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Security report for globalup.com

AFS Intercultural Programs · Education · United States

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

64/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Global Up website represents the AFS Intercultural Programs' Global Competence Certificate (GCC) initiative, a well-established non-profit educational program focused on developing global skills through blended learning. The site is professionally designed, content-rich, and targets students, educators, and professionals worldwide. It leverages modern web technologies including WordPress, Gravity Forms, and Google reCAPTCHA to provide a secure and user-friendly experience. The presence of multiple contact channels, social media integration, and downloadable resources enhances engagement and trust. However, the absence of WHOIS registration data for the domain www.globalup.com raises transparency concerns, although the website content and branding strongly align with the reputable AFS organization. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and CAPTCHA protections, but could be improved by implementing explicit security headers and formal incident response policies. Overall, the website is a credible and valuable resource for global competence education with moderate risk due to domain registration opacity.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
95/ 100 · Low
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. 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

    • High

      No SPF record found

      SPF helps prevent email spoofing

      What to do: Add SPF record: "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourmailprovider.com ~all"

  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';…

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

Keep watching globalup.com

This scan found 24 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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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
57
Security headers
15
Email security
40
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
95
Average
64

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

AFS Intercultural Programs operates the GCC as a scalable, research-based educational offering with a global footprint of 160 partners and over 40,000 learners. The business model is non-profit, focusing on intercultural learning and global skills development through online modules and facilitated sessions. The program is customizable for institutions and includes digital credentials, enhancing its appeal. The organization maintains a strong partnership ecosystem and uses digital marketing tools to reach diverse audiences. The website reflects a mature digital presence with good SEO and accessibility, supporting growth and engagement objectives.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, use of Google reCAPTCHA v3 on forms to mitigate spam and abuse, and no visible exposure of sensitive data. However, the lack of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options is a gap that could be exploited in certain attack scenarios. There is no public incident response or vulnerability disclosure policy, which limits transparency and preparedness. The site uses trusted third-party services and plugins, but regular updates and security audits are recommended to maintain resilience. Overall, the security posture is good but can be enhanced with additional controls and policies.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  2. Publish a formal incident response and vulnerability disclosure policy to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Ensure WHOIS registration data is accurate and publicly available to enhance domain trustworthiness.
  4. Regularly update WordPress core, themes, and plugins to patch known vulnerabilities.
  5. Conduct periodic security assessments and penetration testing to identify and remediate potential risks.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
AFS Intercultural Programs
Description
AFS Intercultural Programs is an international, voluntary, non-governmental, non-profit organization providing intercultural learning opportunities. The Global Competence Certificate (GCC) program develops global skills essential to live, work, and make social impact worldwide.
Key services
Global Competence Certificate blended learning programs, Qualified Facilitator training, Customizable global competence learning packages
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.1, Gravity Forms plugin, Yoast SEO plugin, Google reCAPTCHA v3, jQuery, MediaElement.js, Google Fonts, Typekit Fonts
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Google reCAPTCHA v3 implemented on forms
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security plugins (Gravity Forms with recaptcha)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (implied by GTM container ID)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google reCAPTCHA
Marketing tools
AddToAny social sharing
Transparency
basic

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 WAF or blocking detected.
  2. Content is rich, professionally presented, and focused on global competence education.
  3. Multiple embedded videos and downloadable resources enhance user engagement.
  4. Strong presence of contact options including a detailed contact form with GDPR-compliant consent.
  5. Use of modern web technologies and SEO best practices.
  6. No evidence of malicious or suspicious content.
  7. WHOIS data is missing, which is unusual and reduces transparency.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress 6.8.1 with a modern tech stack including Gravity Forms for data collection, Yoast SEO for search optimization, and Google reCAPTCHA for bot protection. It uses AWS Cloudfront CDN for content delivery, enhancing performance and availability. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features. SEO metadata and structured data (JSON-LD) are well implemented, supporting discoverability. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in caching and asset optimization. The technical infrastructure is robust for the site's educational and non-profit mission, though security header implementation and WHOIS transparency are areas for improvement.
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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