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Security report for escholarship.org

University of California / California Digital Library · Education · United States

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

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

eScholarship is a well-established open access publishing platform and institutional repository managed by the University of California and the California Digital Library. It serves UC researchers and the public by providing free access to scholarly publications and research outputs. The platform offers comprehensive publishing tools including editorial and peer review systems, supporting a broad range of academic content. Technically, the website is built using modern frameworks such as React, integrates analytics tools like Google Analytics and Matomo, and is hosted on AWS infrastructure. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and domain protections in place, though DNSSEC is not enabled and some security headers are missing. Privacy compliance is strong with clear policies and cookie consent mechanisms. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and serves an important educational mission.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
88/ 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. 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.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  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';…

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

Keep watching escholarship.org

This scan found 13 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

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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
0
Security headers
55
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
88
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 escholarship.org, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
460
Employees
0
Customers
348
Third parties
112
Weak passwords
28%

12 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 escholarship.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

The University of California operates eScholarship as a non-profit, subsidized platform to support open access scholarly communication. Its market position is strong within academic and research communities, particularly within the UC system. The business model focuses on providing free publishing and repository services to UC affiliates, enhancing research visibility and impact. The platform supports a large volume of content and views, indicating significant usage and engagement. Partnerships with the California Digital Library and integration with UC campuses strengthen its ecosystem. The platform's strategic focus on open access aligns with broader academic trends and public mission goals.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enabled and domain registration protections such as clientDeleteProhibited status. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, which could improve DNS security. No explicit security headers were detected in the HTML content, suggesting room for improvement in HTTP header security controls. The use of third-party analytics scripts introduces some privacy considerations, but cookie consent mechanisms and privacy policies are in place, indicating GDPR awareness. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were identified. Incident response and security policy documents are not publicly found, which could be enhanced for transparency and readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement additional HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and trust.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies for vulnerabilities and privacy compliance.
  5. Enhance contact information availability for user support and security reporting.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
University of California / California Digital Library
Description
eScholarship is an open access publishing platform and institutional repository subsidized and managed by the University of California and the California Digital Library. It provides open access publishing services for journals, monographs, conference proceedings, and repository services for UC researchers to share scholarly output.
Key services
Open access publishing platform, Institutional repository services, Editorial and peer review system, Professional support and consulting
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Matomo Analytics, Google Analytics, MathJax, AWS DNS hosting
Frameworks
React
Platforms
Web SPA (Single Page Application)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • ClientDeleteProhibited, clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited domain statuses

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Matomo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally managed academic open access platform.
  2. Content is rich, relevant, and well structured.
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed on main page.
  4. Privacy and cookie policies are present and GDPR compliant.
  5. No visible security headers in HTML but HTTPS is enforced.
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  7. Use of modern JavaScript frameworks and analytics tools.
  8. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern React-based SPA architecture with integration of MathJax for mathematical rendering and analytics tools including Google Analytics and Matomo. Hosting is managed via Amazon Registrar with AWS DNS services. The site is mobile responsive and accessible, with good SEO meta tags and Open Graph data. Performance is moderate, likely due to SPA complexity and analytics scripts. The absence of CMS detection suggests a custom or proprietary platform. Technical debt appears low, but enabling DNSSEC and security headers would reduce risk. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a robust and scalable academic publishing platform.
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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