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Security report for icar.org

International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) · Non-profit · N/a

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

Security score

66/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) operates as a global non-profit organization dedicated to establishing standards and certifications for livestock data management. Their website serves as a comprehensive platform offering certifications for animal identification devices, milk meters, DNA laboratories, and proficiency tests for milk laboratories and bull semen. ICAR maintains a global membership network and organizes conferences to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange in the livestock sector. The site is professionally designed using WordPress and Elementor, reflecting a mature digital presence with good mobile optimization and accessibility. Security measures such as HTTPS and security headers are properly implemented, and privacy compliance is evidenced by a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism. However, explicit contact information and security incident response details are not readily available on the site, which could be improved to enhance trust and transparency.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
80/ 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

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 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 icar.org

This scan found 25 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
62
Security headers
15
Email security
70
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
80
Average
66

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

ICAR holds a strong market position as a global standard setter in livestock data and animal recording. Their non-profit business model focuses on membership services, certifications, and proficiency testing, targeting livestock industry professionals and organizations worldwide. The organization benefits from strategic partnerships, such as the SMARTER project and upcoming conferences like ICAR 2026 in Italy. Their content and service offerings indicate a medium-sized entity with a specialized focus. The website's clear navigation, professional content, and trust indicators such as certifications and official guidelines support their credibility and influence in the sector.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security posture with enforced HTTPS, presence of key security headers, and no visible exposure of sensitive data. The use of cookie consent tools aligns with GDPR compliance. However, the absence of a published security policy, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms suggests room for improvement in transparency and readiness. No vulnerabilities or suspicious patterns were detected in the provided content. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be enhanced by adding explicit security governance information and contact channels for security incidents.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page with clear contact information.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file.
  3. Add verified company contact emails and phone numbers to improve user trust and support.
  4. Regularly review and update third-party plugins and scripts to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance transparency on data protection officer contact details and data retention policies.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR)
Description
ICAR is a global non-profit organization focused on livestock data standards, certifications, proficiency tests, and facilitating data exchange among members worldwide.
Key services
Certification of animal identification devices, milk meters, milk analyzers, DNA laboratories, Proficiency tests for milk laboratories and bull semen, Standards and guidelines for livestock data, Membership network and conferences
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Elementor, jQuery, Font Awesome, TablePress, Complianz GDPR plugin
Frameworks
Elementor
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security headers

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Marketing tools
Complianz GDPR Cookie Consent
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally designed WordPress site using Elementor builder
  2. Strong focus on livestock data standards and certifications
  3. Comprehensive cookie consent and privacy policy present
  4. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly found in provided HTML snippet
  5. No WHOIS data available from raw output, indicating privacy protection or query failure
  6. No signs of WAF or content blocking
  7. No adult or questionable content detected
  8. Multiple external links to partner and related project domains
  9. Security headers and HTTPS are properly implemented
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS with Elementor page builder, leveraging modern web technologies including jQuery and Font Awesome. It uses GDPR-compliant cookie consent plugins and TablePress for tabular data. The site shows good mobile responsiveness and accessibility features. Performance is moderate, likely influenced by the use of multiple plugins and external resources. Hosting provider details are not explicitly identified. The technical infrastructure supports a professional and secure user experience but could benefit from performance optimization and clearer hosting transparency.
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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