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Security report for esu-online.org

European Students' Union · Education · Belgium

High risk. 7 critical or high findings in Network security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

49/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The European Students' Union (ESU) is a well-established non-profit umbrella organization representing 43 National Unions of Students across 40 European countries, advocating for student rights and interests at major European and international bodies. The website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive content, clear navigation, and strong branding consistency. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern plugins and frameworks, ensuring good performance, accessibility, and SEO optimization. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and GDPR compliance mechanisms in place, though some security headers could be improved. No critical vulnerabilities or blocking mechanisms were detected, indicating a trustworthy and accessible platform. Overall, ESU's website effectively supports its mission and stakeholder engagement.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of esu-online.org. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
100/ 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

7 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: MySQL

      Port 3306 (MySQL) is publicly accessible - MySQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to MySQL using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

  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 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';…

  3. 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.

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

Keep watching esu-online.org

This scan found 26 issues across 5 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

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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
62
Security headers
15
Email security
65
DNS health
75
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
100
Average
53
After the cap
49

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 · found on this site
  • 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

ESU holds a leading position in the European education sector as a representative body for millions of students. Its business model is non-profit and advocacy-focused, leveraging partnerships with European institutions such as the European Commission, Council of Europe, and UNESCO. The organization maintains active communication channels including social media and newsletters, and regularly publishes policy papers and project updates. The website's content quality and professional design support ESU's credibility and outreach efforts. The partnership ecosystem and transparent contact information further enhance trust and operational transparency.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security maturity level with HTTPS and GDPR cookie consent implemented. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were identified in the HTML content. However, the absence of explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options suggests room for improvement. There is no visible security or incident response policy, nor a vulnerability disclosure program, which could be beneficial for transparency and risk management. Overall, the security posture is adequate for the organization's profile but could be enhanced with additional best practices.

Recommendations

  1. Implement security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to strengthen browser security.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and preparedness.
  3. Consider adding a vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Maintain regular updates of WordPress core and plugins to mitigate risks from known vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance monitoring of third-party scripts and integrations to prevent supply chain risks.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
European Students' Union
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
European Students' Union
Description
The European Students’ Union (ESU) is the umbrella organisation of 43 National Unions of Students (NUS) from 40 countries. ESU represents and promotes the educational, social, economic and cultural interests of students at the European level towards relevant bodies including the European Union, Bologna Follow Up Group, Council of Europe and UNESCO. Through its members, ESU represents almost 20 million students in Europe.
Key services
Representation of students at European level, Advocacy on education policies, Organizing expert pools and consultative bodies, Publishing policy papers and reports, Running projects and initiatives related to higher education
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.1, Yoast SEO plugin, jQuery 3.7.1, React 18.3.1, Mailchimp for WordPress, GDPR Cookie Compliance plugin, 3D Flipbook plugin, Ultimate Blocks plugin, Pojo Accessibility plugin, Elementor CDN, Splide.js carousel
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • GDPR cookie consent implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security plugins (GDPR compliance, accessibility)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google Analytics (via GDPR cookie consent)
Marketing tools
Mailchimp
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally maintained WordPress site with modern SEO and accessibility features
  2. Strong focus on GDPR compliance and user privacy
  3. Clear organizational structure with extensive content about student representation in Europe
  4. Active news and project updates indicating ongoing operations
  5. Social media integration with official accounts
  6. No signs of blocking or security challenges
  7. No exposed sensitive data or obvious vulnerabilities in HTML content
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern WordPress platform using up-to-date plugins including Yoast SEO, GDPR Cookie Compliance, and accessibility tools. It leverages React and jQuery libraries, and includes integrations with Mailchimp for newsletter management. The site is mobile responsive and optimized for accessibility, with features like skip links and contrast/font size toggles. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization in loading times and resource management. The technical stack is well-suited for the organization's needs but could benefit from enhanced security configurations and performance tuning.
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. 49/100High34 findingsView report
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