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Security report for ecolex.org

ECOLEX · Government · N/a

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

74/100

Risk levelMedium

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

ECOLEX is a joint initiative by FAO, IUCN, and UNEP providing a comprehensive global environmental law information service. It offers searchable access to treaties, legislation, judicial decisions, and literature in multiple languages, targeting governments, NGOs, academia, and the public. The website is professionally designed with consistent branding and a strong trust foundation based on its reputable partners. Technically, the site uses a classic web stack including jQuery and Bootstrap, with Google Analytics for user tracking. While the site is mobile-optimized and performs moderately well, it uses an outdated jQuery version and lacks some security headers, which could pose risks. Privacy and cookie policies are present with consent mechanisms, but GDPR compliance could be improved. WHOIS data is incomplete, limiting domain trust verification, but the website's content and affiliations strongly support legitimacy.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

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

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

    • 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

  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 ecolex.org

This scan found 21 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
62
Security headers
75
Email security
70
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
74

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 ecolex.org, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for ecolex.org right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

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

ECOLEX operates as a non-profit consortium combining data from three major international organizations, positioning itself as the largest environmental law resource globally. Its business model focuses on free access and capacity building rather than commercial revenue. The target audience includes government officials, legal practitioners, NGOs, and academia worldwide. The partnership ecosystem with FAO, IUCN, and UNEP enhances credibility and reach. The website's multilingual support and comprehensive data offerings indicate a mature and well-established service. Growth potential lies in expanding partners and improving user experience and technical infrastructure.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security posture with HTTPS enabled and a cookie consent banner implemented. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options reduces its defense-in-depth. The use of an outdated jQuery version introduces potential vulnerabilities. No explicit security or incident response policies are publicly available, and no vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files were found. Overall, the site is functional and secure for general use but would benefit from enhanced security controls and transparency to meet higher compliance standards.

Recommendations

  1. Implement standard security headers including CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection to improve security posture.
  2. Upgrade jQuery and other JavaScript libraries to current supported versions to mitigate known vulnerabilities.
  3. Publish explicit security policies and incident response contacts to enhance transparency and trust.
  4. Enhance GDPR compliance by improving privacy policy details and cookie consent mechanisms.
  5. Conduct regular security audits and penetration testing to identify and remediate potential vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
ECOLEX
Description
ECOLEX is an information service on environmental law, operated jointly by FAO, IUCN and UNEP. It provides a comprehensive global source of environmental law information including treaties, legislation, judicial decisions, and literature to build capacity worldwide.
Key services
Environmental law database, Searchable access to treaties, legislation, decisions, literature, Multilingual search (English, French, Spanish), Capacity building and knowledge dissemination
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 1.12.4, Bootstrap, Select2, Google Analytics
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Cookie consent banner implemented

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and multilingual support
  2. Strong affiliation with reputable international organizations
  3. No signs of malicious or suspicious content
  4. WHOIS data incomplete, limiting domain trust verification
  5. Good privacy and cookie policies present but could improve GDPR compliance
  6. Security headers missing or not detected, potential area for improvement
  7. Use of older jQuery version may pose security risks
  8. Google Analytics used for tracking with cookie consent
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a traditional web stack with jQuery 1.12.4, Bootstrap, and Select2 for UI components. Google Analytics is integrated for user tracking. The site is mobile responsive and includes accessibility features, though these could be improved. Performance is moderate, with no major issues detected. The absence of a detected CMS suggests a custom or static site architecture. Hosting provider details are not available. The site uses modern meta tags and structured data (JSON-LD) for SEO. Technical debt is indicated by the use of outdated JavaScript libraries and missing security headers, which should be addressed to reduce risk and improve maintainability.
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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