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Security report for imslp.org

International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) / Petrucci Music Library · Education · Canada

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

54/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) is a well-established non-profit digital library founded in 2006, specializing in providing free access to public domain sheet music and recordings. It serves musicians, educators, and classical music enthusiasts worldwide, positioning itself as a leading repository in its niche. The website is powered by MediaWiki with a customized Bootstrap skin, hosted with Cloudflare DNS services, and integrates modern web technologies such as jQuery and Font Awesome. While the site offers a rich content experience with good navigation and mobile optimization, it lacks some privacy compliance features such as cookie consent mechanisms. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enabled and domain transfer protections, but could be improved by enabling DNSSEC and adding security headers. Overall, IMSLP demonstrates high business credibility and content quality, with moderate technical and privacy compliance scores.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

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 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 imslp.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.

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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
42
Security headers
25
Email security
85
DNS health
80
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
53
Average
54

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

IMSLP operates as a non-profit educational and media entity, leveraging community contributions and memberships for funding. Its market position is strong due to its extensive collection of over 248,000 works and 828,000 scores, serving a global audience interested in classical music. The business model focuses on free access supplemented by optional memberships and donations, with partnerships including PayPal for payment processing and dedicated forums for community engagement. The site’s longevity and consistent branding reinforce its trustworthiness and leadership in the digital music library sector.

Security posture

The website maintains a good security baseline with HTTPS enforced and domain status set to clientTransferProhibited, reducing risk of unauthorized domain transfers. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security represents areas for improvement. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. The lack of a published vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file limits transparency in security incident handling. Privacy compliance is partial, with no cookie consent mechanism detected, which may pose regulatory risks in jurisdictions with strict data protection laws.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Add a cookie consent banner/mechanism to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  4. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to improve transparency and incident response readiness.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking services to minimize privacy risks and improve user trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) / Petrucci Music Library
Description
IMSLP is a digital library providing free access to public domain sheet music, recordings, and related resources. It hosts a large collection of scores, composers, performers, and recordings.
Key services
Free downloadable sheet music, Music recordings, Community contributions and forums, Membership subscriptions for enhanced access
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
MediaWiki 1.18.1, jQuery, Bootstrap, Font Awesome, Cloudflare DNS
Frameworks
MediaWiki
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Quantcast, Microsoft Clarity
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Quantcast
Tracking pixels
Quantcast, Microsoft Clarity, Google Analytics (via gtag)
Marketing tools
Microsoft Clarity
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-established public domain music library with extensive content.
  2. Uses MediaWiki CMS with a customized Bootstrap skin.
  3. No privacy or cookie consent banners detected, which may affect GDPR compliance.
  4. No explicit security.txt or vulnerability disclosure found.
  5. Active community features including forums and contributor portals.
  6. Donation and membership options are clearly presented.
  7. No phone numbers or physical addresses explicitly listed on the main page.
  8. Uses multiple analytics and tracking services without explicit cookie consent.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a mature and stable technology stack centered on MediaWiki 1.18.1, enhanced with Bootstrap for responsive design and jQuery for interactivity. Hosting is supported by Cloudflare DNS, providing resilience and performance benefits. The site loads multiple external analytics and tracking scripts, including Google Analytics, Quantcast, and Microsoft Clarity, which contribute to moderate user tracking levels. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization. Accessibility and SEO are adequately addressed through proper meta tags and structured navigation. The site lacks modern privacy features such as cookie consent and could benefit from updated security configurations.
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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