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Security report for independencehallassociation.org

Independence Hall Association · Non-profit · United States

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

62/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Independence Hall Association (IHA) is a longstanding non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about American history. Founded in 1942, it operates the website USHistory.org, which serves as a major online resource for US history education, attracting millions of visitors globally. The organization is governed by a volunteer board and holds 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, emphasizing its educational mission and non-commercial nature. The website content is well-structured, professionally designed, and targets educators, students, and history enthusiasts. Technically, the website is built on the Squarespace platform, leveraging modern web technologies such as Google Fonts and SVG icons. The site is mobile-optimized and performs moderately well, though there is room for improvement in accessibility and SEO. Security measures include HTTPS with HSTS enabled, but additional security headers could enhance protection. Privacy and cookie policies are notably absent, which is a compliance gap. Overall, the security posture is solid with no evident vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. The lack of WHOIS transparency is common for privacy reasons but slightly impacts trust. The site does not employ tracking or analytics scripts in the provided content, indicating a minimal user tracking approach. Strategic recommendations include implementing comprehensive privacy and cookie policies, enhancing security headers, and improving accessibility features to strengthen compliance and user trust.

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

7 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  2. 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 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';…

  3. 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

    • 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 independencehallassociation.org

This scan found 27 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

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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
62
Security headers
45
Email security
60
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
62

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

IHA occupies a niche in the non-profit educational sector, focusing on US history content dissemination. Its competitive advantage lies in its authoritative content and historical legacy since 1942. The business model relies on donations and support rather than commercial transactions. The target audience includes educators, students, and history enthusiasts worldwide. The organization maintains a modest size with a volunteer board and leverages digital platforms to expand reach. Partnerships or subsidiaries are not evident. Growth opportunities include expanding digital history projects and increasing outreach through new initiatives. The social media presence supports community engagement and brand awareness.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS and HSTS enabled, ensuring encrypted communications and protection against protocol downgrade attacks. However, the absence of additional security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options limits defense-in-depth. No forms or input fields are present on the homepage, reducing attack surface. There is no evidence of exposed credentials or vulnerable libraries. Privacy compliance is weak due to missing policies and consent mechanisms. Incident response and security contact information are not provided, which could hinder timely vulnerability reporting and mitigation. Overall, the site is secure but could benefit from enhanced security controls and compliance documentation.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with user consent mechanisms to improve GDPR and privacy compliance.
  2. Add security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options to strengthen security posture.
  3. Provide clear contact information for security incidents or vulnerability disclosures to enhance incident response readiness.
  4. Enhance website accessibility features to meet WCAG standards and improve user experience for all visitors.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to ensure no vulnerable libraries are included.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Independence Hall Association
Description
The Independence Hall Association (IHA) is a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation founded in 1942 to spearhead the creation of Independence National Historical Park. It operates the website USHistory.org, a major provider of online US history content with tens of millions of visits annually from 231 countries. The IHA provides unbiased historical content used by public, private, and home schools in the US and abroad.
Key services
Online US history educational content, Digital history projects, Public education and motivation
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Squarespace CMS, Google Fonts, JavaScript, SVG icons
Platforms
Squarespace
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • HSTS enabled
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

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 challenge.
  2. Content is focused on US history education and non-profit mission.
  3. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found.
  4. Contact email info@USHistory.org is provided for inquiries.
  5. Social media presence on Facebook and Instagram is active.
  6. Website uses Squarespace CMS and related technologies.
  7. Security posture is good with HTTPS and HSTS but lacks some headers.
  8. No analytics or tracking scripts detected in provided HTML.
  9. No forms detected on the homepage or in provided content.
  10. WHOIS data is unavailable due to malformed request or privacy protection.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is hosted on Squarespace, a reputable platform providing managed hosting and CMS capabilities. The tech stack includes modern JavaScript, Google Fonts, and SVG icons for scalable graphics. The site uses responsive design techniques for mobile optimization. Performance is moderate, with some large images used as backgrounds but generally efficient loading. SEO is basic with canonical tags and Open Graph metadata present but lacks advanced optimization. Accessibility is basic with skip links but could be improved. No analytics or tracking scripts were detected in the provided HTML, indicating minimal data collection. The site uses standard Squarespace scripts and stylesheets, ensuring stability but limiting customization.
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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