked, enhancing trust and outreach.
  4. Forms are present for newsletter signup with standard fields and anti-spam measures.
  5. No explicit terms of service page found.
  6. Privacy and cookie policies are present but cookie consent mechanism is not implemented.
  7. Security best practices are partially implemented; SSL is excellent but security headers and DNSSEC are missing.
  8. No visible incident response or vulnerability disclosure information.
  9. Use of modern web technologies and plugins indicates good technical maturity.
Technical notes

Notes

The website leverages WordPress CMS with a suite of modern JavaScript libraries and plugins to deliver a responsive and interactive user experience. Performance is moderate, with caching enabled via LiteSpeed Cache. The site uses Google Analytics and Tag Manager for tracking, indicating a data-driven approach to user engagement. Accessibility and SEO are well addressed through proper meta tags, structured data (JSON-LD), and semantic HTML. Hosting details are not explicit but domain and DNS data suggest a stable infrastructure. Opportunities exist to optimize performance further and enhance security configurations.
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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