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Security report for ibisacademic.com

IBIS Worldwide Academic and Library File · Education · United Kingdom

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

Security score

67/100

Risk levelMedium

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

IBIS Worldwide Academic and Library File is a specialized data provider serving the academic, scientific, and educational publishing sectors globally. With over forty years of claimed experience, the company offers targeted marketing data and mailing lists to publishers and marketers focused on universities and academic libraries. The website presents a professional and content-rich platform that supports their business model effectively. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with a modern plugin ecosystem, including LayerSlider and GDPR compliance tools, and uses Google Analytics and Tag Manager for tracking. The site is well-optimized for SEO and mobile devices, though some accessibility features are basic. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent implemented, but lacks some advanced security headers such as CSP and X-Frame-Options. The absence of WHOIS registration data for the domain introduces some uncertainty about domain legitimacy, although the website content and business information appear consistent and trustworthy. Overall, the site is functional, professional, and compliant with privacy regulations, but would benefit from enhanced security headers and verification of domain registration details.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
65/ 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 ibisacademic.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.

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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
67
Security headers
15
Email security
75
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
65
Average
67

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 ibisacademic.com, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for ibisacademic.com right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

IBIS occupies a niche market in academic marketing data, leveraging decades of experience to maintain a comprehensive and targeted database. Their competitive advantage lies in detailed subject area segmentation and global reach. The business model revolves around list rental and data provision services, supported by research teams ensuring data accuracy and relevance. The company targets academic publishers and marketers, with a focus on higher education institutions worldwide. Testimonials and social media presence reinforce credibility. Growth indicators include continuous data updates and digital catalog offerings. The partnership ecosystem includes social media platforms and Google advertising services. Strategic observations suggest the company should address domain registration transparency to strengthen trust and consider expanding digital marketing channels.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and a GDPR-compliant cookie consent mechanism. However, the lack of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options exposes the site to potential risks like cross-site scripting and clickjacking. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. Incident response and security policy information are not publicly available, indicating a potential gap in transparency. Compliance with GDPR is evident through privacy policies and consent dialogs. The security culture appears basic but functional. Recommendations include implementing additional security headers, conducting regular vulnerability assessments, and publishing security policies and incident response contacts to enhance security posture and user trust.

Recommendations

  1. Implement Content-Security-Policy (CSP) header to mitigate XSS risks.
  2. Add X-Frame-Options header to prevent clickjacking attacks.
  3. Verify and publish domain WHOIS registration details to improve trust.
  4. Publish a formal security policy and incident response contact information.
  5. Regularly update WordPress core and plugins to latest secure versions.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
IBIS Worldwide Academic and Library File
Description
The International Book Information Service is one of the world’s leading sources of academic marketing data, supporting the global academic, scientific and educational publishing market for over forty years with quality data to enhance marketing efforts.
Key services
Academic and library marketing data, Targeted mailing lists, Research and data updating, Digital catalogues
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.1, jQuery, LayerSlider plugin, Google Fonts, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Easy FancyBox, MBM GDPR plugin, Superfish menu
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google DoubleClick
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 focused on academic marketing data services.
  3. Privacy and cookie policies are implemented with consent mechanisms.
  4. WHOIS data is missing or domain appears unregistered, which is unusual.
  5. Website uses WordPress CMS with common plugins and Google analytics.
  6. No explicit security headers beyond HTTPS detected.
  7. Contact information is clearly provided including email and phone.
  8. Social media presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Plus.
  9. No adult or questionable content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress 6.8.1, utilizing common plugins such as LayerSlider for sliders, Easy FancyBox for media display, and GDPR compliance plugins. It uses jQuery and Google Fonts for frontend functionality and styling. Hosting appears to leverage Amazon CloudFront CDN for media delivery, enhancing performance. SEO is supported by Yoast SEO plugin with proper meta tags and structured data (JSON-LD). The site is mobile responsive with good navigation clarity. Performance is moderate, with some scope for optimization. Accessibility features are basic but present. Technical risks include outdated or vulnerable plugins if not maintained and missing security headers. Modernization opportunities include adopting advanced security headers and improving 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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