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Security report for energy-cities.eu

Energy Cities · Energy · France

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

58/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Energy Cities is a well-established European network of over 1,000 local governments across 30 countries focused on advancing the energy transition through resource efficiency, local participation, and democratic engagement. The organization operates primarily as a non-profit facilitating knowledge sharing, advocacy, and capacity building for sustainable energy practices. Their website is built on WordPress with modern technologies such as Bootstrap and jQuery, providing a professional and mobile-optimized user experience. SEO and content quality are strong, with comprehensive information about their hubs, events, and resources. Security posture is good with HTTPS enforced and some security best practices in place, though improvements are recommended in security headers and explicit incident response policies. Privacy compliance is adequate with clear privacy and cookie policies, but lacks an explicit cookie consent mechanism. Overall, the site reflects a credible and trustworthy organization with a strong digital presence and moderate tracking practices.

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

6 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 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';…

  2. GDPR outside view

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

    • 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

  3. 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

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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
15
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
68
Average
58

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

Energy Cities holds a significant position in the European energy transition ecosystem, leveraging a network model to engage local governments and stakeholders. Their business model centers on advocacy, project facilitation, and community empowerment rather than commercial revenue. The organization targets policymakers, local authorities, and energy professionals, providing resources and events to support climate-neutral goals. Their partnerships include social media platforms and content distribution channels, enhancing outreach. The website's content and structure support their mission effectively, indicating a mature digital strategy aligned with their non-profit objectives.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and use of hidden form tokens to mitigate CSRF risks. No sensitive data exposure or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, Referrer-Policy, and X-Frame-Options suggests room for improvement to harden against clickjacking, data leakage, and cross-site scripting attacks. No explicit security or incident response policies are published, which could be a gap in transparency and preparedness. Tracking and analytics are moderate, with Google Analytics and Mailjet used responsibly. Overall, the security posture is solid but could benefit from enhanced header policies and published security governance.

Recommendations

  1. Implement Content-Security-Policy, Referrer-Policy, and X-Frame-Options headers to strengthen security.
  2. Add an explicit cookie consent mechanism to improve GDPR compliance and user transparency.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to enhance trust and preparedness.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and plugins to ensure no vulnerable libraries are included.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to improve inclusivity and compliance with standards.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Energy Cities
Description
Energy Cities is a network of over 1,000 local governments in 30 countries. We believe that the energy transition is about more than renewable energy or great technologies: it is about a wise use of resources while strengthening local participation and well-being in a democratic Europe.
Key services
Networking of local governments, Policy advocacy, Capacity building and learning centers, Project facilitation, Community hubs activation
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Bootstrap, jQuery, FullCalendar, Ajax Search Pro, Mailjet, Yoast SEO
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of nonce or tokens in forms (KiOPCy and onjVkStmbWUTurvi hidden fields)
  • Use of security plugins (implied by WordPress ecosystem)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Marketing tools
Mailjet
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally maintained WordPress site with modern design and good SEO practices.
  2. Content is rich and relevant to energy transition and local governance in Europe.
  3. Multiple language support indicated by hreflang tags (English and French).
  4. No signs of blocking or WAF challenges; full content accessible.
  5. Contact information is clearly provided with physical addresses and phone numbers.
  6. No explicit security or incident response policies found.
  7. Use of tracking and analytics is moderate with Google Analytics and Mailjet.
  8. No exposed sensitive data or obvious vulnerabilities detected in HTML content.
  9. Forms include hidden tokens likely for CSRF protection.
  10. Social media presence is strong with LinkedIn, YouTube, Spotify, Scoop.it, and SoundCloud links.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform using Bootstrap for responsive design and jQuery for interactivity. It integrates several plugins including Ajax Search Pro for search functionality, Mailjet for email marketing, and Yoast SEO for search engine optimization. The site loads multiple CSS and JS assets from its own domain and trusted CDNs, indicating a standard modern web infrastructure. Performance is moderate with room for optimization, especially in script loading and caching. The site supports multiple languages and includes structured data (JSON-LD) for SEO enhancement. Technical risks are low but include missing security headers and potential technical debt from plugin dependencies.
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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