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Security report for marinespecies.org

Flanders Marine Institute · Other · Belgium

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a reputable scientific database providing authoritative classification and cataloguing of marine species names. Hosted and developed by the Flanders Marine Institute in Belgium, the platform serves marine biologists, researchers, and environmental organizations worldwide. It offers extensive taxonomic data, webservices, and collaborative scientific tools, positioning itself as a leading global resource in marine biodiversity data. Technically, the website employs a custom-built infrastructure with modern JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and Bootstrap for responsive design. The hosting by a recognized scientific institute ensures stable and secure infrastructure, with HTTPS enforced and no evident security challenges or WAF blocks. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization and accessibility, though some improvements in security headers and cookie consent mechanisms are recommended. From a security perspective, the site maintains a solid posture with SSL encryption and secure form handling. However, the absence of DNSSEC and explicit security policies or incident response contacts indicates room for enhancement. Privacy compliance is basic, with a privacy policy present but lacking explicit GDPR consent mechanisms. No vulnerabilities or malicious content were detected. Overall, WoRMS presents a trustworthy, professional, and content-rich platform with a strong business credibility score. Strategic improvements in security policies, cookie consent, and DNS security would further strengthen its compliance and security posture.

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

5 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 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. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

  4. 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 Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1

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

Keep watching marinespecies.org

This scan found 25 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
62
Security headers
30
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
73
Average
68

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

WoRMS operates as a non-profit scientific data infrastructure focused on marine species taxonomy. Its market position is strong as a global authoritative source, supported by a medium-sized organization (Flanders Marine Institute) with a long domain history since 2006. The business model centers on providing open-access taxonomic data and webservices to academic and governmental users. Partnerships with LifeWatch Belgium and other scientific entities enhance its ecosystem. The platform's growth is indicated by continuous updates, a large editor base, and institutional users. Revenue streams are likely grant and institutional funding rather than commercial sales. The website's professional content and scientific collaborations reinforce its credibility and market relevance.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and no WAF or blocking detected. Security best practices include secure form submissions and no exposed sensitive data. However, the lack of DNSSEC and missing security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options are notable gaps. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies are publicly available, which could hinder rapid response to security events. Privacy compliance is partial, with no cookie consent mechanism detected. Overall, the security posture is good but could benefit from formalized policies and enhanced DNS and header security.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to protect against DNS spoofing and improve DNS security.
  2. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options.
  3. Publish explicit security and incident response policies with dedicated contact channels for vulnerability reporting.
  4. Add a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with GDPR and improve user privacy transparency.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to ensure no vulnerable libraries are in use.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Flanders Marine Institute
Description
WoRMS provides an authoritative classification and catalogue of marine species names, continuously updated to reflect current scientific knowledge without making new taxonomic decisions.
Key services
Marine species taxonomy database, Taxonomic backbone services, Webservices and APIs for species data, Photogallery and documentation, Collaborations with scientific projects like LifeWatch
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, jQuery, Select2, Bootstrap CSS, Custom CSS and JS, PHP backend (implied by .php URLs)
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No DNSSEC (not enabled)
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with POST method

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-established scientific resource for marine species taxonomy.
  2. Content is rich, relevant, and professionally presented.
  3. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  4. Lacks explicit cookie consent mechanism and detailed security policies.
  5. No visible advertising or tracking services detected.
  6. Social media presence is professional and relevant.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a custom CMS with JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and Bootstrap for UI components and responsiveness. The infrastructure is hosted by the Flanders Marine Institute, indicating a stable and scientific-grade hosting environment. Performance is moderate with room for optimization. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible at a basic level. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and structured navigation. There is no evidence of heavy third-party tracking or advertising, which aligns with the scientific and non-commercial nature of the site. Technical debt appears low, but improvements in security headers and cookie management are recommended to modernize the platform.
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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