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Security report for psmsl.org

Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) · Government · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) operates as a global data bank specializing in long-term sea level change information derived from tide gauges and bottom pressure recorders. Based in the United Kingdom and supported by the National Oceanography Centre and the UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), PSMSL serves a specialized audience of researchers, scientists, and environmental agencies. The organization provides open access to sea level data, derived products, and training resources, positioning itself as a trusted and authoritative source in the oceanographic research community. Technically, the website employs a straightforward HTML and CSS infrastructure with hosting supported by Microsoft Azure DNS services. The site demonstrates moderate performance and basic mobile optimization and accessibility features. However, it lacks advanced technical frameworks or CMS platforms and does not implement DNSSEC or security headers, which are recommended for enhanced security. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS but does not present security headers or privacy and cookie policies, indicating gaps in compliance with modern data protection standards such as GDPR. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are visible, which could impact the organization's readiness to handle security incidents. The absence of tracking or analytics tools suggests minimal user data collection, aligning with privacy-conscious practices. Overall, PSMSL's website is professional, content-rich, and trustworthy, but it would benefit from improved security configurations, privacy compliance documentation, and enhanced mobile and accessibility features to strengthen its digital maturity and user trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
50/ 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

7 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  2. 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"

  3. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • 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 psmsl.org

This scan found 20 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

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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
72
Security headers
80
Email security
40
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
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

PSMSL holds a strong market position as a specialized non-profit data repository in the environmental and oceanographic research sector. Its competitive advantage lies in its authoritative data sets, long-standing history since 2008, and institutional support from reputable UK scientific bodies. The business model focuses on open data provision and research support rather than commercial revenue generation. Target customers include academic researchers, government agencies, and international organizations involved in climate and sea level studies. Growth indicators include ongoing data releases and collaborations with international bodies such as IOC-UNESCO and the World Data System. The partnership ecosystem is robust, involving multiple scientific and governmental organizations, enhancing credibility and reach. Strategic observations suggest opportunities to modernize technical infrastructure and enhance compliance to maintain leadership in the domain.

Security posture

The current security posture of the PSMSL website is moderate but with notable gaps. HTTPS is presumably enabled (implied by domain and modern standards), but no security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, or X-Frame-Options are detected, which are critical for mitigating common web vulnerabilities. The absence of DNSSEC reduces DNS security. No explicit privacy or cookie policies are present, indicating potential GDPR compliance issues. There is no visible incident response or vulnerability disclosure information, which limits transparency and preparedness for security incidents. The minimal use of tracking and analytics reduces privacy risks but also limits user behavior insights. Overall, while no critical vulnerabilities are evident, the site would benefit from implementing security best practices and compliance documentation to enhance its security maturity and trustworthiness.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement and publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies to comply with GDPR and inform users.
  3. Add standard security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options.
  4. Establish and publicize an incident response and vulnerability disclosure policy with dedicated contact channels.
  5. Improve mobile optimization and accessibility to enhance user experience across devices.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL)
Description
PSMSL is the global data bank for long term sea level change information from tide gauges and bottom pressure recorders. It is based at and supported by the UK's National Oceanography Centre and receives some funding from the UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).
Key services
Sea level data collection and archival, Data products including trends and anomalies, Training and information resources, Map-based and table-based data access
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS, Azure DNS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
40/100

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a scientific data repository for sea level data.
  2. No privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found.
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed on the homepage.
  4. No forms detected for data submission or contact on the main page.
  5. No social media links found.
  6. No analytics or tracking scripts detected.
  7. Website uses Azure DNS with multiple authoritative name servers.
  8. No security headers or advanced security configurations detected.
  9. Content is well structured with clear navigation and relevant information.
  10. No advertising or marketing tools present.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a simple HTML and CSS stack without advanced frameworks or CMS platforms. Hosting is supported by Microsoft Azure DNS services, indicating reliable infrastructure. Performance is moderate with basic mobile and accessibility features, suggesting room for improvement in responsive design and compliance with accessibility standards. The absence of analytics or tracking scripts indicates minimal data collection, which aligns with privacy-conscious practices but limits marketing insights. The lack of DNSSEC and security headers represents technical debt and potential security risks. Modernization opportunities include adopting a CMS for easier content management, implementing security best practices, and enhancing SEO and accessibility features to improve reach and compliance.
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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