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Security report for ipcc.ch

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change · Government · Switzerland

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a globally recognized United Nations body established in 1988 to provide policymakers with scientific assessments on climate change, its impacts, and mitigation strategies. The organization operates with 195 member countries and produces comprehensive reports that are key inputs for international climate negotiations. The website reflects a mature digital presence with extensive content, including reports, working group information, and activities, targeting policymakers, researchers, and the public interested in climate science. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with a modern tech stack including jQuery, Google Analytics, and various UI libraries. It is well-optimized for mobile and accessibility, though performance is moderate. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and no exposed sensitive data, but could be improved by adding explicit security headers and a cookie consent mechanism to enhance GDPR compliance. Overall, the IPCC website demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and content quality. However, it lacks explicit contact emails or phone numbers on the homepage and does not display a cookie consent banner, which are areas for improvement. No WAF or blocking mechanisms were detected, allowing full content access for analysis.

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

4 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 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

  3. 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

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching ipcc.ch

This scan found 21 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

€25per month

  • 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
65
Security headers
45
Email security
70
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
70

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

IPCC holds a leading position as the authoritative source for climate change science assessments globally. Its non-profit intergovernmental model focuses on producing scientific reports rather than commercial services. The organization benefits from strong UN affiliation and a broad member base, enhancing its credibility and influence. The website supports this positioning with detailed content on reports, working groups, and activities, and maintains active social media channels. The absence of direct contact details on the homepage suggests a controlled communication approach, likely via forms or official channels. The technical infrastructure is robust but could benefit from enhanced security and privacy features.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS with a presumably strong SSL configuration, uses modern JavaScript libraries, and avoids exposing sensitive information in the HTML. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options reduces its defense-in-depth. There is no visible security policy or incident response contact information, nor a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file. Cookie consent mechanisms are missing, which is a compliance gap under GDPR. Overall, the security posture is good but not exemplary, with room for improvements in headers and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and verify comprehensive security headers including CSP, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Add a clear cookie consent banner and mechanism to comply fully with GDPR and enhance user privacy transparency.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy page and provide incident response contact information to improve trust and readiness.
  4. Consider establishing a vulnerability disclosure program and hosting a security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  5. Enhance contact information visibility, including official emails or phone numbers, to improve user trust and communication.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Description
The IPCC is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. It provides policymakers with regular scientific assessments on climate change, its implications, potential future risks, and adaptation and mitigation options. It does not conduct its own research but assesses existing scientific knowledge.
Key services
Scientific assessment reports, Special reports, Methodology reports, Workshops and expert meetings, Outreach and communication
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 5.3.15, jQuery 1.12.4, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook SDK, Slick Carousel, Isotope, AmCharts, Parallaxie, ScrollReveal
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of modern JavaScript libraries
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of contact forms with reCAPTCHA support

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook SDK
Marketing tools
Facebook SDK
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well maintained.
  2. Content is comprehensive and authoritative on climate change topics.
  3. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  4. Social media presence is strong and consistent.
  5. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found on the homepage; contact likely via forms or subpages.
  6. No explicit cookie consent mechanism detected despite GDPR relevance.
  7. Security headers could be improved for enhanced protection.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by WordPress 5.3.15 with jQuery 1.12.4 and uses several modern JavaScript libraries such as Slick Carousel, Isotope, AmCharts, and ScrollReveal for UI and data visualization. Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager are used for analytics tracking, alongside Facebook SDK for social integration. The site is mobile optimized and accessible with good SEO practices. Performance is moderate, likely due to the number of scripts and rich content. Hosting provider details are not explicitly available. The site uses HTTPS with a strong SSL configuration. There is no evidence of outdated or vulnerable libraries in the HTML content. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but could be modernized further with updated libraries and enhanced security features.
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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