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Security report for goldstandard.org

Gold Standard · Non-profit · Switzerland

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Gold Standard is a globally recognized non-profit organization that sets standards for climate security and sustainable development projects. Their platform provides certification, impact measurement, and a marketplace for high integrity climate action projects. The website demonstrates a mature digital infrastructure using modern frameworks such as Nuxt.js and Vue.js, integrated with Prismic CMS for content management. The site is well-structured, mobile-optimized, and rich in relevant content including news, publications, and events, reflecting active engagement with stakeholders. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and no visible vulnerabilities, though some security headers and explicit incident response contacts could enhance trust. Privacy and cookie policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, supporting good privacy practices. Overall, the website presents a professional, trustworthy, and authoritative presence in the climate and sustainability sector.

Scanned

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

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
73/ 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

5 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 Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

  3. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching goldstandard.org

This scan found 20 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

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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
75
Security headers
15
Email security
80
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
73
Average
71

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention goldstandard.org, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
9
Employees
0
Customers
9
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
100%

2 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for goldstandard.org.

Select it in the checkout above.

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

Gold Standard operates in the non-profit sector focusing on environmental sustainability, targeting governments, companies, investors, and project developers involved in climate action. Their business model revolves around standard-setting, certification, and providing tools for impact measurement and reporting. The organization maintains a strong market position as a trusted standard for climate and sustainable development projects, supported by a broad ecosystem of partner sites and active content updates. The presence of multiple recent publications and consultations indicates ongoing innovation and stakeholder engagement. The organization is headquartered in Switzerland, reflecting a global operational footprint. The website's content and structure support transparency and credibility, essential for their mission-driven business.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS with a strong SSL configuration, ensuring secure data transmission. No sensitive data is exposed in the HTML content, and forms are implemented with required fields, indicating attention to input validation. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options is a minor gap. There is no publicly available security policy or incident response contact information, which could be improved to enhance transparency and preparedness. No known vulnerabilities or outdated libraries were detected in the analyzed scripts. Overall, the security posture is solid but could benefit from additional security headers and explicit vulnerability disclosure mechanisms.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and configure security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Introduce a security.txt file or vulnerability disclosure page to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to ensure no vulnerable libraries are used.
  5. Enhance data retention and privacy disclosures related to analytics and tracking for improved GDPR compliance.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Gold Standard
Description
Gold Standard sets the standard for climate and sustainable development interventions to quantify, certify and maximise their impact – creating value for people around the world and the planet we share.
Key services
Certification of climate and sustainable development projects, Standards development, Impact measurement and reporting, Marketplace for high integrity projects, Policy and regulatory guidance
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Nuxt.js, Vue.js, Google Tag Manager, LinkedIn Insight Tag, CookieLaw.org Consent Management, Prismic CMS
Frameworks
Vue.js, Nuxt.js
Platforms
Prismic CMS
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 required fields

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Tracking pixels
LinkedIn Insight Tag
Marketing tools
LinkedIn Insight Tag, CookieLaw.org 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 rich content and no blocking detected.
  2. WHOIS data is unavailable or privacy protected, limiting domain registration insights.
  3. Strong focus on climate and sustainable development standards and impact.
  4. Multiple recent publications, news, events, and consultations indicate active engagement.
  5. Comprehensive privacy, cookie, and terms policies are present.
  6. No direct company contact emails or phone numbers found in the visible content.
  7. Social media presence on LinkedIn and YouTube is active.
  8. Use of modern web technologies and CMS (Prismic, Nuxt.js, Vue.js).
  9. No security.txt or explicit vulnerability disclosure policy found.
  10. No exposed sensitive data or obvious security vulnerabilities detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern JavaScript framework stack with Nuxt.js and Vue.js, leveraging Prismic CMS for content management. It uses asynchronous loading of analytics and marketing scripts such as Google Tag Manager and LinkedIn Insight Tag, which supports performance optimization. The site is mobile responsive and well-structured with semantic HTML and meta tags supporting SEO. Performance is moderate, with potential for improvement in loading speed and caching strategies. Accessibility features appear adequate but could be further enhanced with ARIA roles and keyboard navigation improvements. The hosting provider is not explicitly identified from the data. Overall, the technical infrastructure is robust and supports the organization's digital presence effectively.
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. 75/100Medium24 findings · partial scanView report
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