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Security report for openaire.eu

OpenAIRE · Education · N/a

Medium risk. 2 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

75/100

Risk levelMedium

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

OpenAIRE is a well-established non-profit European initiative providing open scholarly communication infrastructure and services to support open science policies and research excellence. The website demonstrates a mature digital presence with comprehensive service offerings, training resources, and community engagement. Technically, the site uses Joomla! CMS with modern frameworks and analytics tools, ensuring good performance and accessibility. Security posture is solid with HTTPS, reCAPTCHA, and cookie consent mechanisms, though some security headers could be improved. The domain WHOIS data is privacy protected by EURid, which is typical for EU domains and does not raise immediate concerns. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and aligned with its mission to support open science.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of openaire.eu. View the latest report

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

2 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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1

  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 openaire.eu

This scan found 21 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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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
62
Security headers
55
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
75

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 openaire.eu, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
507
Employees
1
Customers
506
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
15%

Latest record dated 2026-04-14 · 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 openaire.eu.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –www.openaire.eu2026-04-14

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

OpenAIRE occupies a strong position in the European open science ecosystem, supported by EU funding and a broad portfolio of services targeting research organizations, universities, and funders. Its business model focuses on providing infrastructure and community-driven services rather than commercial revenue. The presence of multiple service subdomains and training platforms indicates a diversified offering. The organization maintains active social media channels and publishes regular news and blogs, enhancing its visibility and stakeholder engagement. The lack of direct contact emails or phone numbers on the site suggests a controlled communication approach, likely to manage inquiries via forms or support channels.

Security posture

The website exhibits a good security posture with enforced HTTPS, integration of Google reCAPTCHA on forms to prevent abuse, and a robust cookie consent management system compliant with GDPR. No sensitive data or credentials are exposed in the HTML content. However, explicit security headers like X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options are not visibly set, which could be improved to mitigate clickjacking and MIME sniffing risks. There is no published security policy or incident response contact information, which are areas for enhancement. No known vulnerabilities or outdated libraries were detected in the visible content.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and verify security headers such as X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Consider adding a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  4. Maintain regular updates of CMS and third-party components to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance contact options for users, including security-related contacts, to improve trust and communication.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
OpenAIRE
Description
OpenAIRE is a non-profit, community-driven initiative shaping the policies, infrastructures, and services for Open Science in Europe and beyond. It supports European research excellence through trusted infrastructure for open access, data sharing, and scholarly communication.
Key services
OpenAIRE Service Catalogue, Services for Research Performing Organisations, Services for University Alliances, Open Science training and resources, Research data and publication linking, Research monitoring and analytics
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Joomla! CMS, Yootheme Pro theme, jQuery, Google reCAPTCHA, Matomo Analytics, Google Analytics, UIkit framework, EasyBlog component, N3tCookieConsent
Frameworks
UIkit, Yootheme Pro
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of HTTPS
  • Google reCAPTCHA integration on forms
  • Cookie consent management with opt-in/out
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo, Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Marketing tools
Matomo Analytics, N3tCookieConsent
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and no blocking detected
  2. Strong focus on open science infrastructure and European research support
  3. Comprehensive cookie consent and privacy policy implementation
  4. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools
  5. No exposed contact emails or phone numbers found on the site
  6. WHOIS data is privacy protected by EURid, common for EU domains
  7. No security.txt or explicit vulnerability disclosure found
  8. No direct contact information for security or incident response
  9. Social media presence on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Mastodon, Bluesky
  10. Multiple subdomains for services and dashboards indicating mature infrastructure
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Joomla! CMS with Yootheme Pro and UIkit frameworks, leveraging jQuery and modern JavaScript libraries. It uses Google reCAPTCHA for bot protection and Matomo alongside Google Analytics for user tracking and analytics. The site is mobile responsive with good accessibility features and SEO optimization. Performance is moderate, likely due to rich media content and multiple scripts. The cookie consent mechanism is comprehensive and user-friendly. Hosting details are not explicitly found, but the domain uses EURid registry typical for European domains. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional and scalable web presence.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 75/100 +9Medium29 findingsView report
  2. 66/100Medium27 findingsView report
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