Skip to main content

Security report for nasbe.org

National Association of State Boards of Education · Education · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

53/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) is a specialized non-profit organization dedicated to supporting state boards of education across the United States. Their website clearly communicates their mission to advance equity and excellence in public education through policy support, resources, and professional development. The organization targets state education policymakers and board members, providing them with publications, events, and policy databases. The site is professionally designed, well-structured, and mobile-optimized, reflecting a mature digital presence. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern frameworks such as Bootstrap and FontAwesome, hosted likely on DigitalOcean infrastructure. It uses Google Analytics for tracking and includes standard JavaScript libraries. Performance and accessibility are good, though some security best practices like security headers are missing. The site uses HTTPS and implements safe link practices. From a security perspective, the site has a solid foundation with HTTPS and no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. However, it lacks visible privacy and cookie policies, security headers, and incident response or vulnerability disclosure information, which are important for compliance and trust. The WHOIS data is unavailable due to a malformed query or privacy protection, which reduces transparency but does not necessarily indicate malicious intent. Overall, NASBE's website is a trustworthy and professional platform serving a niche educational audience. Strategic improvements in privacy compliance and security headers would enhance its security posture and user trust.

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

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 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

  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. 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 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';…

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

Keep watching nasbe.org

This scan found 26 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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
47
Security headers
30
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
53
Average
53

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

NASBE occupies a unique position as the sole organization dedicated exclusively to supporting state boards of education in the U.S. Its business model revolves around membership services, policy research, advocacy, and professional development. The organization leverages partnerships with research entities like Child Trends and maintains an active presence through events and publications. Revenue streams likely include membership fees, event registrations, and grants. The target customers are state education policymakers and board members, indicating a focused and specialized market segment. The website content and structure suggest a medium-sized non-profit with a stable market position and a clear mission. The partnership ecosystem includes research organizations and government stakeholders, enhancing its influence and reach.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security posture with mandatory HTTPS and safe link attributes. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options is a notable gap. There is no visible privacy policy or cookie consent mechanism, which may impact GDPR and other privacy compliance. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided, limiting transparency in security practices. The WHOIS data is unavailable, which reduces domain registration transparency. Overall, the site is secure for general use but would benefit from enhanced security controls and compliance documentation to strengthen trust and reduce risk.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie consent banner to improve privacy compliance.
  2. Implement security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Add a security.txt file and vulnerability disclosure policy to enhance transparency and incident response readiness.
  4. Improve WHOIS transparency if possible by ensuring domain registration data is accessible or justified if privacy protected.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking to ensure minimal user data exposure and compliance with privacy regulations.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
National Association of State Boards of Education
Description
NASBE develops, supports, and empowers citizen leaders on state boards of education to strengthen public education systems so students of all backgrounds and circumstances are prepared to succeed in school, work, and life.
Key services
Membership benefits and resources, Policy research and publications, Events and conferences, Professional development, Policy databases and projects
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, jQuery, Bootstrap 4, FontAwesome, Google Analytics (gtag.js)
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of rel="noopener" on external links with target="_blank"
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (gtag.js)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges
  2. Content is focused on education policy and state boards of education
  3. No privacy or cookie policy pages found or linked
  4. Multiple newsletter subscription forms collecting email addresses
  5. Social media presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter
  6. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information
  7. WHOIS data unavailable, limiting domain registration transparency
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform using Bootstrap 4 for responsive design and FontAwesome for icons. It loads jQuery and Popper.js libraries and integrates Google Analytics via gtag.js for visitor tracking. Hosting appears to be on DigitalOcean, inferred from the digitaloceanspaces.com URLs used for media assets. The site is mobile-optimized with good accessibility features and SEO meta tags. Performance is moderate, with some preloading of images to improve load times. There is no evidence of outdated or vulnerable libraries in the HTML source. The site uses standard HTML5 and CSS3 with inline styles and external stylesheets. Opportunities exist to improve security headers and privacy compliance mechanisms.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with nasbe.org. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review nasbe.org.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.