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Security report for greatlakes-seaway.com

Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System · Transportation · Canada

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

58/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System website serves as the official digital presence for the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation and the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. It provides comprehensive information and services related to commercial shipping, recreational boating, navigation, environmental stewardship, and community engagement within the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway region. The site targets a diverse audience including commercial shippers, recreational boaters, educators, and local communities, positioning itself as an authoritative source in the transportation sector. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with a modern tech stack including jQuery, Slick Slider, and various plugins for SEO, membership, and UI enhancements. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, SEO practices, and moderate performance. Hosting and DNS are managed via reputable providers including Cloudflare and Network Solutions, ensuring reliable uptime and security. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and implements cookie consent mechanisms, reflecting basic privacy compliance. However, there is room for improvement in DNS security (DNSSEC not enabled) and the addition of explicit security policies or incident response contacts. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. The WHOIS data aligns well with the website's identity, supporting its legitimacy. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and serves its informational purpose effectively. Strategic enhancements in security headers, accessibility, and explicit privacy and incident response disclosures would further strengthen its posture.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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. 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.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  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 Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

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

Keep watching greatlakes-seaway.com

This scan found 18 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

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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
0
Security headers
15
Email security
82
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
58

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

The website represents a government-managed transportation infrastructure entity focused on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. Its market position is that of an authoritative and official source, providing essential services and information to commercial shippers and recreational users. The business model revolves around managing and facilitating maritime transportation, including toll schedules, vessel transit, and environmental initiatives. The presence of career portals and community resources indicates a medium-sized organization with a stable operational footprint. Partnerships with related domains and bilingual site presence reflect a broad regional engagement and commitment to accessibility.

Security posture

The current security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent implemented. The domain status clientTransferProhibited adds protection against unauthorized transfers. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content Security Policy or HSTS indicates potential areas for enhancement. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies were found, which could impact readiness and transparency. The use of multiple third-party scripts necessitates ongoing security audits to mitigate risks. Overall, the site maintains a good security baseline suitable for its informational role but should adopt additional best practices to elevate its security maturity.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to protect against DNS spoofing and improve domain security.
  2. Implement security headers including Content Security Policy, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  3. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information to enhance transparency and preparedness.
  4. Conduct regular security audits of third-party plugins and scripts to identify and remediate vulnerabilities.
  5. Improve accessibility features to comply with standards and broaden user inclusivity.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System
Description
The website represents the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System, managed by the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation and the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. It provides information about commercial shipping, pleasure craft, navigation, environment, community benefits, and related resources.
Key services
Commercial shipping information and applications, Pleasure craft lockage booking, Navigation aids and maps, Environmental and community resources, News and media resources
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, jQuery, Slick Slider, Yoast SEO, MemberPress, Popup Maker, Max Mega Menu, Simple Lightbox, SearchWP, FontAwesome, Cloudflare DNS
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Client transfer prohibited domain status
  • Cookie consent banner implemented

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Marketing tools
ShareThis
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is well-structured and professionally presented.
  3. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on homepage; contact page likely exists but not included in provided data.
  4. Cookie consent mechanism is implemented and visible.
  5. No explicit security or incident response policies found on homepage.
  6. Use of multiple WordPress plugins and third-party scripts; security hygiene should be maintained.
  7. Social media sharing buttons present but no direct official social media profile links found.
  8. WHOIS data is transparent and consistent with business identity.
Technical notes

Notes

The website leverages a mature WordPress CMS with a variety of plugins for SEO, membership management, UI components, and analytics integration. The tech stack includes jQuery, Slick Slider, and FontAwesome for UI/UX enhancements. Hosting is supported by Cloudflare DNS, providing performance and security benefits. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design and includes SEO best practices such as meta tags, Open Graph, and JSON-LD structured data. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in load times and resource optimization. The technical infrastructure is stable but could benefit from modernization efforts focused on security headers and accessibility compliance.
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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