Public Library of Science (PLOS) · Healthcare · United States
Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.
PLOS Medicine is a leading open-access medical journal operated by the Public Library of Science, a reputable non-profit academic publisher based in the United States. The website serves as a platform for disseminating peer-reviewed medical research and commentary, targeting researchers, clinicians, and healthcare professionals globally. The business model focuses on open-access publishing, supported by article processing charges and institutional funding, positioning PLOS Medicine as a key player in the academic publishing industry. Technically, the website employs a modern technology stack including jQuery, Foundation framework, and integrates analytics and marketing tools such as Google Analytics, New Relic, and HubSpot. The site demonstrates good performance, mobile optimization, and accessibility, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure suitable for its audience. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS, implements multiple security headers, and maintains secure cookie consent mechanisms. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, the absence of a public vulnerability disclosure policy and incident response contact information suggests areas for improvement in transparency and security readiness. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and compliant with privacy regulations including GDPR. The domain WHOIS data is privacy protected but consistent with the organization's branding and reputation. The risk profile is low, with recommendations focusing on enhancing security policies and disclosure practices to further strengthen trust and compliance.
Scanned
NIS2 Art. 21(2)
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.
2 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.
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.
Controls resources the browser is allowed to load
What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application
TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.
Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1
What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions
Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com
This scan found 19 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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Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.
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
Not counted
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.
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
Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.
Leaked records that mention plosmedicine.org, from OffSeq Breach.
No leaked records found
Breach holds no records for plosmedicine.org right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.
Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.
Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.
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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