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Security report for knaw.nl

Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (KNAW) · Government · Netherlands

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

81/100

Risk levelLow

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

The Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (KNAW) is a prestigious Dutch scientific academy serving as the voice of science in the Netherlands. It supports top research institutes, organizes scientific events, and publishes reports and advisories to promote knowledge and creativity for societal welfare. The website reflects a well-established institution with a strong market position in the government and academic sectors. Technically, the site employs modern frameworks such as React and Next.js, uses AWS Cloudfront for hosting, and integrates Google Analytics for user insights. The site is performant, mobile-optimized, and accessible. Security measures include HTTPS enforcement and multiple security headers, indicating a mature security posture. Privacy policies are present and GDPR compliant, though cookie consent mechanisms could be enhanced. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and serves its target audience effectively.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
73/ 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

2 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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • 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 knaw.nl

This scan found 16 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
100
Security headers
55
Email security
80
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
73
Average
81

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

KNAW operates as a non-profit government-affiliated entity focused on advancing scientific research and policy in the Netherlands. Its business model centers on supporting research institutes, awarding grants and prizes, and facilitating knowledge dissemination through events and publications. The organization targets academics, policymakers, and the interested public. Its partnerships include scientific consortia and cultural institutions. The website content and structure indicate a large, mature organization with a consistent brand and high trust signals. Growth indicators include active event programming and recent news updates.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a strong security posture with HTTPS enabled and comprehensive security headers such as HSTS, CSP, and X-Frame-Options. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. Forms are secured with appropriate input types. The presence of a responsible disclosure policy page indicates awareness of security best practices. However, the absence of a security.txt file and explicit security framework references suggests room for improvement in formalizing security governance. Privacy compliance is good but could be enhanced with explicit cookie consent mechanisms.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a cookie consent banner to comply fully with GDPR cookie requirements.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy page detailing frameworks and standards followed.
  3. Add a security.txt file at the root domain to facilitate vulnerability reporting.
  4. Consider publishing Data Protection Officer contact details to improve transparency.
  5. Regularly review and audit third-party scripts and analytics tools for security and privacy compliance.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (KNAW)
Description
De KNAW is de stem van de wetenschap in Nederland met topinstituten, toonaangevend onderzoek en de overtuiging dat kennis en creativiteit zorgen voor welzijn en welvaart.
Key services
Ondersteuning van wetenschappelijk onderzoek, Organisatie van bijeenkomsten en symposia, Publicatie van wetenschappelijke rapporten en adviezen, Beheer van wetenschappelijke instituten, Toekenning van fondsen en prijzen
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Next.js, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, WebP images, Lazy loading images, CSS-in-JS (Emotion)
Frameworks
Next.js, React
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Security headers present
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with proper input types

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Marketing tools
Mailchimp
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 relevant to scientific community and public
  3. Clear contact information and multiple communication channels
  4. Good use of modern web technologies and performance optimizations
  5. Security posture is strong with HTTPS and security headers
  6. Privacy and cookie policies are present but cookie consent mechanism could be improved
  7. No signs of suspicious or malicious activity
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern React/Next.js stack, leveraging server-side rendering and static generation for performance. It uses AWS Cloudfront CDN for fast content delivery and lazy loading for images to optimize load times. The site includes Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for tracking, and Mailchimp for newsletter subscriptions. CSS-in-JS (Emotion) is used for styling, indicating a modern frontend architecture. The site is mobile responsive and accessible, with proper meta tags for SEO. No technical debt or deprecated technologies were observed. Hosting and infrastructure choices support scalability and reliability.
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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