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Security report for quincyinst.org

Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft · Non-profit · United States

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft is a US-based non-profit think tank founded in 2019, focused on promoting a foreign policy centered on military restraint and diplomacy. The organization produces research, policy briefs, and hosts events to influence U.S. foreign policy towards peace. Their website is professionally designed, mobile-optimized, and rich in relevant content targeting policymakers, academics, and the public interested in international relations. Technically, the site runs on WordPress with modern SEO and analytics tools integrated, hosted on AWS with Cloudflare DNS and CDN services. Security posture is good with HTTPS enforced and domain transfer protections, though DNSSEC is not enabled and security headers are missing. Privacy compliance is basic, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism. Contact is primarily via a web form, with no direct emails or phone numbers published. Overall, the site is trustworthy and authoritative within its niche, but could improve security and privacy transparency.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 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. 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';…

  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 quincyinst.org

This scan found 25 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
57
Security headers
15
Email security
75
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
63

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 Quincy Institute occupies a specialized niche as a foreign policy think tank advocating for peace and military restraint. Its business model is non-profit research and advocacy, relying on donations and public engagement. The organization maintains a consistent brand and publishes high-quality content, positioning itself as a credible voice in policy debates. Its digital presence leverages modern CMS and analytics, indicating a mature digital strategy. The absence of direct contact emails or phone numbers suggests a controlled communication channel, typical for non-profits. The organization’s WHOIS data aligns with its public identity, reinforcing legitimacy. Partnerships or subsidiaries are not evident from the data.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security baseline with HTTPS and domain transfer lock. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers like CSP, X-Frame-Options, and HSTS reduces its defense-in-depth. No explicit security or incident response policies are published, which could be a gap in transparency. The use of multiple third-party tracking scripts increases the attack surface and privacy risks. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the content. Overall, the security posture is good but could be enhanced by implementing recommended headers, enabling DNSSEC, and publishing security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to protect against DNS spoofing.
  2. Implement security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options.
  3. Add a cookie consent banner to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  4. Publish explicit security and incident response policies to improve transparency and trust.
  5. Regularly audit and minimize third-party tracking scripts to reduce privacy risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Description
The Quincy Institute promotes ideas that move U.S. foreign policy away from endless war, toward military restraint and diplomacy in the pursuit of international peace. They build a world where peace is the norm and war is the exception.
Key services
Research publications, Policy briefs, Events and webinars, Expert analysis
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, PHP, JavaScript, jQuery, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag
Frameworks
Yoast SEO, Getwid blocks
Platforms
Amazon S3 (for media hosting), Cloudflare (DNS and CDN)
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited
  • No DNSSEC enabled (recommend enabling)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, LinkedIn Insight, Facebook Pixel
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured.
  2. Content is focused on foreign policy research and advocacy.
  3. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  4. Uses multiple third-party analytics and tracking scripts.
  5. No explicit privacy or cookie consent banners found.
  6. WHOIS data is consistent and transparent.
  7. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed; contact via form only.
  8. No visible security or incident response policies on site.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress with a modern theme and uses popular plugins like Yoast SEO and Getwid blocks. It leverages Amazon S3 for media hosting and Cloudflare for DNS and CDN services, ensuring good performance and availability. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with well-structured HTML and CSS. Analytics and marketing tools are integrated via Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and LinkedIn Insight Tag. No technical debt or deprecated libraries were detected. Performance is fast, and SEO is well implemented with comprehensive meta tags and structured data.
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. 63/100Medium33 findingsView report
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