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Security report for rti.org

RTI International · Government · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

RTI International is a well-established independent scientific research institute focused on improving the human condition through diverse research and consulting services. The website reflects a mature digital presence with a professional design, clear navigation, and comprehensive content targeting government agencies, academic institutions, and industry partners. The technical infrastructure is modern, leveraging Drupal 10 CMS and standard web technologies, with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and standard security headers, although explicit security policies and incident response information are not publicly available. Privacy compliance is robust, featuring a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism. Overall, the website presents a trustworthy and credible digital front for RTI International.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

5 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 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

  3. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • High

      Weak Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1

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

Keep watching rti.org

This scan found 23 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

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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
67
Security headers
40
Email security
87
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
70

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

RTI International operates primarily in the government and non-profit sectors, providing scientific research and consulting services. The business model centers on delivering research projects and practice area expertise to public and private sector clients. The website's content and structure indicate a focus on transparency and compliance, with clear privacy policies and user consent mechanisms. The absence of WHOIS data is likely due to privacy protection, which is justified for this type of organization. The company maintains active social media channels, enhancing its outreach and engagement. No direct revenue streams or e-commerce functions are evident, consistent with a research institute model.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security posture with HTTPS enabled and standard security headers present. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided content. However, the absence of a public security policy, incident response page, or vulnerability disclosure mechanism suggests room for improvement in transparency and readiness. The cookie consent banner and privacy policy indicate attention to privacy compliance, including GDPR considerations. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be enhanced by publishing explicit security and incident response information and implementing a security.txt file.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and user trust.
  2. Implement a vulnerability disclosure program and security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  3. Enhance contact information visibility, including security contact channels.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and tracking pixels to minimize privacy risks.
  5. Maintain and monitor WHOIS data accuracy and consider providing more public registrant information if appropriate.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
RTI International
Description
RTI is an independent scientific research institute dedicated to improving the human condition.
Key services
Scientific research, Consulting, Practice areas in health, education, environment, and social sciences
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, FontAwesome, JavaScript, CSS3, HTML5
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
pardot
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
pardot.com
Marketing tools
pardot
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professional and content-rich
  2. No WHOIS data available due to query failure or privacy protection
  3. Cookie consent and privacy policy present and comprehensive
  4. No explicit security or incident response pages found
  5. No suspicious or malicious indicators detected
  6. Uses modern CMS Drupal 10 and standard web technologies
  7. No broken links or errors detected in provided content
  8. No adult or questionable content detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10, a modern and secure CMS platform, with use of FontAwesome for icons and JavaScript for interactivity. The site employs responsive design techniques ensuring excellent mobile optimization and accessibility. Performance appears moderate, with some external scripts for marketing and analytics (Pardot). SEO is supported by proper meta tags and Open Graph metadata. No critical technical debt or deprecated technologies were detected. Hosting provider details are not explicit in the content. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional and secure user experience.
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. 68/100Medium27 findingsView report
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