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Security report for inserm.fr

Inserm · Healthcare · France

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and Network security.

Security score

59/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Inserm is the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, a leading public biomedical research organization dedicated exclusively to human health. It operates as a government-affiliated entity with a strong focus on advancing scientific knowledge, innovation in treatments, and public health research. The website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive content targeting both the general public and research professionals. The technical infrastructure is modern, leveraging WordPress CMS, CDN hosting, and privacy-respecting analytics. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement and secure form handling, though some security headers could be explicitly confirmed or enhanced. Privacy compliance is robust with clear policies and consent mechanisms. Overall, Inserm's website demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and alignment with its public mission.

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

5 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.

    • Critical

      EU business without adequate privacy measures

      EU businesses are subject to strict GDPR requirements

      What to do: Implement comprehensive GDPR compliance including privacy policy, cookie consent, and data protection measures

    • 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 Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

  2. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • High

      High-Risk Service Exposed: FTP

      Port 21 (FTP) is publicly accessible - FTP - Often unencrypted file transfer

      What to do: Consider restricting access to FTP or implementing strong authentication

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

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Keep watching inserm.fr

This scan found 20 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
87
Security headers
85
Email security
75
DNS health
60
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
25
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

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

Inserm holds a prominent position in the French healthcare research sector, serving as the sole public research body fully dedicated to health. Its business model is publicly funded research and knowledge dissemination, supported by partnerships with other research organizations and foundations. The website's ecosystem includes multiple related domains for press, professional resources, and technology transfer, indicating a well-structured organizational network. Inserm's target audience spans from the general public seeking health information to advanced researchers. The presence of certifications like HR Excellence in Research and official VAT registration further reinforce its credibility and operational scale.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS, secure form inputs, and no visible exposure of sensitive data. The use of security-related scripts and plugins suggests active measures against common web threats such as user enumeration. However, explicit HTTP security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options are not clearly detected in the provided data and should be verified or implemented to enhance protection. No vulnerabilities or suspicious activities were identified in the content. Incident response and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not explicitly found, which is common for public research sites but could be improved for transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and verify Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options HTTP headers to strengthen security.
  2. Publish or link to an incident response or vulnerability disclosure policy to improve transparency and trust.
  3. Regularly audit third-party scripts and plugins for security vulnerabilities and update accordingly.
  4. Enhance visibility of Data Protection Officer contact information to support GDPR compliance.
  5. Maintain and update privacy and cookie policies to reflect evolving regulations and user expectations.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm)
VAT number
FR31180036048
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Inserm
Description
L'Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm) est le seul organisme de recherche public français entièrement dédié à la santé humaine. Notre objectif : améliorer la santé par le progrès des connaissances sur le vivant et les maladies, l’innovation dans les traitements et la recherche en santé publique.
Key services
Biomedical research, Public health research, Scientific publications, Research programs and partnerships, Information dissemination
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, WordPress, LiteSpeed Cache, Schema.org JSON-LD, Plausible Analytics
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure forms with validation
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security-focused plugins (e.g., stop-user-enumeration.js)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Plausible Analytics
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Plausible Analytics
Marketing tools
Sendinblue (newsletter signup)
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 no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and professionally presented.
  3. Strong presence of official and trust signals including VAT number and certifications.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and good security practices.
  5. Comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms.
  6. Multiple contact channels and social media presence.
  7. No signs of suspicious or malicious activity.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS, utilizing modern web technologies including jQuery and LiteSpeed Cache for performance optimization. Hosting is via a CDN (inserm.b-cdn.net) ensuring fast content delivery. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility considerations. SEO is well implemented with comprehensive meta tags, Open Graph, and JSON-LD structured data. Analytics are handled by Plausible, a privacy-focused service, minimizing invasive tracking. The technical setup supports a fast, secure, and user-friendly experience aligned with the organization's public mission.
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. 49/100High20 findingsView report
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