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Security report for ntslf.org

National Oceanography Centre · Government · United Kingdom

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in Email security and SSL/TLS.

Security score

77/100

Risk levelLow

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

The National Tidal and Sea Level Facility (NTSLF) is a UK-based government/non-profit research center specializing in sea level monitoring, coastal flood forecasting, and analysis of sea level extremes. It serves as a key resource for researchers, policy makers, planners, and coastal engineers by providing tidal predictions, storm surge forecasts, and tide gauge data. The website is professionally designed, well-structured, and provides comprehensive content relevant to its audience. It is affiliated with reputable institutions such as the National Oceanography Centre and the University of Liverpool, enhancing its credibility. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 10 with modern libraries including jQuery, Bootstrap, and Leaflet.js for interactive maps. It is hosted with a reputable registrar and uses Azure DNS, with HTTPS enabled ensuring secure communications. The site includes a cookie consent mechanism and links to a comprehensive privacy policy, demonstrating good privacy compliance. Performance and mobile optimization are adequate, and accessibility features are present. From a security perspective, the site employs HTTPS and domain transfer protection but lacks DNSSEC and explicit security headers. There is no published security policy or incident response contact, and no vulnerability disclosure mechanism is evident. No WAF or blocking mechanisms interfere with content access. Overall, the security posture is solid but could be improved with additional security headers and transparency. The overall risk assessment is low, with the site appearing trustworthy and professionally maintained. Strategic recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, publishing a security policy, adding vulnerability disclosure information, and implementing security headers to enhance protection and trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 100 · Low
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. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

    • High

      No SPF record found

      SPF helps prevent email spoofing

      What to do: Add SPF record: "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourmailprovider.com ~all"

  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.

    • 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

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

Keep watching ntslf.org

This scan found 18 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

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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
72
Security headers
95
Email security
40
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
77

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

NTSLF holds a strong market position as the UK's authoritative center for sea level and tidal research, supported by government and academic partners. Its business model focuses on research, data provision, and advisory services to public sector stakeholders and the scientific community. The partnership ecosystem includes the National Oceanography Centre and the University of Liverpool, which bolsters its operational capabilities and credibility. The website's content and services indicate a focus on long-term data collection and forecasting, essential for coastal management and policy planning. Growth indicators include ongoing updates to storm surge models and tide predictions. The absence of commercial advertising or affiliate programs aligns with its non-profit research orientation.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS, domain transfer lock, and cookie consent mechanisms. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options represents areas for improvement. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. The lack of a published security policy or incident response contact limits transparency and preparedness communication. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file is present, which could hinder coordinated vulnerability reporting. Overall, the site is secure but would benefit from enhanced security controls and documentation to meet higher compliance standards.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers (Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options) to mitigate common web attacks.
  3. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  4. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  5. Regularly review and update third-party libraries and dependencies to avoid vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
National Oceanography Centre
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
National Oceanography Centre
Description
The National Tidal and Sea Level Facility (NTSLF) is the UK’s centre of excellence for sea level monitoring, coastal flood forecasting, and the analysis of sea level extremes. It focuses on sea level research and provides advice for policy makers, planners, and coastal engineers.
Key services
Sea level monitoring, Coastal flood forecasting, Analysis of sea level extremes, Tidal predictions, Storm surge forecasts, Provision of tide gauge data and archived data
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, jQuery, Bootstrap, Leaflet.js, Font Awesome, CookiesJSR
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Marketing tools
reCAPTCHA
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a government/non-profit research facility site focused on sea level and tidal data.
  2. Content is comprehensive and well-structured with clear navigation.
  3. Uses modern web technologies and frameworks.
  4. Privacy and cookie policies are present and GDPR compliant.
  5. No signs of security blocking or WAF challenges.
  6. No contact phone numbers explicitly listed; contact via email and contact form.
  7. No terms of service page found.
  8. No explicit security policy or incident response information found.
  9. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file detected.
  10. External links primarily to partner academic and research institutions.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10 CMS, leveraging modern JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and Bootstrap for UI components, and Leaflet.js for interactive mapping. The use of CookiesJSR indicates a robust cookie consent management system. Hosting is stable with IONOS SE as registrar and Azure DNS for name servers. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices including meta tags and canonical links. Performance is moderate, with asynchronous loading of scripts and lazy loading of images. There is no evidence of technical debt or deprecated technologies. Opportunities exist to enhance security headers and enable DNSSEC 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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