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Security report for nhm.ac.uk

The Natural History Museum · Education · United Kingdom

High risk. 7 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

47/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The Natural History Museum website serves as a comprehensive digital portal for one of the UK's leading educational and cultural institutions. It offers extensive information on exhibitions, scientific research, educational resources, and visitor services, targeting a broad audience including the general public, educators, and researchers. The site is well-branded, professionally designed, and provides clear navigation and rich content relevant to its mission. Technically, the website leverages modern web technologies such as React with Next.js and Adobe Experience Manager as its CMS, hosted on Microsoft Azure. While the site is mobile-optimized and accessible, performance is currently hindered by an invalid SSL certificate and lack of enabled TLS protocols, which also impacts the security posture. Security-wise, the site implements some security headers like HSTS and X-Frame-Options but lacks a valid SSL certificate and proper TLS support, which are critical for secure communications. Privacy and cookie policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, with a clear consent mechanism in place. Social media integration and tracking tools like Google Tag Manager and Adobe DTM are used responsibly with privacy considerations. Overall, the website is trustworthy and professional but requires urgent remediation of SSL and TLS issues to ensure secure user interactions and improve its security score. Strategic improvements in SSL management and security best practices will enhance user trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
0/ 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

7 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

    • 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

  2. 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.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

  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 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';…

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
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  • 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
0
Security headers
45
Email security
50
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
0
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
  • 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 Natural History Museum holds a strong market position as a premier non-profit educational institution in the UK. Its business model focuses on public engagement through exhibitions, memberships, donations, and educational outreach. The museum's digital presence supports its mission by providing access to scientific research, collections, and visitor information. The website reflects a mature digital strategy with integration of advanced CMS and analytics tools, supporting growth and audience engagement. Partnerships with social media platforms and use of marketing tools indicate a well-rounded ecosystem for outreach and fundraising. The museum targets diverse customer segments including families, students, researchers, and donors. Its content strategy and online services align with its educational and cultural objectives, reinforcing its reputation and expanding its reach.

Security posture

The current security posture shows moderate maturity with some foundational security headers implemented. However, the invalid SSL certificate and absence of enabled TLS protocols represent significant vulnerabilities that expose users to risks such as data interception and man-in-the-middle attacks. The lack of OCSP stapling and session resumption further limits security and performance. No incident response or security policy pages were found, indicating potential gaps in transparency and readiness. Privacy compliance is strong with clear policies and consent mechanisms, reflecting good data protection practices. The site does not expose sensitive data or use vulnerable libraries, which is positive. Overall, the security posture requires immediate attention to SSL/TLS configuration to meet modern security standards and protect user data effectively.

Recommendations

  1. Immediately renew and correctly install a valid SSL certificate to enable HTTPS.
  2. Enable TLS 1.2 or TLS 1.3 protocols and disable insecure protocols.
  3. Configure HSTS header with includeSubDomains and preload options for enhanced security.
  4. Implement OCSP stapling to improve certificate validation performance and security.
  5. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern technology stack including React and Next.js for frontend rendering, integrated with Adobe Experience Manager CMS, and hosted on Microsoft Azure. It uses Google Tag Manager and Adobe DTM for analytics and marketing. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible with good SEO practices. However, performance is currently impacted by the lack of a valid SSL certificate and disabled TLS protocols, which also affect security. The site uses responsive design and modern image formats for optimized delivery. Technical debt appears low, but SSL/TLS misconfiguration is a critical risk that should be prioritized for remediation.
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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