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Security report for opendemocracy.net

openDemocracy · Media · N/a

Medium risk. 11 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, DNS health and 2 other checks.

Security score

54/100

Risk levelMedium

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

openDemocracy is an established independent international media platform focused on news, ideas, and culture with an emphasis on challenging power and encouraging democratic debate. The website is professionally designed, content-rich, and targets a general audience interested in global affairs and democratic discourse. The platform operates on the Ghost CMS, leveraging modern web technologies and third-party services such as Google Analytics and Stripe for payments. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement and multiple security headers, though explicit security policies and incident response information are not publicly available. The absence of WHOIS data reduces transparency and slightly impacts trustworthiness from a domain registration perspective. Overall, the site is reliable, secure, and compliant with privacy regulations, making it a credible source of independent media.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 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

11 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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
    • High

      SSL Certificate Expires Soon

      SSL certificate expires in 14 days

      What to do: Renew SSL certificate before expiration

      • NIS2 21(2)(h)
      • IR 2024/2690 9.2(c): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 9.2(c): Cryptography
      • NIST SC-17: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-17: Public Key Infrastructure Certificates

  2. DNS health

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

    • High

      Unregistered MX Record

      MX record points to unregistered domain: mailx.ipv6.opendemocracy.net

      What to do: Remove or fix MX record pointing to unregistered domain

      • RFC 5321 §5.1
      • NIS2 21(2)(i)
      • IR 2024/2690 12.4: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 12.4: Asset inventory
      • NIST CM-8: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-8: System Component Inventory
    • High

      Unregistered MX Record

      MX record points to unregistered domain: mailx.opendemocracy.net

      What to do: Remove or fix MX record pointing to unregistered domain

      • RFC 5321 §5.1
      • NIS2 21(2)(i)
      • IR 2024/2690 12.4: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 12.4: Asset inventory
      • NIST CM-8: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-8: System Component Inventory

  3. 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

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

Keep watching opendemocracy.net

This scan found 27 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
37
Security headers
15
Email security
85
DNS health
50
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
54

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

The business operates in the media and non-profit sectors, providing news and cultural content with a subscription and donation-based revenue model. It holds a solid market position as an independent media outlet with consistent branding and excellent content quality. The target audience includes individuals interested in international news and democratic issues. The company maintains a presence on social media, notably Facebook, and uses modern marketing and analytics tools to engage users. The lack of detailed WHOIS and registrant information is a notable gap but does not detract significantly from the operational credibility given the quality of the website and content.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS, strong security headers, and no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. However, it lacks publicly available security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms, which are important for transparency and trust in the event of security incidents. The use of third-party scripts and analytics is standard but should be regularly audited to mitigate risks. The site complies with GDPR and has cookie consent mechanisms, reflecting good privacy practices. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be improved with more explicit security governance documentation.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency.
  2. Implement and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file.
  3. Enhance accessibility features to improve compliance and user experience.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies for vulnerabilities.
  5. Provide clear contact information for the Data Protection Officer or privacy contact.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
openDemocracy
Description
openDemocracy is an independent international media platform covering news, ideas and culture which seeks to challenge power and encourage democratic debate.
Key services
News coverage, Opinion and analysis, Cultural commentary, Subscription and donation support
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Ghost CMS, JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, Google Tag Manager, Stripe, Contextly widgets, QuickSearchUI
Frameworks
Ghost
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Security headers present
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of modern libraries

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Plausible Analytics
Marketing tools
QuickSearchUI
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and professional design.
  2. Uses Ghost CMS platform with modern JavaScript and CSS.
  3. Strong security posture with HTTPS and security headers.
  4. Privacy and cookie policies are present and comprehensive.
  5. No WHOIS data available, which is a concern for domain transparency.
  6. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found in HTML; contact via form likely.
  7. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure found.
  8. No signs of adult or unsafe content.
  9. Social media presence confirmed via Facebook link.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Ghost CMS platform, utilizing modern JavaScript frameworks and CSS for responsive design. It integrates third-party services such as Google Tag Manager, Stripe for payments, and Plausible Analytics for privacy-focused tracking. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and SEO practices. The site uses structured data (JSON-LD) for enhanced search engine understanding. Technical debt appears low, but opportunities exist to improve accessibility and security documentation. Hosting provider details are not explicitly identified from the content. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional and scalable media platform.
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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