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Security report for oa.works

OA.Works · Non-profit · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

OA.Works is a US-based non-profit organization dedicated to developing free and open source tools that facilitate open access to academic research. Their portfolio includes products such as ShareYourPaper, InstantILL, OAbutton, and OA.Report, which serve researchers, libraries, and funders by simplifying open access deposit, interlibrary loans, paywall bypassing, and policy compliance reporting. The organization maintains strong partnerships with reputable institutions including the Gates Foundation and IFLA, enhancing its credibility and market position within the open access community. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies, is mobile-optimized, and hosted via Cloudflare, ensuring good performance and accessibility. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and domain registration protections, though improvements such as enabling DNSSEC and adding security headers are recommended. Privacy compliance is well addressed with comprehensive policies and GDPR considerations. Overall, OA.Works presents a professional, trustworthy, and mission-driven digital presence with a strong focus on community and open access advocacy.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 100 · Medium
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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • 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

  3. 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 SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching oa.works

This scan found 22 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
75
Security headers
30
Email security
75
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
69

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

OA.Works operates in the non-profit sector focusing on open access technology solutions. Their business model revolves around providing open source tools and infrastructure to academic and library communities, supported by partnerships and grants rather than commercial revenue. The organization targets researchers, academic libraries, and funders globally, positioning itself as a leader in open access facilitation. Their strategic partnerships with major foundations and international library associations indicate a robust ecosystem and potential for growth. The website content and testimonials reflect a strong community orientation and commitment to equitable access to information. OA.Works' market presence is reinforced by multiple specialized products addressing key pain points in scholarly communication and open access compliance.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enabled and domain registration locked against unauthorized changes. However, the absence of DNSSEC and missing security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represent areas for enhancement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analysis. The lack of explicit incident response or security policy documentation suggests an opportunity to improve transparency and preparedness. Overall, the security measures are adequate for a non-profit web presence but could be strengthened to align with best practices and increase stakeholder confidence.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response plan to improve transparency and readiness.
  4. Consider adding a cookie consent mechanism to comply with evolving privacy regulations and enhance user trust.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking pixels to ensure minimal privacy impact and security risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
OA.Works
Description
OA.Works is a non-profit project building free and open source tools for open access, aiming to make open access easy and equitable.
Key services
ShareYourPaper (Open Access paper deposit), InstantILL (Interlibrary loan service), OAbutton (Open Access discovery and access), OA.Report (Open Access policy compliance reporting)
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, jQuery 3.6.0, sal.js (Scroll Animation Library), lazysizes (lazy loading images), Cloudflare DNS and hosting
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Domain status includes clientDeleteProhibited, clientRenewProhibited, clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited

Analytics and tracking

Services
sa.oa.works (likely self-hosted analytics)
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
https://sa.oa.works/latest.js
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed with clear navigation and rich content.
  2. Strong focus on open access tools and community partnerships.
  3. Multiple reputable partners and testimonials enhance trust.
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  5. Uses modern web technologies and performance optimizations.
  6. Privacy and terms policies are present and comprehensive.
  7. No phone numbers or physical addresses explicitly listed.
  8. Contact primarily via email and newsletter form.
  9. No explicit security or incident response policies found.
  10. No visible security headers detected in provided data.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built with standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, leveraging libraries such as jQuery and sal.js for animations and lazysizes for image lazy loading. Hosting and DNS are managed via Cloudflare, providing performance and security benefits. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features, contributing to excellent user experience. SEO is supported through proper meta tags and Open Graph data. No CMS was detected, indicating a custom or static site architecture. Performance is fast with efficient resource loading. Technical debt appears low, but security header implementation and DNSSEC activation are recommended to modernize the security posture further.
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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