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Security report for effectivealtruism.org

Effective Altruism · Non-profit · N/a

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

76/100

Risk levelLow

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

Effective Altruism is a globally recognized non-profit movement and philosophy focused on using reason and evidence to maximize positive impact through philanthropy and effective giving. The website serves as a comprehensive educational and community platform offering resources such as articles, online courses, newsletters, and an opportunities board to engage individuals interested in doing the most good. The organization holds a strong market position within the philanthropic and ethical giving sectors, targeting individuals and organizations seeking to apply effective altruism principles. Technically, the website is built on a modern React and Next.js stack, leveraging Cloudflare for hosting and streaming, and integrates advanced analytics tools including Segment, Heap, Google Analytics, and Facebook Pixel. The site demonstrates excellent performance, mobile optimization, and accessibility, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure. However, explicit privacy and cookie policies are not prominently linked, indicating room for improvement in privacy compliance. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS with strong SSL configuration and employs security best practices such as secure form handling and no exposed sensitive data. Nonetheless, the absence of publicly available security policies, incident response information, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms suggests potential gaps in transparency and readiness. The WHOIS data is unavailable or malformed, limiting domain registration trust verification, but the website content and external references support legitimacy. Overall, the website presents a professional, trustworthy, and content-rich platform with a solid technical foundation. Strategic recommendations include publishing clear privacy and cookie policies, enhancing security transparency, and improving domain registration information visibility to strengthen trust and compliance.

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

3 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 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. 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 effectivealtruism.org

This scan found 20 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
72
Security headers
30
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
76

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

Effective Altruism operates as a non-profit movement with a focus on philanthropy, global health, ethics, and effective giving. Its business model centers on education, community building, and facilitating impactful actions through resources and events. The organization benefits from a strong brand presence and partnerships with reputable charities and research institutions. Revenue streams likely include donations, event sponsorships, and educational program fees. The target audience includes philanthropists, academics, and socially conscious individuals globally. Growth indicators include a large newsletter subscriber base and active community engagement. The partnership ecosystem is robust, featuring collaborations with charities like Against Malaria Foundation and organizations such as Giving What We Can. Operationally, the organization maintains a professional online presence with modern technology and analytics integration.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security posture with HTTPS enforced and a strong SSL configuration. Security headers are likely implemented, and no sensitive data exposure was detected in the HTML content. The use of modern analytics tools is balanced with privacy considerations, though explicit privacy and cookie policies are missing. There is no evidence of published security policies or incident response plans, which could impact transparency and readiness. The absence of a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file limits external reporting capabilities. Overall, the security maturity is moderate to high but could be improved by formalizing policies and enhancing user privacy transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies prominently linked on the website.
  2. Develop and disclose a formal security policy and incident response plan.
  3. Implement a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  4. Enhance GDPR compliance indicators, including consent mechanisms for cookies and tracking.
  5. Provide clear and accessible contact information for security and privacy inquiries.

Contact details published on the site

Registration number
company number 07962181
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Effective Altruism
Description
Effective altruism is a philosophy and a movement that asks the question: how can we do the most good with our time, money, and resources?
Key services
Educational articles and essays, Online courses, Newsletter subscription, Opportunities board, Community events and conferences
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Next.js, Cloudflare Stream, Segment Analytics, Heap Analytics, Sentry, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel
Frameworks
Next.js
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of modern analytics with privacy controls
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure form submission for newsletter

Analytics and tracking

Services
Heap Analytics, Google Analytics, Segment Analytics, Facebook Pixel
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Heap Analytics, Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager), Segment Analytics
Marketing tools
Segment, Heap, Facebook Pixel
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured.
  2. Content is comprehensive and focused on effective altruism philosophy and community.
  3. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on main page.
  4. No explicit privacy or cookie policies linked in visible content.
  5. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  6. No security or incident response policies publicly disclosed.
  7. WHOIS data is missing or malformed, limiting domain trust verification.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using a modern React and Next.js framework, ensuring server-side rendering and good SEO performance. It leverages Cloudflare for hosting and streaming video content, which enhances performance and security. Analytics integration includes Segment, Heap, Google Analytics, and Facebook Pixel, enabling detailed user behavior tracking. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with responsive design and appropriate font loading strategies. No CMS was explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or headless approach. Performance is fast, with preloading of key images and scripts. Technical risks are minimal, but reliance on multiple third-party analytics and tracking services requires careful privacy management.
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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