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Security report for mercyships.ch

Mercy Ships Deutschland e.V. · Non-profit · Switzerland

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

73/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Mercy Ships Deutschland e.V. operates as a non-profit humanitarian organization providing life-saving surgery, medical mentoring, and training courses primarily in Africa. The organization maintains a professional and consistent online presence with a focus on volunteer engagement and medical aid. The website is built on a modern WordPress platform with multilingual support and integrates various plugins for SEO, user interaction, and performance optimization. Social media channels are actively linked, enhancing outreach and trust. Technically, the site employs HTTPS with good SSL configuration and uses consent management tools to comply with cookie regulations. However, explicit privacy policies and terms of service pages are not found, which could be improved for better compliance and transparency. Security posture is solid with no critical vulnerabilities detected, but the absence of security headers and incident response information suggests room for enhancement. Overall, the site reflects a credible and trustworthy NGO with a moderate to good digital maturity level.

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. 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

  2. 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"

    • 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';…

  3. 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

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

Keep watching mercyships.ch

This scan found 18 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
65
Security headers
15
Email security
100
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
73
Average
73

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

Mercy Ships holds a strong market position as an established NGO focused on healthcare in Africa. Its business model revolves around volunteer-driven medical services and training, supported by donations and crowdfunding. The organization targets a general audience interested in humanitarian aid and medical volunteering. The website's multilingual capabilities indicate an international outreach strategy. Partnerships and social media presence support its growth and visibility. The lack of detailed business registration data and contact information on the site limits deeper business intelligence insights but aligns with typical NGO transparency practices.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security baseline with enforced HTTPS and no visible exposure of sensitive data. Use of Cookiebot indicates attention to privacy and consent management. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and lack of published security policies or incident response contacts are notable gaps. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files were found, which could hinder coordinated vulnerability reporting. Overall, the security posture is adequate for the NGO sector but could benefit from formalized policies and enhanced HTTP security headers to mitigate risks.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service to improve compliance and user trust.
  2. Add security headers like Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options to strengthen security posture.
  3. Create and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible security reporting.
  4. Provide clear contact information including emails and phone numbers for general and security-related inquiries.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to meet recognized standards and improve user experience for all visitors.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Mercy Ships Deutschland e.V.
Description
Mercy Ships, floating hospitals in Africa: volunteers provide life-saving surgery and medical mentoring and courses.
Key services
Life-saving surgery, Medical mentoring, Medical courses
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, WooCommerce, Elementor, jQuery, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, WPML (multilingual), WP Rocket (performance optimization), WP Google Maps Pro, Quiz Maker, WP Crowdfunding, Instagram Feed Pro
Frameworks
Yoast SEO, Elementor
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of consent management (Cookiebot)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel
Marketing tools
HubSpot CTA, Cookiebot
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally maintained NGO site focused on medical aid in Africa.
  2. Uses modern WordPress ecosystem with multiple plugins for multilingual support, SEO, and user engagement.
  3. No critical security issues detected; HTTPS is enforced.
  4. Lacks explicit privacy policy and terms of service pages.
  5. Cookie consent is implemented via Cookiebot.
  6. Social media presence is strong and consistent with NGO branding.
  7. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly found in the provided HTML snippet.
  8. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress with Elementor and WooCommerce, supported by multiple plugins for multilingual support (WPML), SEO (Yoast), and user engagement (Quiz Maker, Instagram Feed). Performance optimization is handled by WP Rocket. The site loads scripts asynchronously and uses modern fonts and responsive design techniques, indicating a moderate to good technical implementation. However, no hosting provider details were found. The site shows moderate performance and good mobile optimization but could improve accessibility and security header implementation. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the NGO's mission effectively but has room for modernization and security hardening.
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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