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Security report for detroitpubliclibrary.org

Detroit Public Library · Government · United States

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

55/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Detroit Public Library is a large, government-operated public library system serving the Detroit community. The website provides extensive information about library locations, services, digital collections, and community events. It targets a broad audience including children, teens, adults, and researchers, offering diverse educational and cultural programming. The business model is based on public funding and community service, positioning the library as a key educational and cultural institution in Detroit. Technically, the website uses modern web technologies such as jQuery, Google Analytics, and FontAwesome, hosted on a reliable CDN infrastructure. The site is well-optimized for mobile and accessibility, with good SEO practices and clear navigation. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and reCAPTCHA implemented, though some security headers and DNSSEC are missing. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism detected. Contact information is clear and trustworthy, supported by consistent WHOIS data indicating a legitimate and long-standing domain. Overall, the website is professional, secure, and user-friendly, serving its public mission effectively.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
50/ 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

7 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.

    • 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
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 384-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • 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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google APIs

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching detroitpubliclibrary.org

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.

Daily monitoring

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
27
Security headers
50
Email security
80
DNS health
80
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
50
Average
55

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

Detroit Public Library holds a strong market position as a major public library system in Detroit, offering a wide range of services including physical and digital lending, research databases, and community events. Its competitive advantage lies in its comprehensive service offerings, community engagement, and partnerships with platforms like Eventbrite. The business model relies on government funding and public support, focusing on literacy, education, and cultural enrichment. The library's digital presence supports growth through online event promotion and digital collections. Partnerships with local government and educational institutions enhance its ecosystem. The website reflects a mature organization with a clear mission and strong community ties.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and use of Google reCAPTCHA to protect forms. WHOIS data shows clientTransferProhibited status, adding domain transfer security. However, the absence of DNSSEC and some security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Content-Type-Options represent areas for improvement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. There is no published incident response or security policy, which limits transparency and preparedness visibility. Privacy compliance is partial, lacking cookie consent mechanisms. Overall, the security posture is solid but could be enhanced with additional headers, DNSSEC, and published policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement Content-Security-Policy and X-Content-Type-Options HTTP headers to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  3. Add a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and improve user transparency.
  4. Publish a clear security policy and incident response plan accessible on the website to enhance trust and preparedness.
  5. Regularly review and update third-party libraries and scripts to avoid vulnerabilities and maintain security hygiene.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Detroit Public Library
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Detroit Public Library
Description
The Detroit Public Library enlightens and empowers people by providing diverse and dynamic pathways to literacy and learning.
Key services
Library card issuance, Book lending, Digital collections, Research databases, Events and programs, Mobile library services, Accessibility services
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google reCAPTCHA, FontAwesome, Cloudfront CDN, LoadJS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of reCAPTCHA for forms
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Client transfer prohibited status in WHOIS

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Marketing tools
Constant Contact (static.ctctcdn.com)
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 public library site with extensive content and event listings.
  2. Strong focus on community engagement and educational resources.
  3. Good use of modern web technologies and integration with third-party event platforms.
  4. Contact information is clear and accessible.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  6. No privacy or cookie consent banners detected, which may be a compliance gap.
  7. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern and stable technology stack including jQuery, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and FontAwesome. Hosting is via AWS Cloudfront CDN, ensuring good availability and performance. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with semantic HTML and ARIA roles. SEO is well addressed with meta tags and Open Graph data. Some technical debt is noted in missing security headers and lack of DNSSEC. Performance is moderate, likely due to multiple external scripts and event images. The site does not appear to use a common CMS or framework explicitly, suggesting a custom or proprietary solution. Overall, the technical infrastructure is robust but could benefit from security and performance tuning.
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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