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Security report for ngu.no

Norges geologiske undersøkelse (NGU) · Government · Norway

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Norges geologiske undersøkelse (NGU) is a Norwegian government agency specializing in geological surveying and dissemination of geological knowledge. The website serves as a portal for geologic maps, scientific publications, and news relevant to geology in Norway, targeting researchers, government bodies, and the public. The organization holds a strong national position as the authoritative source for geological data and services. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 10 with Matomo analytics integration, demonstrating a modern but self-hosted infrastructure. However, the site suffers from slow load times and lacks a valid SSL certificate, which critically impacts its security posture. While privacy and cookie policies are present, there is no explicit cookie consent mechanism, and no visible terms of service or security policies are published. Contact information is comprehensive and clearly presented, enhancing business credibility. Overall, the site is professional and trustworthy but requires urgent improvements in security and performance to meet modern standards.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
25/ 100 · Critical
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 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';…

  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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

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

Keep watching ngu.no

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
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  • 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
95
Security headers
50
Email security
70
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
25
Average
71

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

NGU operates as a government entity providing essential geological data and services in Norway. Its business model is non-commercial, focusing on public service and research support. The website reflects a mature digital presence with consistent branding and comprehensive content relevant to its audience. The organization leverages partnerships with academic and governmental networks, as indicated by DNS and hosting infrastructure. The presence of multiple social media channels and a newsletter subscription indicates active engagement with stakeholders. The lack of commercial advertising or affiliate programs aligns with its public sector nature. Growth indicators include active event participation and scientific publication dissemination. Strategic observations suggest a need to modernize security infrastructure and improve website performance to maintain stakeholder trust and compliance.

Security posture

The website's security posture is currently weak due to the absence of a valid SSL certificate and disabled TLS protocols, exposing users to potential risks. Although HSTS is enabled, it cannot be effective without proper HTTPS configuration. No critical vulnerabilities like Heartbleed or POODLE were detected, and no sensitive data exposure was found in the content. The site lacks advanced security headers and mechanisms such as OCSP stapling and session resumption. There is no published security policy or incident response contact, which limits transparency and readiness. Compliance with GDPR is partially indicated through privacy policies but lacks explicit consent mechanisms. Overall, the security maturity is low, requiring immediate remediation to protect user data and maintain trust.

Recommendations

  1. Acquire and deploy a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS and modern TLS protocols.
  2. Implement a cookie consent mechanism to comply with GDPR and enhance user privacy transparency.
  3. Publish clear security policies and incident response contacts to improve transparency and readiness.
  4. Optimize website performance to reduce load times and improve user experience.
  5. Add additional security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Norges geologiske undersøkelse
Registration number
NO 970 188 290
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by Drupal 10 CMS with custom Gutenberg blocks and uses Matomo for analytics, indicating a modern and customizable platform. DNS infrastructure is stable with Norwegian academic network nameservers. However, the SSL/TLS configuration is critically lacking, with no valid certificate and no enabled TLS protocols, severely impacting security. Performance is slow with a load time of over 8 seconds, which may affect user retention. Mobile optimization and accessibility are good, reflecting attention to user experience. SEO is well addressed with proper meta tags and canonical links. The site uses external scripts from trusted domains and has no signs of suspicious or malicious content. Technical debt is moderate, with clear opportunities for security and performance improvements.
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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