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Security report for episciences.org

CCSD · Education · France

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Episciences is a Diamond Open Access scientific publishing platform operated by CCSD, focusing on overlay journals across multiple disciplines. It serves the academic and research community by providing innovative editorial tools integrated within the European scholarly ecosystem. The platform hosts journals founded recently (2023-2025) and emphasizes open peer review and CC BY 4.0 licensing, positioning itself as a trusted non-profit academic publisher. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern web standards, including responsive design, SEO optimization via Yoast, and privacy-conscious analytics using Matomo. Security measures include HTTPS enforcement and hCaptcha integration for form protection, though explicit security headers could be improved. The security posture is solid with no evident vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. Privacy compliance is strong, with clear privacy and cookie policies and GDPR adherence. Contact information and legal terms are transparently provided, enhancing business credibility. Overall, Episciences presents a professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained platform suitable for academic publishing, with recommendations to enhance security headers and publish incident response details for further maturity.

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

4 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. 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

  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

Keep watching episciences.org

This scan found 24 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
67
Security headers
25
Email security
75
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
69

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 episciences.org, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
98
Employees
0
Customers
98
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
16%

17 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for episciences.org.

Select it in the checkout above.

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

Episciences operates in the education and non-profit sectors, leveraging partnerships with European research infrastructures such as DARIAH ERIC and OpenAIRE. Its diamond open access model removes financial barriers for authors and readers, supporting equitable scholarly communication. The platform's market position is niche but growing, with a focus on overlay journals that complement existing repositories. Revenue streams likely include institutional funding and grants, as evidenced by EU funding acknowledgments. The target customers are researchers, academic institutions, and scholarly societies. The platform's growth is indicated by recent journal launches and expanding multilingual content. Strategic partnerships with CCSD and other academic entities strengthen its ecosystem and credibility.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and anti-spam measures via hCaptcha. Privacy policies and terms of use are comprehensive, indicating compliance awareness. However, the absence of explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options suggests room for improvement. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is published, which could be a gap in readiness. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. Overall, the platform maintains a secure environment appropriate for academic publishing but should enhance transparency around security policies and incident handling.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and explicitly configure security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to harden the website against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy page including incident response procedures and contact channels to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Regularly audit and update WordPress core, themes, and plugins to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  4. Enhance cookie consent mechanisms with clear user controls and detailed data retention disclosures to strengthen privacy compliance.
  5. Consider obtaining recognized security certifications or compliance attestations to further boost trust and credibility.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe (CCSD)
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
CCSD
Description
Overlay journals; Episciences is a Diamond Open Access scientific publishing platform covering all disciplines, offering innovative tools integrated into the European ecosystem for content distribution and editorial support.
Key services
Hosting and publishing overlay journals, Editorial support, Integration with European scholarly communication services
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress CMS, Yoast SEO plugin, hCaptcha for forms, Matomo analytics, JavaScript ES6+, CSS Grid and Flexbox
Frameworks
WordPress, Yoast SEO
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of HTTPS
  • Use of hCaptcha for form spam protection
  • Privacy policy and terms of use present

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo analytics
Transparency
excellent

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally designed academic publishing platform focused on open access overlay journals.
  2. Content is rich, multilingual, and well-structured with clear navigation and comprehensive information.
  3. Strong presence of privacy and legal policies indicating compliance awareness.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and security best practices with room for improvement in security headers.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity detected.
  6. WHOIS data is unavailable or privacy protected, common for academic/non-profit domains.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses WordPress CMS with Yoast SEO plugin, hCaptcha for spam protection, and Matomo for privacy-respecting analytics. The front-end employs modern CSS Grid and Flexbox layouts ensuring excellent mobile responsiveness and accessibility. Performance is moderate, likely influenced by rich content and external resources. The site is well-structured with comprehensive metadata including Open Graph and JSON-LD structured data for SEO and social sharing. Hosting provider details are not explicit. Technical debt appears low with opportunities to improve security headers and possibly optimize resource loading for faster performance.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 69/100Medium32 findingsView report
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