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Security report for genethon.com

Genethon · Healthcare · France

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

Security score

61/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Genethon is a medium-sized non-profit organization specializing in the research and development of gene therapy treatments for rare diseases, including neuromuscular, liver, immune system, and eye disorders. The organization is positioned as a leading European entity in this specialized healthcare sector, supported by partnerships with recognized institutes such as AFM-Telethon and the Biotherapies Institute for Rare Diseases. Their website reflects a professional and content-rich platform aimed at patients, researchers, and healthcare professionals. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern plugins like Yoast SEO and Matomo analytics, ensuring good SEO and privacy-respecting user tracking. The site is mobile-optimized and provides a clear navigation structure. Cookie consent mechanisms are implemented in compliance with GDPR, enhancing user privacy and transparency. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses cookie consent banners but lacks explicit security headers and a published security policy or incident response contact. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, the absence of WHOIS data for the domain raises concerns about domain registration legitimacy, which should be investigated further. Overall, the website demonstrates a solid digital presence with good privacy and security practices but would benefit from enhanced transparency in security policies and verification of domain registration details.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
65/ 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"

    • 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. 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

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

Keep watching genethon.com

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.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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Full report

€39.90one-time

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Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
72
Security headers
15
Email security
40
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
65
Average
61

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

Genethon operates in the healthcare and biotechnology sectors, focusing on gene therapy for rare diseases. Their business model is research-driven, likely funded by grants, donations, and partnerships rather than commercial sales. The organization targets patients, clinicians, researchers, and partners in the biotech ecosystem. Their market position is strong within the European non-profit gene therapy research community, supported by collaborations with institutes like AFM-Telethon. The website content and partnerships indicate a stable growth trajectory and a commitment to innovation in gene therapy. The lack of direct contact emails and phone numbers on the homepage suggests a controlled communication channel, typical for research organizations. Strategic partnerships with institutes and presence at scientific congresses reinforce their credibility and influence in the field.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security posture with HTTPS enforced and privacy-compliant cookie consent mechanisms. Use of Matomo analytics indicates a preference for privacy-respecting tools. However, the absence of common security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options is a gap that could be exploited. No security.txt or incident response information is published, which limits transparency for vulnerability reporting. The missing WHOIS data for the domain is a significant concern, potentially indicating domain registration issues or privacy protection that is not justified for a non-profit research entity. Overall, the security maturity is moderate with room for improvement in policy transparency and technical headers.

Recommendations

  1. Implement standard security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a security policy and incident response contact information or a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure.
  3. Verify and update WHOIS domain registration information to ensure transparency and trustworthiness.
  4. Conduct regular audits of third-party scripts and plugins to mitigate risks from vulnerable components.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to improve compliance with standards and user experience for all visitors.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Genethon
Description
Genethon develops innovative therapies for rare diseases of the eye, the liver, the immune system and for neuromuscular diseases.
Key services
Gene therapy research and development, Clinical and preclinical drug development, Bioproduction, DNA banking
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.7.1, Yoast SEO plugin, jQuery 3.7.1, Matomo analytics, CookieYes GDPR cookie consent, EditorPlus plugin
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent with granular categories
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Matomo for privacy-respecting analytics

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo, Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Marketing tools
Yoast SEO
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and content-rich focused on gene therapy for rare diseases.
  2. No WHOIS data available for the domain, which is unusual for an active website.
  3. Cookie consent and privacy policies are implemented and GDPR compliant.
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on the homepage; contact is via a contact page.
  5. No security.txt or explicit security policy found.
  6. Uses Matomo analytics for privacy-respecting tracking and Google Tag Manager.
  7. No signs of adult or unsafe content.
  8. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern WordPress CMS platform with up-to-date plugins such as Yoast SEO for search engine optimization and Matomo for analytics, reflecting a focus on privacy. The site uses jQuery and custom scripts for UI enhancements. Performance is moderate with no major issues detected, and mobile optimization is good. The site uses a cookie consent plugin compliant with GDPR, indicating attention to privacy regulations. However, the lack of explicit security headers and incomplete WHOIS data suggest areas for technical improvement. Hosting provider details are not disclosed, which could be relevant for security and performance assessments.
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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