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Security report for globalforestwatch.org

Global Forest Watch · Government · United States

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Global Forest Watch is a reputable non-profit organization providing free, real-time forest monitoring data and tools to support environmental protection and sustainable land use. The platform is well-positioned in the environmental data sector, leveraging modern web technologies and partnerships with established organizations such as the World Resources Institute. The website demonstrates a high level of professionalism, with comprehensive privacy and cookie consent mechanisms, and clear contact information. Technically, the site uses a modern React/Next.js stack with integrated analytics and consent management, ensuring good performance and user experience across devices. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and no visible vulnerabilities, though explicit security headers could be improved. Overall, the domain's WHOIS data is unavailable, likely due to privacy protection, but the website's content and affiliations support its legitimacy and trustworthiness.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 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

6 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 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';…

  2. 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

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

Keep watching globalforestwatch.org

This scan found 26 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
62
Security headers
15
Email security
65
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
63

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

Global Forest Watch operates as a large non-profit entity focused on environmental monitoring and data dissemination. Its business model centers on providing open access to forest data and analytics tools to governments, NGOs, researchers, and the public. The organization benefits from strong partnerships with global environmental bodies and maintains a consistent brand presence. Revenue streams are likely grant and donor-funded, with a focus on impact rather than commercial profit. The platform's extensive use of analytics and marketing tools indicates a mature digital presence aimed at maximizing outreach and engagement.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and use of consent management tools to comply with privacy regulations. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. The presence of New Relic monitoring indicates active performance and error tracking. However, explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options are not evident and should be implemented to enhance protection against common web attacks. No incident response or security policy pages were found, which could be improved to demonstrate transparency and readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish explicit security headers including CSP, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Add a dedicated security policy and incident response information page to improve transparency.
  3. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies for vulnerabilities and update accordingly.
  4. Enhance GDPR compliance disclosures with detailed data retention and user rights information.
  5. Consider publishing vulnerability disclosure and security.txt files to facilitate responsible reporting.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Global Forest Watch
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Global Forest Watch
Description
Global Forest Watch offers free, real-time data, technology and tools for monitoring the world’s forests, enabling better protection against illegal deforestation and unsustainable practices.
Key services
Real-time forest monitoring data, Land use and deforestation trend analysis, Interactive mapping tools, Data access and APIs
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React (Next.js), Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Osano Consent Management, Visual Website Optimizer (VWO), New Relic monitoring
Frameworks
Next.js, React
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Consent management for cookies
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security monitoring tools (New Relic)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Plausible Analytics, Fathom Analytics, New Relic
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Plausible Analytics, Fathom Analytics, Visual Website Optimizer
Marketing tools
Visual Website Optimizer, Osano Consent Management
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenge
  2. Comprehensive privacy and cookie consent mechanisms implemented
  3. No WHOIS data available due to malformed WHOIS response
  4. Strong use of modern web technologies and analytics tools
  5. No visible security vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data
  6. Clear business identity and contact information present
  7. No suspicious or malicious domains linked
  8. Content is safe and appropriate for general audiences
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern React/Next.js framework, leveraging server-side rendering and client-side interactivity. It integrates multiple analytics and marketing tools including Google Analytics, Plausible, Fathom, and Visual Website Optimizer, managed via Google Tag Manager. Consent management is handled by Osano, ensuring compliance with privacy laws. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices evident in meta tags and structured data. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in script loading and caching. Hosting details are not explicit but the infrastructure supports a professional and scalable platform.
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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