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Security report for scholarmatch.org

ScholarMatch · Non-profit · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

64/100

Risk levelMedium

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

ScholarMatch is a well-established nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting first-generation, low-income students in accessing and succeeding in college. The website clearly communicates its mission, programs, and impact, targeting underserved youth with personalized advising, financial aid, and career mentorship. The organization holds reputable nonprofit certifications, enhancing its trustworthiness and credibility. Technically, the website is built on Webflow with modern integrations such as Google Tag Manager and Facebook Pixel, providing a solid digital infrastructure. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and offers a good user experience with clear navigation and calls to action. Security posture is generally strong with HTTPS enforced and no visible sensitive data exposure, though improvements can be made by adding security headers and explicit incident response contacts. Privacy compliance is partially addressed with a comprehensive privacy policy, but lacks a cookie consent mechanism, which is recommended for GDPR compliance. Overall, the domain's WHOIS data is privacy protected, which is typical for nonprofits and does not detract from the site's legitimacy. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, implementing cookie consent, and publishing vulnerability disclosure information to further strengthen trust and compliance.

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. 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

  2. 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
    • High

      SSL Certificate Expires Soon

      SSL certificate expires in 22 days

      What to do: Renew SSL certificate before expiration

      • NIS2 21(2)(h)
      • IR 2024/2690 9.2(c): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 9.2(c): Cryptography
      • NIST SC-17: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-17: Public Key Infrastructure Certificates

  3. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • High

      Weak SPF Policy

      SPF record has permissive policy allowing any server to send email

      What to do: Use -all or ~all qualifier for better email security

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

Keep watching scholarmatch.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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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Full report

€39.90one-time

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Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
52
Security headers
60
Email security
70
DNS health
50
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
64

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

ScholarMatch operates in the nonprofit education sector, focusing on college access and success for first-generation students. Its business model revolves around providing advising, scholarships, and mentorship programs funded by donations and partnerships. The organization serves over 850 students annually and awards significant scholarship funds, indicating a medium-sized operation with a strong community presence. The website reflects a mature digital presence with integrated donation processing and volunteer engagement. Partnerships with platforms like Classy for donations and active social media channels support its outreach and fundraising efforts. The organization's market position is solid within the nonprofit education space, leveraging trust signals such as Candid Platinum and Charity Navigator seals. Growth potential lies in expanding program reach and enhancing digital engagement.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security posture with HTTPS enabled and no evident exposure of sensitive information in the HTML content. Use of third-party scripts like Facebook Pixel and Google Tag Manager is standard but requires ongoing monitoring for vulnerabilities. The absence of security headers such as Content Security Policy and HSTS is a notable gap that could be addressed to mitigate risks like clickjacking and man-in-the-middle attacks. No incident response or security contact information is provided, which is a best practice for transparency and rapid response. The site lacks a cookie consent mechanism, which is important for GDPR compliance and user privacy. Overall, the security maturity is moderate to good, with room for improvement in headers and privacy controls.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options.
  2. Add a cookie consent banner to comply with GDPR and enhance user privacy transparency.
  3. Publish clear incident response and security contact information on the website.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts to avoid vulnerabilities.
  5. Consider adding a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
ScholarMatch
Description
ScholarMatch is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping first-generation, low-income students access and complete college. Through personalized support, and career mentorship, we empower students to achieve their educational dreams.
Key services
Individualized college and career advising, Free online tools, Supportive community, Financial aid support, Career launch and peer mentorship, Internship gallery, Workshops, Networking opportunities
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Webflow, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, Classy Embedded Giving, jQuery, Chart.js, Jetboost
Frameworks
Webflow CMS
Platforms
Webflow Hosting
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with consent checkbox

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Google Analytics (via GTM)
Marketing tools
Facebook Pixel
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and no blocking detected
  2. Strong nonprofit focus with detailed program and impact information
  3. Multiple calls to action for donations, volunteering, and partnerships
  4. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools
  5. No exposed sensitive data or obvious security issues in HTML
  6. WHOIS data unavailable, likely privacy protected
  7. Social media presence across major platforms
  8. No cookie consent banner detected, potential GDPR compliance gap
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using Webflow CMS and hosted on Webflow's platform, leveraging modern web technologies such as jQuery, Chart.js, and Jetboost for enhanced interactivity and data visualization. Google Tag Manager and Facebook Pixel are used for analytics and marketing tracking. The site loads moderately fast and is well optimized for mobile devices, with good accessibility features. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and Open Graph data. The technical implementation is robust, though the lack of some security headers and cookie consent mechanisms indicates minor technical debt. Overall, the infrastructure supports the organization's mission effectively with opportunities for security and privacy enhancements.
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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