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Security report for innovation.ca

Canada Foundation for Innovation · Government · Canada

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

77/100

Risk levelLow

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

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is a Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to investing in research infrastructure across universities, colleges, research hospitals, and non-profit research institutions in Canada. Positioned as a key national funder, CFI supports innovation and entrepreneurship by providing funding opportunities and managing awards. The website reflects a professional government-related entity with consistent branding and a clear mandate to support Canadian research advancement. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 10 and leverages modern web technologies including Google Tag Manager and Hotjar for analytics and user behavior tracking. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and well-structured, providing a good user experience. Performance is moderate with asynchronous loading of scripts. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and avoids exposing sensitive data. However, it lacks explicit security headers and a vulnerability disclosure policy, which are recommended for enhanced security posture. Privacy compliance is partially addressed with a comprehensive privacy policy, but no cookie consent mechanism is detected. Overall, the website presents a low-risk profile with strong business credibility and professional content. The absence of WHOIS data for the subdomain is noted but does not detract significantly from trust given the official nature of the site and domain. Strategic improvements in security headers and privacy mechanisms would further strengthen the site’s security and compliance stance.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of innovation.ca. View the latest report

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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

  2. 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 SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
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  • Security headers
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  • 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
75
Security headers
70
Email security
85
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
77

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 innovation.ca, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
54
Employees
0
Customers
54
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
0%

3 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 innovation.ca.

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Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

CFI operates in the government and non-profit sectors, focusing on funding research infrastructure in education and healthcare-related research institutions. Its business model is grant and award management funded by government allocations. The organization targets academic and research communities across Canada, positioning itself as a critical enabler of innovation and economic growth. The website’s content and structure support transparency and engagement with stakeholders, including researchers and institutions. Partnerships such as the Research Facilities Navigator enhance service offerings. The organization maintains a strong digital presence with official social media channels and a professional website. Growth indicators include ongoing funding competitions and updates on research stories, reflecting active engagement with the research community. The lack of direct contact emails or phone numbers on the homepage suggests a controlled communication approach, likely routed through dedicated contact pages or forms.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS and no visible exposure of sensitive information. Use of asynchronous loading for analytics scripts reduces performance impact but requires regular audits to mitigate third-party risks. The absence of security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options is a gap that could expose the site to certain web-based attacks. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response contacts are provided, which limits transparency and readiness for security incidents. Privacy policy coverage is strong, but cookie consent mechanisms are missing, potentially impacting GDPR compliance. Overall, the security posture is good but could be improved with enhanced headers, explicit vulnerability disclosure, and cookie consent implementation.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options.
  2. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to improve transparency and incident response readiness.
  3. Introduce a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with privacy regulations such as GDPR.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts like Hotjar and Google Tag Manager for security and privacy compliance.
  5. Enhance contact information visibility for security and privacy officers to improve trust and compliance.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Canada Foundation for Innovation
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Canada Foundation for Innovation
Description
The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) invests in research infrastructure at Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit research institutions.
Key services
Funding research infrastructure, Managing awards, Providing research facilities navigator, Supporting innovation and entrepreneurship
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Google Tag Manager, Hotjar, Bootstrap, FontAwesome, AOS (Animate On Scroll), Swiper
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google Tag Manager and Hotjar scripts asynchronously

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager, Hotjar
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Hotjar
Marketing tools
Hotjar
Transparency
basic

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 no blocking detected.
  2. Professional and consistent branding aligned with a Canadian government-related non-profit.
  3. No email addresses or phone numbers explicitly found in the HTML content; contact likely via contact page or forms.
  4. Social media links to official Facebook, Twitter (X), LinkedIn, and YouTube accounts.
  5. No cookie consent banner or explicit cookie policy detected.
  6. Multiple internal navigation menus with clear structure and dropdowns.
  7. Use of modern web technologies and frameworks.
  8. No visible security headers in HTML but HTTPS is enforced.
  9. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  10. No explicit privacy officer contact found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10, a modern and widely supported CMS, ensuring a solid foundation for content management and security updates. It uses popular libraries and frameworks such as Bootstrap for responsive design, FontAwesome for icons, AOS for animations, and Swiper for carousels, contributing to a rich user experience. Google Tag Manager and Hotjar are integrated for analytics and user behavior tracking, loaded asynchronously to optimize performance. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with proper meta tags and SEO elements including Open Graph and Twitter cards. Performance is moderate, with potential for improvement through optimization of image sizes and script loading. No hosting provider details are explicitly found in the HTML content. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional and scalable web presence.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 77/100Low23 findingsView report
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