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Security report for purl.org

Internet Archive · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 9 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

55/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The website purl.org serves as the administration portal for the Persistent URL (PURL) service, which provides permanent web addresses for resources. This service is operated by the Internet Archive, a reputable 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on building a digital library of internet sites and cultural artifacts. The site targets users and organizations requiring stable URLs for web resources and offers domain search and creation functionalities, with user authentication managed through the Internet Archive's main site. Technically, the website employs a straightforward stack including HTML5, Bootstrap CSS, and jQuery, providing a responsive and user-friendly interface. While the site is functional and well-structured, it lacks advanced SEO and accessibility features and does not display explicit privacy or cookie policies. The use of CSRF tokens in forms indicates some security awareness, but no security headers or vulnerability disclosures are present. From a security perspective, the site is accessible without WAF or blocking mechanisms, but it lacks several best practices such as security headers and explicit privacy compliance documentation. The domain registration is privacy protected, which is justified given the non-profit nature of the Internet Archive. No critical vulnerabilities or suspicious indicators were found, but the absence of privacy and cookie policies reduces compliance scores. Overall, the website is trustworthy and professionally maintained but would benefit from enhanced security policies, privacy documentation, and improved technical SEO and accessibility to strengthen its compliance and user trust posture.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of purl.org. View the latest report

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

9 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 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
    • High

      Missing X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • 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';…

  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

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

Keep watching purl.org

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

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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
60
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
Average
55

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 PURL service is a niche offering within the digital library and web archiving sector, operated by the Internet Archive. Its market position is strong due to the backing of a well-known non-profit with a long history in digital preservation. The business model is non-profit, focusing on providing persistent web identifiers rather than commercial revenue. The target audience includes libraries, archives, researchers, and webmasters needing stable URLs. The service ecosystem is tightly integrated with the Internet Archive, leveraging its user authentication and infrastructure. Growth indicators are stable given the specialized nature of the service, with potential for expansion through partnerships with academic and cultural institutions.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level. It uses HTTPS (assumed from domain context but not explicitly confirmed in HTML), employs CSRF tokens in forms, and delegates user authentication to the Internet Archive, which likely has robust security controls. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security reduces its defense-in-depth. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response information is provided, which limits transparency and preparedness. Privacy and cookie policies are missing, impacting GDPR compliance. Overall, the security posture is functional but could be significantly improved by adopting standard security headers, publishing policies, and establishing clear incident response channels.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  2. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with clear GDPR compliance statements.
  3. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and trust.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to meet recognized standards and improve user experience for all users.
  5. Conduct regular security audits and update technical stack to mitigate potential vulnerabilities and improve performance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Internet Archive
Description
The PURL service provides persistent URLs to offer permanent addresses for web resources. It is an initiative of the Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization building a digital library of Internet sites and cultural artifacts in digital form.
Key services
Persistent URL (PURL) service, User login and registration via Internet Archive, Domain search and creation for PURLs
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, Bootstrap CSS, jQuery, JavaScript
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
60/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of CSRF tokens in forms

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 content is fully accessible with no WAF or blocking detected.
  2. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found on the homepage.
  3. User authentication and registration are delegated to the Internet Archive domain.
  4. Forms use CSRF tokens indicating some security awareness.
  5. No phone numbers or physical addresses explicitly listed on the site.
  6. Contact email info@archive.org is provided in footer for assistance.
  7. No social media links detected in the provided HTML.
  8. No analytics or advertising scripts detected.
  9. Website uses Bootstrap and jQuery for UI and interactivity.
  10. No security headers detected in the HTML content; SSL status unknown.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a classic web stack with Bootstrap and jQuery for UI and interactivity, which provides a responsive and familiar user experience. The HTML is well-structured but lacks advanced SEO meta tags and accessibility attributes. Performance is moderate, with no heavy scripts or external dependencies detected. The site does not appear to use a CMS or modern JavaScript frameworks, which reduces complexity but may limit scalability. Hosting details are not explicit, but the association with the Internet Archive suggests stable infrastructure. Technical debt appears low, but modernization opportunities exist in improving SEO, accessibility, and security headers.
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. 61/100Medium34 findingsView report
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