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Security report for imr.no

Havforskningsinstituttet · Government · Norway

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Havforskningsinstituttet is the largest marine research institute in Europe, based in Norway, focusing on marine research, advisory services, and environmental monitoring. The website reflects a well-established government entity with a large staff and a comprehensive content offering targeted at researchers, policymakers, and the public interested in marine science. Technically, the site uses modern web technologies and frameworks, ensuring good accessibility, SEO, and user experience. However, a critical security weakness is the lack of a valid SSL certificate and HTTPS support, which significantly impacts the security posture. Privacy and cookie policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, and contact information is clearly provided. Overall, the site is professional and trustworthy but requires urgent security improvements.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
25/ 100 · Critical
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

7 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

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  • 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
85
Security headers
15
Email security
65
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
25
Average
63

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 organization holds a strong market position as a government-funded marine research institute with a large workforce and extensive research output. Its business model centers on research, advisory, and monitoring services, supported by government funding. The website's partnership with related marine and environmental organizations like NIFES and Dugnad for Havet indicates a collaborative ecosystem. The presence of social media channels and newsletter subscriptions suggests active engagement with stakeholders and the public. The lack of terms of service or explicit security policies may reflect the public/government nature of the entity but could be improved for transparency.

Security posture

The current security posture is weak due to the absence of a valid SSL certificate and HTTPS, exposing users to potential interception risks. While some security headers and CORS policies are configured, critical best practices such as HSTS, OCSP stapling, and modern TLS protocols are missing. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response information is provided, which limits transparency and readiness. The site does not expose sensitive data or vulnerable libraries, but the lack of HTTPS is a major concern that must be addressed immediately to protect user data and maintain trust.

Recommendations

  1. Acquire and deploy a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS across the entire site.
  2. Enable and enforce modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 and 1.3) and configure HSTS with preload and includeSubDomains.
  3. Implement OCSP stapling and session resumption to improve security and performance.
  4. Add explicit security policies and vulnerability disclosure information to enhance transparency.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and scripts to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Havforskningsinstituttet
Registration number
971 349 077
Technical notes

Notes

The website is hosted on an Ubuntu server running nginx 1.18.0 and uses a combination of jQuery, Select2, Foundation CSS framework, and Google Fonts. Google Tag Manager and Monsido are used for analytics and accessibility monitoring. The CMS appears to be Lime CMS based on internal comments. Performance metrics are missing or zero, indicating potential monitoring gaps. The site is mobile optimized and accessible with good SEO practices. However, the lack of HTTPS and modern TLS support is a significant technical risk. DNS records are properly configured with MX and NS records, but DNSSEC and CAA are not enabled, which could be improved for enhanced DNS security.
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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