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Security report for first.org

Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, Inc. · Technology · N/a

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view.

Security score

84/100

Risk levelLow

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

FIRST (Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams) is a globally recognized non-profit organization dedicated to improving cybersecurity incident response through collaboration, training, and standards development. The organization serves a diverse audience including government, commercial, and educational incident response teams worldwide. FIRST offers membership benefits, special interest groups, training programs, and hosts global events to foster cooperation and rapid reaction to security incidents. Their market position is strong as a leader in the incident response community with over 800 members globally. Technically, the website is well-structured with modern HTML5 and CSS3 technologies, delivering good mobile optimization and accessibility. The site uses HTTPS exclusively, ensuring secure communications. However, there is room for improvement in security headers and cookie consent mechanisms. The absence of visible analytics scripts suggests a privacy-conscious approach. From a security perspective, FIRST demonstrates a mature posture with secure forms, no exposed sensitive data, and comprehensive policy documentation including privacy and vulnerability disclosure policies. The WHOIS data is unavailable due to privacy protection, which is justified given the organization's security focus. No critical vulnerabilities or suspicious activities were detected. Overall, FIRST presents a trustworthy, professional, and authoritative presence in the cybersecurity incident response domain. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, implementing explicit cookie consent, publishing a security.txt file, and providing clearer contact information for data protection officers to further strengthen trust and compliance.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of first.org. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

2 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

    • 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

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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
95
Security headers
80
Email security
85
DNS health
90
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
84

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

FIRST operates as a membership-based non-profit organization focused on cybersecurity incident response. Its competitive advantage lies in its global network of incident response teams, comprehensive training offerings, and leadership in standards such as CVSS and EPSS. Revenue streams likely include membership fees, sponsorships, and event registrations. The target customer segments are incident response teams from government, commercial, and educational sectors worldwide. Growth indicators include active SIGs, fellowship programs, and expanding global events. The partnership ecosystem includes organizations like APNIC and Cold Incident Response Norway, enhancing FIRST's reach and influence. Operationally, FIRST maintains a strong digital presence with consistent branding and professional content, supporting its market leadership.

Security posture

FIRST exhibits a high level of security maturity appropriate for a global cybersecurity organization. The website enforces HTTPS and secure form handling, with no visible exposure of sensitive data. Comprehensive policies on privacy, anti-corruption, and vulnerability disclosure are published, reflecting strong governance. However, the lack of security headers and cookie consent mechanisms are minor gaps. The absence of a security.txt file limits ease of vulnerability reporting. Incident response readiness is implied by the organization's mission and community focus. Compliance with GDPR is indicated by the privacy policy. Overall, FIRST maintains a robust security culture with opportunities for incremental improvements.

Recommendations

  1. Implement HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Add a visible and accessible security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure and improve transparency.
  3. Introduce a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply fully with privacy regulations and enhance user trust.
  4. Publish contact information for the Data Protection Officer or privacy contact to improve GDPR compliance and user confidence.
  5. Regularly review and audit third-party scripts and dependencies to mitigate risks from vulnerable libraries or supply chain attacks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, Inc.
Description
FIRST is the global Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, a premier organization and recognized global leader in incident response. It brings together computer security incident response teams from government, commercial, and educational organizations to foster cooperation, coordination, and information sharing.
Key services
Incident response coordination, Training and workshops, Special Interest Groups (SIGs), Capacity building, Standards development (e.g., CVSS, EPSS), Events and conferences
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with no visible vulnerabilities

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and multimedia.
  2. Strong focus on incident response community and collaboration.
  3. Comprehensive policy documentation available.
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  5. No direct contact emails or phone numbers publicly listed; contact via form.
  6. No cookie consent mechanism detected despite privacy policy presence.
  7. No visible security headers detected in HTML source.
  8. No analytics or tracking scripts detected in provided HTML.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, with no detected CMS or complex frameworks. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices evident from meta tags and structured navigation. Performance is moderate, likely due to rich multimedia content such as embedded videos. Hosting provider details are not explicitly available. The absence of analytics and tracking scripts suggests a privacy-first approach. Technical debt appears low, but security header implementation and cookie consent mechanisms are areas for modernization. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the organization's mission effectively with room for incremental enhancements.
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. 80/100 −3Low19 findingsView report
  2. 83/100Low19 findingsView report
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