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Security report for dynamicsoflanguage.edu.au

ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language · Education · Australia

High risk. 10 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 3 other checks.

Security score

44/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language is an academic research center focused on the study and preservation of Indigenous Australian languages and language dynamics. It is funded by the Australian Research Council and several major Australian universities, positioning it as a reputable institution within the education sector. The website serves as a portal to share research data, case studies, and outreach activities related to language science. Technically, the site uses legacy JavaScript libraries such as jQuery 1.7.1 and Slick Carousel, indicating some technical debt and potential security risks. The site lacks visible privacy and cookie policies and does not provide contact information on the homepage, which limits user engagement and compliance transparency. Security posture is moderate to low due to outdated libraries and missing security headers or HTTPS confirmation in the provided data. Overall, the site is functional but would benefit from modernization and improved security and privacy practices.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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

10 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  2. 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';…

  3. 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

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

Keep watching dynamicsoflanguage.edu.au

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
72
Security headers
15
Email security
60
DNS health
60
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
35
Average
44

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 center operates as a non-profit academic research entity with government and university funding. Its market position is strong within the Australian academic and Indigenous research community, supported by partnerships with leading universities. The business model focuses on research collaboration and dissemination of language data and stories. The target audience includes researchers, Indigenous communities, and the general public interested in language preservation. The partnership ecosystem is robust, involving multiple universities and government bodies. Growth indicators are not explicit but implied through ongoing funding and collaborations. The website content is basic but consistent with the center's mission. There is no commercial activity or revenue generation evident on the site.

Security posture

The security maturity level is basic with notable gaps. The use of an outdated jQuery version (1.7.1) exposes the site to known vulnerabilities. There is no evidence of HTTPS enforcement or security headers in the provided data, which are critical for protecting user data and preventing attacks such as clickjacking or MIME sniffing. The absence of privacy and cookie policies indicates compliance gaps with GDPR and other privacy regulations. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is available, suggesting limited readiness for security incidents. The site uses Google Analytics without visible privacy compliance mechanisms, which may pose privacy risks. Overall, the security posture requires significant improvements to meet modern standards.

Recommendations

  1. Upgrade all JavaScript libraries, especially jQuery, to supported and secure versions.
  2. Implement HTTPS with a valid SSL/TLS certificate and enforce secure connections site-wide.
  3. Add essential security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  4. Publish clear privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms to comply with GDPR and other regulations.
  5. Provide visible contact information and establish an incident response process including security contact channels.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language
Description
The website represents the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, a research center funded by the Australian Research Council and several Australian universities. It focuses on language science, research, and outreach activities related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and languages.
Key services
Research on language dynamics, Data on people, languages, and outreach activities, Case studies and research highlights
Content quality
basic
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 1.7.1, Slick Carousel 1.8.1, Sticky-kit 1.1.3, Google Analytics
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
poor

Security

Observed score
40/100

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

Design
basic
User experience
basic
Content relevance
basic
Navigation
good
Professionalism
basic
Trustworthiness
moderate

Key observations

  1. Website is a research center portal for language dynamics in Australia.
  2. Content is minimal but relevant to academic and Indigenous language research.
  3. No privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found on the homepage.
  4. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly provided on the homepage.
  5. Use of outdated JavaScript libraries poses security risks.
  6. No visible HTTPS or security headers information available from provided data.
  7. Partner logos and acknowledgements enhance trustworthiness.
  8. No forms or data collection fields detected on the homepage.
  9. Google Analytics is used without visible privacy compliance mechanisms.
  10. No signs of adult or unsafe content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses legacy JavaScript libraries including jQuery 1.7.1 and Slick Carousel 1.8.1, which may introduce security vulnerabilities and compatibility issues. The site loads external scripts from reputable CDNs such as jsdelivr and cdnjs. Google Analytics is implemented for user tracking but lacks visible privacy compliance features. The HTML structure is basic with minimal metadata and no Open Graph or JSON-LD structured data present. The site appears to be custom-built without a known CMS. Performance is moderate with basic mobile optimization and accessibility features. SEO optimization is poor due to missing meta titles, descriptions, and Open Graph tags. The hosting provider and SSL configuration details are not available from the provided data.
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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