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Security report for pch.net

Packet Clearing House · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

64/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Packet Clearing House (PCH) is a well-established intergovernmental organization focused on supporting critical Internet infrastructure such as Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) and the Domain Name System (DNS). The organization has a strong global presence and is recognized as a pioneer in DNS anycast and IXP support, serving a technical audience including ISPs, network operators, and governance bodies. The website content is professionally presented with clear navigation and detailed service descriptions, targeting technical and governance stakeholders in the Internet ecosystem. Technically, the website uses a modern frontend stack including Bootstrap and JavaScript libraries like jQuery and D3.js, but lacks a valid SSL certificate and proper HTTPS configuration, which significantly impacts its security posture. Security headers are partially implemented but undermined by the invalid SSL setup. Privacy policies are present but lack explicit consent mechanisms, and no terms of service or incident response policies are found. Overall, the website is functional and informative but requires urgent improvements in security and compliance to enhance trust and protect users.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
43/ 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

3 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 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

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

Keep watching pch.net

This scan found 15 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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  • 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
50
Security headers
55
Email security
50
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
43
Average
64

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

PCH operates in the technology and telecommunications sectors as an essential entity providing infrastructure and policy support for Internet operations worldwide. Its business model is non-profit and service-oriented, focusing on building and maintaining IXPs and DNS infrastructure, as well as conducting workshops and governance support. The organization holds a strong market position as a global leader in its niche, with a history dating back to 1995. The website reflects a medium-sized organization with consistent branding and good content quality. However, the lack of visible contact information and limited privacy compliance features may hinder user engagement and trust. No partnerships or subsidiaries are explicitly linked from the website content.

Security posture

The security posture of the website is currently weak due to the absence of a valid SSL certificate and lack of HTTPS enforcement, which is a critical issue. While some security headers like HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options are present, their effectiveness is limited without proper TLS configuration. The domain does not implement DNSSEC or CAA records, and no vulnerability disclosure or incident response policies are published. The website does not use OCSP stapling or session resumption, which could improve security and performance. Overall, the site is vulnerable to interception and downgrade attacks, and lacks transparency on security governance and incident handling.

Recommendations

  1. Obtain and deploy a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS and protect user data in transit.
  2. Enable modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 or 1.3) and configure strong cipher suites to improve encryption strength.
  3. Implement DNSSEC and CAA records to enhance domain security and prevent certificate mis-issuance.
  4. Publish clear terms of service and incident response policies to improve transparency and compliance.
  5. Add explicit cookie consent mechanisms to comply with privacy regulations and improve user trust.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is hosted on an Apache server and uses a frontend stack including Bootstrap CSS, jQuery, D3.js, and TopoJSON for interactive map visualizations. The HTML is well-structured with responsive design elements and fallback content for no-JavaScript scenarios. However, performance metrics are missing, and the SSL/TLS configuration is invalid, preventing secure connections. No CMS or hosting provider details are evident. The site lacks advanced SEO and accessibility features but maintains basic meta tags and viewport settings. The absence of analytics or advertising scripts suggests minimal tracking and marketing integration.
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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