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Security report for forskningsradet.no

Norges Forskningsråd · Government · Norway

High risk. 17 critical or high findings in Network security and GDPR outside view.

Security score

49/100

Risk levelHigh

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

Norges Forskningsråd is the Norwegian Research Council, a government entity responsible for advising the government and distributing approximately ten billion NOK annually to research and innovation projects. It holds a leading position as the primary national research funding body in Norway, serving research organizations, businesses, and the public sector. The website reflects a mature and well-established institution with a clear focus on supporting sustainable development and societal challenges through research funding and policy advice. The presence of subsidiaries such as Nysgjerrigper, Forskningsdagene, and SkatteFUNN further strengthens its ecosystem. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including React, Microsoft Azure Application Insights, Matomo, Hotjar, and Bot Framework Web Chat, indicating a high level of digital maturity. Hosting is provided via Cloudflare, and the site implements strong security headers and content security policies. However, the SSL certificate is currently invalid or missing, and no TLS protocols are enabled, which significantly impacts the security posture. From a security perspective, while the site uses several best practices such as HSTS, CSP, and X-Frame-Options, the lack of a valid SSL certificate and TLS support is a critical vulnerability that must be addressed immediately to protect user data and maintain trust. Privacy compliance is strong, with clear privacy and cookie policies and consent mechanisms in place. Overall, the website is professional, content-rich, and trustworthy, but the critical SSL/TLS issues reduce its security score and pose risks. Strategic remediation of these security gaps will enhance the site's trustworthiness and compliance, ensuring continued support for its important governmental mission.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of forskningsradet.no. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
25/ 100 · Critical
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

17 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: Telnet

      Port 23 (Telnet) is publicly accessible - Telnet - Unencrypted remote access

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to Telnet 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
    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: SMB

      Port 445 (SMB) is publicly accessible - SMB - Windows file sharing, high risk

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to SMB 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
    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: MSSQL

      Port 1433 (MSSQL) is publicly accessible - MSSQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to MSSQL 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
    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: Oracle

      Port 1521 (Oracle) is publicly accessible - Oracle - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to Oracle 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
    • 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

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Keep watching forskningsradet.no

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
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  • Security headers
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  • 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
50
Security headers
80
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
25
Average
54
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

The Norwegian Research Council operates as a government funding agency with a large budget dedicated to research and innovation. Its business model revolves around allocating funds to research projects, supporting innovation, and providing policy advice. The organization targets research institutions, businesses, and public sector entities, positioning itself as a central pillar in Norway's research ecosystem. The Council's partnerships and subsidiaries expand its reach and influence. The website content and structure reflect a mature organization with a strong brand and clear communication channels. The use of multiple analytics and marketing tools indicates an active approach to stakeholder engagement and performance monitoring.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with implementation of key security headers and policies such as CSP with reporting, HSTS, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options. However, the absence of a valid SSL certificate and disabled TLS protocols represent critical vulnerabilities that expose the site to interception and undermine user trust. There is no evidence of incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies publicly available. Privacy policies and cookie consent mechanisms are well implemented, supporting GDPR compliance. The site would benefit from immediate SSL remediation, enabling modern TLS versions, and publishing incident response contacts to improve security readiness and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Immediately renew or install a valid SSL certificate to enable HTTPS and TLS support.
  2. Enable TLS 1.2 or TLS 1.3 protocols and disable legacy insecure protocols.
  3. Implement OCSP stapling and session resumption to improve SSL performance and security.
  4. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  5. Regularly audit and update security headers and CSP to maintain strong defense against attacks.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Norges Forskningsråd
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern React-based frontend with integration of multiple analytics and monitoring tools including Microsoft Application Insights, Matomo, Hotjar, and Siteimprove. It leverages Cloudflare for hosting and CDN services. The site is mobile optimized and accessible with good SEO practices including meta tags and structured data. However, the SSL/TLS configuration is severely lacking, with no valid certificate and no enabled TLS protocols, which is a critical technical debt. Performance metrics were not available, but the use of modern frameworks and CDNs suggests potential for good performance. The site uses a custom or proprietary CMS. Technical risks include the SSL issues and potential exposure to man-in-the-middle attacks until fixed.
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. 83/100Low23 findingsView report
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