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Security report for europeanjournalists.org

European Federation of Journalists · Media · N/a

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

53/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is a well-established non-profit organization founded in 2014, dedicated to advocating for journalists' rights and media freedom across Europe. The website serves as a hub for news, policy updates, projects, and resources targeted at journalists and media professionals. It maintains a strong presence through multiple social media channels and offers newsletter subscriptions to engage its audience. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern frameworks like Bootstrap and uses common web technologies such as jQuery and FontAwesome. It is hosted by Team Blue Internet Services IE Limited and secured with HTTPS, although DNSSEC is not enabled. Security measures include clientTransferProhibited domain status and Google reCAPTCHA on forms, but the site lacks advanced security headers. Privacy compliance is addressed with a privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism, reflecting GDPR awareness. No direct contact emails or phone numbers are publicly listed, with contact primarily via forms. Overall, the website is professional, content-rich, and trustworthy, with room for security enhancements.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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. 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 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 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

    • 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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, Facebook

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

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

Keep watching europeanjournalists.org

This scan found 25 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.

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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
50
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
35
Average
53

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

EFJ occupies a leading position in the European media advocacy sector, focusing on press freedom and journalists' rights. Its business model is non-profit and membership-based, relying on advocacy, events, and partnerships. The organization targets journalists, media unions, and freedom of expression advocates. The website's content strategy includes news updates, policy discussions, and project highlights, supporting its role as an information and advocacy platform. Partnerships with platforms like Donorbox for fundraising and integration with social media enhance its outreach. The absence of direct contact emails suggests a controlled communication approach, likely to manage inquiries efficiently. The domain's age and privacy-protected WHOIS data align with standard practices for organizations in sensitive sectors.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security posture with mandatory HTTPS and clientTransferProhibited domain status, reducing risks of domain hijacking. Use of Google reCAPTCHA on forms helps mitigate spam and automated abuse. However, the lack of DNSSEC and missing security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represent areas for improvement. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. The cookie consent mechanism indicates compliance with privacy regulations. Incident response and security policy pages are not found, which could be enhanced to improve transparency and readiness. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a non-profit advocacy site but could benefit from additional hardening.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response information to improve transparency and preparedness.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and plugins to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  5. Consider providing verified contact emails or phone numbers for improved trust and communication.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
European Federation of Journalists
Description
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is a non-profit organization representing journalists in Europe, focusing on media freedom, journalists' rights, and press freedom advocacy.
Key services
Media freedom monitoring, Advocacy for journalists' rights, Legal and safety support for journalists, Organizing events and workshops, Publishing news and reports on press freedom
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, jQuery, Bootstrap, FontAwesome, Google Analytics, Mailchimp
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA on forms
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Marketing tools
Mailchimp
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional non-profit media federation site.
  2. Content is rich with recent news articles and advocacy information.
  3. Multiple social media channels are linked and active.
  4. No signs of malware or phishing detected.
  5. Security practices are good but could be improved with DNSSEC and security headers.
  6. Privacy and cookie policies are present and implemented.
  7. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found; contact via forms only.
  8. No terms of service page detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS with Bootstrap framework and uses jQuery and FontAwesome for UI components. It integrates Google Analytics for traffic analysis and Mailchimp for newsletter management. Hosting is provided by Team Blue Internet Services IE Limited. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and basic accessibility features. SEO is supported by proper meta tags including Open Graph and Twitter cards. The site uses asynchronous loading for scripts and includes a cookie consent banner. There is no evidence of outdated or vulnerable libraries in the HTML content. Technical debt appears low, but security enhancements and accessibility improvements could be pursued to modernize the infrastructure further.
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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