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Security report for nwo.nl

Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek · Government · Netherlands

Low risk. No critical or high findings.

Security score

86/100

Risk levelLow

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

The Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) is the principal Dutch organization responsible for funding top-tier scientific research and steering the national science agenda. The website clearly targets researchers, academic institutions, and policymakers, providing comprehensive information on funding opportunities, research programs, and organizational policies. The site is professionally designed with excellent navigation, mobile optimization, and accessibility features, reflecting a mature digital presence. Technically, it leverages Drupal 10 CMS, integrates Google Tag Manager and Siteimprove Analytics for performance and user insights, and employs ReadSpeaker for accessibility. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement, appropriate security headers, and a cookie consent mechanism aligned with GDPR requirements. The presence of a responsible disclosure page indicates a proactive security culture. Overall, the website is trustworthy, well-maintained, and compliant with privacy regulations.

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

No critical or high findings. These medium findings are worth fixing next.

  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.

    • Medium

      Missing X-XSS-Protection header

      Legacy XSS protection (deprecated but still recommended)

      What to do: Add "X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block"

  2. GDPR outside view

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

    • Medium

      Privacy policy may not be GDPR compliant

      Privacy policy lacks explicit GDPR compliance elements

      What to do: Update privacy policy to explicitly address GDPR requirements and user rights

  3. 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.

    • Medium

      No MTA-STS Policy

      MTA-STS enforces TLS for email delivery

      What to do: Implement MTA-STS to prevent downgrade attacks

  4. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • Medium

      DNSSEC Not Enabled

      DNSSEC is not configured for this domain

      What to do: Enable DNSSEC to prevent DNS spoofing attacks

      • CAPEC-142
      • RFC 4033
      • RFC 4035
    • Medium

      Domain Transfer Lock Not Enabled

      Domain can be transferred without authorization

      What to do: Enable domain transfer lock for security

Keep watching nwo.nl

This scan found 14 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
100
Security headers
80
Email security
80
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
86

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention nwo.nl, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
333
Employees
3
Customers
307
Third parties
23
Weak passwords
11%

Latest record dated 2026-05-11 · 11 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for nwo.nl.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –auth.nwo.nl2026-05-11
  • –nwo.nl2026-01-13
  • –alfresco.nwo.nl2025-04-14

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)Monitor on Breach(opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

NWO holds a dominant position as the main science funding body in the Netherlands, operating within the government and non-profit sectors. Its business model revolves around public funding allocation and management of scientific research programs. The organization maintains a broad partnership ecosystem, including career portals and social media channels, enhancing outreach and engagement. The website content and structure support transparency and accessibility, which are critical for public trust and stakeholder communication. The lack of direct contact emails or phone numbers on the homepage suggests a preference for structured contact forms, likely to streamline inquiries. The organization's digital maturity is evident in its use of modern web technologies and compliance with privacy and security standards.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers including CSP with nonce, and a cookie consent mechanism that respects user privacy. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. However, explicit security policy documentation and incident response contact channels are not prominently available, which could be improved. The responsible disclosure page is a positive indicator of security awareness. The integration of third-party analytics and scripts is managed with consent, reducing privacy risks. Overall, the site balances usability and security effectively but could enhance transparency around security policies and incident handling.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page detailing security frameworks and practices.
  2. Provide explicit contact information for incident response and data protection officer.
  3. Implement and publish a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability reporting.
  4. Regularly review and audit third-party scripts and cookies for compliance and security.
  5. Enhance user awareness by linking privacy and security policies more prominently.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Description
De Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek financiert toponderzoekers, geeft sturing aan de Nederlandse wetenschap via programma's en beheert (inter)nationale kennisinfrastructuur.
Key services
Wetenschapsfinanciering, Beheer van onderzoeksprogramma's, Ondersteuning onderzoeksprojecten, Organisatie van bijeenkomsten en communicatie
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Google Tag Manager, Siteimprove Analytics, ReadSpeaker, CookiesJSR
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of nonce in CSP
  • Responsible disclosure page

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Siteimprove Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Siteimprove Analytics
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well maintained
  2. Clear focus on scientific research funding and policy
  3. Strong privacy and cookie consent mechanisms implemented
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity
  5. Good use of modern web technologies and accessibility features
  6. Social media presence is active and linked
  7. Responsible disclosure page present indicating security awareness
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10, a modern and robust CMS platform, ensuring scalability and security. It uses Google Fonts, Google Tag Manager, and Siteimprove Analytics for performance and SEO monitoring. Accessibility is enhanced with ReadSpeaker integration. The site employs a cookie consent management library (CookiesJSR) to comply with GDPR. Performance is moderate, with asynchronous loading of analytics scripts and preconnect hints for fonts. The site is mobile-optimized and includes accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA labels. No critical technical debt or outdated technologies were detected. Hosting provider details are not explicitly available from the HTML content.
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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