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Security report for eurobis.org

European Ocean Biodiversity Information System (EurOBIS) · Other · Belgium

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

57/100

Risk levelMedium

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

EurOBIS operates as the European node of the Ocean Biodiversity Information System, providing a valuable open-access platform for marine species distribution data within European waters. The website serves primarily researchers, data providers, and policy makers interested in marine biodiversity. It offers dataset downloads, quality control information, and links to related marine data initiatives. The platform is managed by VLIZ, a reputable marine research institute in Belgium, reinforcing its credibility and scientific focus. Technically, the website employs standard web technologies such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript with jQuery, and Font Awesome for icons. The site is moderately optimized for performance and mobile use, with clear navigation and structured content. However, there is room for improvement in accessibility and SEO optimization. Hosting appears to be managed by a research institution, ensuring stable infrastructure but lacking advanced modern CMS or frameworks. From a security perspective, the site lacks visible security headers and DNSSEC is not enabled, which are areas for enhancement. No forms or analytics scripts reduce attack surface and privacy risks, but the absence of privacy and cookie policies indicates incomplete compliance with GDPR best practices. The domain registration is consistent and long-standing, supporting the site's legitimacy. No WAF or blocking mechanisms were detected, and the content is safe for general audiences. Overall, EurOBIS is a credible, scientifically focused data portal with good business credibility and content quality. Strategic improvements in security headers, privacy compliance, and technical modernization would enhance its security posture and user trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
50/ 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

8 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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

  3. GDPR outside view

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

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • 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

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

Keep watching eurobis.org

This scan found 28 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
62
Security headers
30
Email security
40
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
Average
57

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

EurOBIS holds a strong position as a regional data node within the global OBIS network, focusing on marine biodiversity data for European waters. Its business model is non-commercial, centered on data aggregation, quality control, and open dissemination. The target customers are marine scientists, environmental agencies, and policy makers. The platform's competitive advantage lies in its affiliation with VLIZ and OBIS, use of DOIs for datasets, and quality control processes. Revenue streams are likely grant and institutional funding rather than direct sales. The partnership ecosystem includes VLIZ, LifeWatch Belgium, and international marine species registries. Growth indicators include continuous dataset updates and expanding data volume. Strategic observations suggest focusing on enhancing digital maturity and compliance to maintain trust and relevance in the scientific community.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with no immediate critical vulnerabilities detected. The absence of security headers and DNSSEC represents a gap in defense-in-depth strategies. Lack of privacy and cookie policies indicates compliance gaps with GDPR and related regulations. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided, limiting transparency. The site benefits from minimal data collection and no visible analytics or tracking, reducing privacy risks. Recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, implementing security headers, publishing security policies, and adding cookie consent mechanisms. These steps will improve data protection, regulatory compliance, and user trust.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with GDPR compliance details.
  4. Add a cookie consent mechanism if cookies or tracking technologies are used.
  5. Establish and publish an incident response policy and contact channels for security issues.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
European Ocean Biodiversity Information System (EurOBIS)
Description
EurOBIS is the European node of the international Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS), publishing distribution data on marine species collected within European marine waters or by European researchers outside European marine waters.
Key services
Marine species distribution data publishing, Data access and services, Data quality control and DOI assignment, Statistics and data contribution guidance
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, jQuery UI, Font Awesome
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
55/100
Good practices seen
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No forms detected on homepage (reduces attack surface)

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a scientific data portal for marine biodiversity in Europe.
  2. No privacy or cookie policy found on homepage or footer.
  3. Terms of Use page is present and linked.
  4. Contact email info@eurobis.org is provided but no phone or physical address found.
  5. No forms detected on homepage; minimal data collection.
  6. No social media links explicitly found in HTML content.
  7. Uses standard web technologies with jQuery and Font Awesome.
  8. No analytics or tracking scripts detected.
  9. No security headers or explicit HTTPS enforcement visible from HTML content.
  10. Content is well structured with clear navigation menus.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a traditional web stack with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript libraries including jQuery and Font Awesome. It lacks modern CMS or frameworks, which may limit scalability and ease of content management. Performance is moderate with basic mobile optimization and accessibility features. SEO is basic with minimal meta tags and no structured data like JSON-LD or Open Graph tags detected. Hosting appears stable and managed by a research institute, but technical modernization opportunities exist to improve responsiveness, accessibility, and SEO. No analytics or tracking scripts reduce privacy concerns but also limit user behavior insights.
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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