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Security report for idescat.cat

Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya · Government · Spain

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

59/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya (Idescat) is the official statistics institute of Catalonia, providing comprehensive demographic, economic, social, and environmental data to support government, researchers, media, and the public. The website serves as a central hub for accessing statistical indicators, publications, APIs, and educational resources. It is positioned as a trusted government entity under the Generalitat de Catalunya, offering authoritative data and transparency in its operations. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics 4, and Piwik PRO for analytics, alongside YouTube API for embedded video content. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility features, and SEO practices, ensuring a positive user experience across devices. Hosting appears to be managed by the regional government infrastructure, contributing to stable performance. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and implements cookie consent mechanisms compliant with GDPR. While explicit security headers are not visible in the provided data, no vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive information were detected. The absence of a security.txt file and incident response contacts suggests room for improvement in transparency and vulnerability management. Overall, the website is a well-maintained, professional government portal with high trustworthiness and compliance. The lack of WHOIS data due to privacy protection is typical for such domains and does not detract from legitimacy. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, publishing vulnerability disclosure policies, and providing clearer incident response contacts to further strengthen security posture.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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

8 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 Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • 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 idescat.cat

This scan found 28 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
70
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
59

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 idescat.cat, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
166
Employees
0
Customers
165
Third parties
1
Weak passwords
61%

7 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 idescat.cat.

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Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

Idescat operates as a government entity providing essential statistical data for Catalonia, serving a diverse audience including policymakers, researchers, educators, and the general public. Its competitive advantage lies in official status, comprehensive data coverage, and integration with Generalitat de Catalunya services. The business model is public service funded by government budgets, focusing on data dissemination and transparency rather than revenue generation. The partnership ecosystem includes regional government domains and trusted analytics providers. Growth indicators include frequent data updates and active engagement through educational and media services. The website's professional design and consistent branding reinforce its authoritative market position.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, GDPR-compliant cookie consent, and secure form implementations. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. However, the absence of explicit security headers (e.g., Content Security Policy, HSTS) and lack of published incident response or vulnerability disclosure information indicate areas for enhancement. The use of multiple third-party analytics scripts necessitates ongoing monitoring for potential risks. Overall, the site aligns well with public sector security expectations but would benefit from formalizing security policies and transparency measures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options to mitigate common web attacks.
  2. Publish a security.txt file to provide clear vulnerability disclosure guidelines and contact information for security researchers.
  3. Add explicit incident response contact channels (e.g., security@ or abuse@ email addresses) to improve transparency and readiness.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and analytics tools to ensure they do not introduce vulnerabilities or privacy risks.
  5. Enhance user trust by providing more visible information on data protection officer contacts and compliance certifications.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya
Description
Official statistics institute of Catalonia providing demographic, economic, social, and environmental data.
Key services
Statistical data dissemination, Publications and reports, Data APIs, Consultations and documentation, Educational sessions and training
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics (GA4), Piwik PRO analytics, YouTube iframe API
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Consent management for cookies
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with proper labels and ARIA attributes

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (GA4), Piwik PRO
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Piwik PRO
Marketing tools
Piwik PRO
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 navigation
  2. Strong focus on official statistical data for Catalonia
  3. Good implementation of privacy and cookie consent mechanisms
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity
  5. WHOIS data is unavailable due to privacy protection by puntCAT
  6. Use of multiple analytics platforms with consent management
  7. Good accessibility and SEO practices observed
  8. No security.txt or explicit vulnerability disclosure found
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern JavaScript-based front end with integration of Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics 4, and Piwik PRO for analytics and tracking. It embeds YouTube videos via iframe API and employs ARIA roles and labels for accessibility. The site is mobile responsive with preloaded fonts and images for performance optimization. Hosting appears to be managed by the Generalitat de Catalunya, ensuring reliable infrastructure. No CMS was explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or government-managed platform. Performance is moderate with good SEO and accessibility compliance. Opportunities exist to improve security headers and streamline analytics for privacy enhancement.
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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