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Security report for marineregions.org

VLIZ (Flanders Marine Institute) · Government · Belgium

Medium risk. 9 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 3 other checks.

Security score

59/100

Risk levelMedium

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

MarineRegions.org is a specialized marine geospatial data platform operated by the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ). It provides authoritative marine georeferenced place names, maritime boundaries, and related geographic information to researchers, policymakers, and maritime stakeholders. The platform integrates data from established sources such as the VLIMAR Gazetteer and MARBOUND database, positioning itself as a trusted resource in marine geographic information. The website is professionally designed with clear navigation and regularly updated content, including news and user testimonials, enhancing its credibility within the marine science community. Technically, the site employs standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, jQuery, and JWPlayer for media content. It uses Piwik (Matomo) analytics with cookies disabled, reflecting a moderate privacy-conscious approach. However, the site lacks explicit privacy and cookie policies, which is a compliance gap. Security-wise, HTTPS is enabled with no exposed sensitive data, but security headers are absent, and DNSSEC is not enabled, indicating room for improvement in security hardening. Overall, the site is trustworthy and functional but would benefit from enhanced privacy compliance and security best practices.

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

9 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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • 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 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 marineregions.org

This scan found 29 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
30
Email security
70
DNS health
55
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
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

Marine Regions operates as a non-profit government-affiliated entity under VLIZ, focusing on marine geographic data services. Its market position is that of an authoritative and specialized data provider in the marine and maritime domain. The business model centers on data integration, standardization, and dissemination to scientific and policy audiences. Revenue streams are likely grant or government-funded, with no evident commercial transactions on the site. The target customers include marine researchers, environmental agencies, and maritime governance bodies. The partnership ecosystem includes VLIZ and LifeWatch Belgium, indicating strong institutional support. The website's consistent branding and regular news updates suggest active maintenance and engagement with its community. Strategic observations include the need to improve privacy and security disclosures to align with evolving regulatory requirements.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enabled and no visible sensitive data leaks. The use of Piwik analytics with disabled cookies reduces privacy risks. However, the absence of security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options weakens the defense-in-depth posture. DNSSEC is not enabled, which could expose DNS spoofing risks. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response information is provided, limiting transparency and preparedness. The lack of privacy and cookie policies also represents a compliance gap under GDPR and related regulations. Overall, while no critical vulnerabilities are evident, the site would benefit from implementing security best practices and formalizing privacy and incident response policies to enhance trust and compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with clear GDPR compliance statements.
  2. Enable DNSSEC for the domain to improve DNS security.
  3. Add standard security headers including CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  4. Establish and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and incident response contact information.
  5. Enhance mobile optimization and accessibility features to improve user experience and compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
VLIZ (Flanders Marine Institute)
Description
Marine Regions is a standard list of marine georeferenced place names and areas integrating geographic information from VLIMAR Gazetteer and MARBOUND database, providing marine georeferenced locations, boundaries, and regions.
Key services
Marine georeferenced place names and areas, Maritime boundaries data, Geographic information integration, Data downloads and statistics
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, jQuery, MooTools, JWPlayer
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Piwik (Matomo)
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Piwik
Transparency
basic

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. No privacy or cookie policy found, which is a compliance gap.
  3. Contact information limited to a single email address in footer.
  4. No phone numbers or physical addresses explicitly provided.
  5. No forms detected on the main page; minimal data collection.
  6. Uses Piwik analytics with cookies disabled, indicating privacy consideration.
  7. No security headers detected in provided data; opportunity for improvement.
  8. Content is relevant, professional, and targeted to marine science community.
  9. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
  10. No advertising or affiliate programs present.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a traditional web technology stack with HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, jQuery, and MooTools. JWPlayer is used for media playback. The site appears custom-built without a common CMS. Hosting is likely managed by VLIZ or associated Belgian academic infrastructure, as indicated by DNS servers (vliz.be, belnet.be). Performance is moderate with no explicit optimization indicators. SEO is basic with meta tags present but no advanced structured data or Open Graph tags detected. Accessibility and mobile responsiveness are basic but could be improved. The site uses Piwik analytics with cookies disabled, reflecting a privacy-aware approach. Technical risks include lack of DNSSEC and missing security headers. Modernization opportunities include adopting a CMS for easier content management, improving SEO with structured data, and enhancing security configurations.
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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