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Security report for helvetasusa.org

Helvetas · Non-profit · Switzerland

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

73/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Helvetas USA is an independent non-profit development organization affiliated with a global network headquartered in Switzerland, operating in 29 countries. The organization focuses on humanitarian aid, emergency response, water, agriculture, climate, democracy, peace, and vocational training among other development sectors. The website reflects a professional and consistent brand presence with good content quality and relevant information for its target audience of general public and stakeholders interested in international development. Technically, the website employs modern frontend technologies including Bootstrap 4 and Google Tag Manager for analytics and tracking. It implements cookie consent mechanisms via OneTrust, indicating awareness of privacy compliance requirements. The site is mobile optimized and SEO friendly, though accessibility features are basic. Hosting and CMS details are not explicitly identified. Security posture is moderate with HTTPS implied and cookie consent in place, but lacks visible security headers, explicit security policies, or incident response contacts. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analyzed content. WHOIS data is unavailable due to privacy protection or query failure, which is common for organizations seeking privacy but reduces transparency. Overall, the website is trustworthy and professional but would benefit from publishing explicit privacy policies, terms of service, contact information, and security disclosures to enhance compliance and user trust.

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

4 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 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

  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 Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1

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

Keep watching helvetasusa.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.

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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
72
Security headers
55
Email security
70
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
73

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

Helvetas USA operates as a medium-sized non-profit entity within the international development sector, leveraging a networked business model with partner organizations across multiple countries. Its competitive advantage lies in its broad geographic presence and comprehensive development programs addressing water, climate, agriculture, and governance. Revenue streams likely include donations, grants, and partnerships. The target customer segments include donors, development partners, and beneficiaries. The website supports the organization's growth and partnership ecosystem by providing multilingual content and linking to sister sites. Strategic observations include the need for enhanced transparency and digital maturity to maintain donor confidence and comply with evolving data protection regulations.

Security posture

The current security maturity level is moderate. The website uses HTTPS and cookie consent mechanisms, which are positive indicators. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection reduces defense-in-depth. No explicit security policies or incident response contacts were found, indicating gaps in security governance and incident readiness. There is no evidence of vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files. Compliance with GDPR is implied but not explicitly documented. The lack of visible contact information for security incidents may delay response to threats. Overall, the security culture appears basic and could be improved by adopting best practices and transparency measures.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service prominently on the website.
  2. Implement and verify security headers to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  3. Add explicit contact information including security incident response and data protection officer details.
  4. Establish and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to comply with standards and improve user experience for all visitors.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Helvetas
Description
Helvetas USA is part of a network of independent development organizations. With a head office in Switzerland, Helvetas is present in 29 countries.
Key services
emergency response, water, aid, development organization, agriculture, food, nutrition, climate, democracy, peace
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Bootstrap 4.0.0-beta.2, Google Tag Manager, OneTrust Cookie Consent, Google Maps API
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS usage implied by og:image:secure and og:secure tags
  • Cookie consent implemented

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is accessible and not blocked by WAF or security mechanisms
  2. WHOIS data is unavailable due to malformed request or privacy protection
  3. Site uses modern frontend technologies and cookie consent mechanisms
  4. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found in the provided HTML snippet
  5. No privacy policy or terms of service explicitly found in the analyzed content
  6. Social media presence indicated by Twitter meta tag (@helvetas)
  7. Content is relevant to non-profit development and humanitarian aid
  8. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure found
  9. No explicit security policies or incident response contacts found
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern frontend stack using Bootstrap 4 and integrates Google Tag Manager for analytics and tracking. Cookie consent is managed via OneTrust scripts, indicating compliance efforts. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design and good SEO meta tags. However, no CMS or hosting provider details are evident from the HTML. Performance is moderate with no major issues detected in the provided content. Technical debt appears low but could be improved by adding accessibility enhancements and security best practices. The absence of visible security headers and explicit privacy documentation represents technical risks that could impact user trust and regulatory 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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