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Security report for nationalcartoonists.com

National Cartoonists Society · Media · United States

High risk. 10 critical or high findings in Network security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

47/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The National Cartoonists Society is a well-established non-profit professional organization dedicated to supporting cartoonists and comic artists. It provides key services such as annual awards, membership networking, educational outreach, and charitable activities through its foundation. The website reflects a focused and professional presence targeting cartoonists, educators, and enthusiasts. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern frameworks and is hosted by SiteGround, offering good mobile optimization and accessibility. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enabled and domain protections, but lacks advanced security headers and explicit privacy/cookie policies, indicating room for improvement. Overall, the site is trustworthy and credible but should enhance privacy compliance and security best practices to reduce risk and improve user trust.

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

10 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: PostgreSQL

      Port 5432 (PostgreSQL) is publicly accessible - PostgreSQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to PostgreSQL using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

  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 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

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

Keep watching nationalcartoonists.com

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.

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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
35
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
35
Average
47

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 · found on this site
  • 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

The NCS holds a strong market position as a recognized professional society with over 500 members worldwide. Its business model centers on membership services, awards, events, and educational outreach, supported by a charitable foundation. Revenue streams likely include membership fees, event registrations, and merchandise sales via its shop subdomain. The organization maintains partnerships with related entities such as the NCS Foundation, NCS Fest, and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, enhancing its ecosystem. The website's content and social media presence support engagement with its target audience of professional cartoonists and enthusiasts. Growth indicators include ongoing events and scholarship programs. Strategic observations suggest focusing on digital privacy compliance and security enhancements to maintain reputation and trust.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enabled and domain status protections such as clientDeleteProhibited. However, the absence of security headers like Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and HSTS reduces its defense-in-depth. No incident response or security policy pages were found, indicating limited transparency on security governance. The use of third-party analytics and marketing tools introduces moderate tracking but lacks clear cookie consent mechanisms, posing compliance risks under GDPR. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the provided content. Overall, the security posture is functional but could be significantly improved by implementing security headers, privacy policies, and incident response contacts.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with explicit GDPR compliance statements.
  2. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and HSTS to enhance protection.
  3. Enable DNSSEC for the domain to improve DNS security.
  4. Establish and publish an incident response policy and contact channels for security issues.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party plugins and scripts to mitigate vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
National Cartoonists Society
Description
The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is a professional organization representing cartoonists, comic artists, and related professionals. It honors outstanding achievements in cartooning through awards such as the Reuben Awards and supports charitable and educational activities through its foundation.
Key services
Annual Reuben Awards and other cartooning awards, Membership directory and networking, Educational outreach programs, Charitable foundation activities, Events and conferences
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, jQuery, Foundation CSS, FontAwesome, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, SiteGround Optimizer
Frameworks
Foundation CSS
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
65/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status includes clientDeleteProhibited and other EPP protections

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Ad networks
Google AdSense
Marketing tools
Mailchimp (email marketing)
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured.
  2. Content is focused on cartoonists and related professional activities.
  3. No privacy or cookie policy pages found, which is a compliance gap.
  4. Contact information is clearly provided including email, phone, and physical address.
  5. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  6. No security headers detected; opportunity for security improvements.
  7. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected.
  8. Social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
  9. Domain WHOIS data is consistent and trustworthy.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform using Foundation CSS framework, jQuery, and FontAwesome for UI elements. It integrates Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager for analytics and tracking, and uses SiteGround Optimizer for performance enhancements. Hosting is provided by SiteGround with domain registration via GoDaddy. The site is mobile optimized and accessible with an accessibility toolbar. Performance is moderate with asynchronous loading of scripts. Technical debt appears low, but the lack of security headers and privacy compliance pages indicates areas for modernization. The site could benefit from improved SEO metadata completeness and enhanced security configurations to reduce technical risks.
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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