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Security report for nilu.com

NILU · Other · Norway

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

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

NILU is a well-established independent non-profit research institute based in Norway, specializing in climate and environmental research. Founded in 1969, it holds a strong market position as an internationally leading research organization offering services such as laboratory analysis, environmental solutions, and scientific publications. The website reflects a professional and consistent brand image targeting researchers, industry stakeholders, and policymakers. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with a modern tech stack including Bootstrap and jQuery, but suffers from slow load times and lacks a valid SSL certificate, which is a critical security concern. Security posture is weak due to missing HTTPS and modern TLS protocols, although HSTS is enabled. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism detected. Contact information and certifications are clearly presented, enhancing business credibility. Overall, the site is functional and professional but requires urgent security improvements.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
43/ 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

3 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 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

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

Keep watching nilu.com

This scan found 16 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
82
Security headers
65
Email security
50
DNS health
50
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
43
Average
65

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

NILU operates in the research and environmental sector, serving a niche audience interested in climate science and sustainability. Its business model revolves around research projects, laboratory services, and dissemination of scientific knowledge. The organization benefits from partnerships with related Norwegian research entities such as NORIN, CIENS, and Framsenteret, strengthening its ecosystem. The presence of ISO certifications and a long operational history indicate maturity and reliability. The website supports multilingual content and uses SEO best practices, indicating a focus on outreach and engagement. Growth potential lies in expanding digital services and improving technical infrastructure.

Security posture

The current security posture is suboptimal due to the absence of a valid SSL certificate, resulting in no HTTPS support despite HSTS being enabled. This exposes users to potential data interception risks. The site lacks modern TLS protocols, OCSP stapling, and session resumption, which affects both security and performance. No explicit security policies or incident response contacts are found, indicating gaps in security governance and transparency. The use of standard WordPress plugins and libraries appears safe, with no vulnerable components detected. Immediate remediation of SSL issues and enhancement of security headers are recommended to mitigate risks and improve trust.

Recommendations

  1. Obtain and install a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS and secure user data.
  2. Enable modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 or TLS 1.3) and implement OCSP stapling and session resumption.
  3. Add comprehensive cookie consent mechanisms to comply with GDPR and enhance privacy transparency.
  4. Publish explicit security and incident response policies including contact channels for reporting issues.
  5. Enhance security headers with Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options to reduce attack surface.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Stiftelsen NILU
Registration number
941 705 561
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS with a modern front-end stack including Bootstrap, jQuery, Select2, and DataTables. SEO is enhanced using Yoast SEO plugin and structured data (JSON-LD) is implemented for organization and navigation elements. Performance is slow with a page load time of approximately 6.7 seconds and a large page size (~274 KB). Mobile optimization and accessibility are good, with responsive design and ARIA attributes present. External resources are loaded from reputable CDNs. However, the lack of a valid SSL certificate and disabled TLS protocols represent significant technical debt and security risks. The site uses Google Analytics and Tag Manager for tracking, but lacks explicit cookie consent. Overall, the technical infrastructure is functional but requires 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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