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Security report for ejo.ch

Osservatorio europeo di giornalismo (EJO) · Media · Switzerland

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

66/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Osservatorio europeo di giornalismo (EJO) is a specialized academic and media research network focused on journalism and media industry analysis across Europe. Affiliated with the Università della Svizzera italiana, it provides research dissemination, news articles, and events targeting media professionals, researchers, and students. The website is well-structured, multilingual, and content-rich, reflecting a mature digital presence since 2015. Technically, it leverages WordPress CMS with common plugins for analytics, forms, and user engagement, delivering moderate performance and good mobile optimization. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and privacy compliance, though some security headers could be improved. No critical vulnerabilities or WAF blocks were detected. Overall, the site demonstrates high trustworthiness and professionalism appropriate for an academic media observatory.

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. 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 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 Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

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

  4. 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 SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-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

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

Keep watching ejo.ch

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

€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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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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
65
Security headers
30
Email security
60
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
66

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

EJO holds a strong position as a niche academic and media research entity, leveraging partnerships with universities and a multilingual network to reach diverse European audiences. Its business model is non-profit and research-focused, relying on institutional support rather than commercial revenue streams. The presence of newsletters, social media, and events indicates active engagement with its community. The website's consistent branding and content quality support its credibility and influence in the media research sector.

Security posture

The website maintains a good security baseline with HTTPS, cookie consent mechanisms, and no exposed sensitive data. However, it lacks some advanced security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options, which could enhance protection against common web attacks. The use of standard WordPress plugins necessitates regular updates to mitigate vulnerabilities. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies are evident, suggesting room for improvement in security governance and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including CSP, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Establish and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and consider adding a security.txt file.
  3. Regularly audit and update WordPress core and plugins to maintain security.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to improve compliance and user experience.
  5. Expand contact information to include direct emails or phone numbers for better user support.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Osservatorio europeo di giornalismo (EJO)
Description
L’ Osservatorio europeo di giornalismo (EJO) è una rete di istituzioni dedicata alla diffusione della ricerca sul giornalismo e sull'industria dei media.
Key services
Research dissemination, Journalism analysis, Media industry insights, Events and workshops
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Google Fonts, jQuery, MonsterInsights (Google Analytics plugin), Contact Form 7, Mailchimp for WP, WP User Avatar, Special Recent Posts plugin
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS with IP anonymization for Google Analytics
  • Cookie consent banner implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of nonce tokens in forms (Contact Form 7)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via MonsterInsights)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Marketing tools
Mailchimp
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a multilingual academic and media research platform focused on journalism
  2. Content is rich with recent articles and historical archives
  3. Strong affiliation with Università della Svizzera italiana
  4. Good privacy and cookie compliance with clear user consent
  5. No visible security or WAF blocking issues
  6. Use of standard WordPress plugins and Google Analytics for tracking
  7. No exposed sensitive data or obvious vulnerabilities in HTML
  8. No explicit terms of service found
  9. Contact information primarily via contact forms and newsletter subscription
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress 6.8.1 with a custom child theme and several plugins for analytics, forms, and user avatars. It uses Google Fonts and jQuery libraries, with asynchronous loading of Google Analytics scripts to optimize performance. The site is mobile responsive with good SEO metadata including Open Graph and JSON-LD structured data. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in caching and script optimization. No hosting provider details are explicitly found, but the site is well-maintained with regular content updates and a large archive of articles dating back to 2001.
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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