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Security report for scientificservices.eu

Riga Technical University · Education · Latvia

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

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

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

UseScience is a specialized online platform developed by Riga Technical University in collaboration with Tallinn University of Technology and other European academic partners. It serves as a comprehensive database for scientific equipment, research services, and software, facilitating collaboration between academia and industry. The platform targets researchers and institutions across the European Union, providing advanced search and browsing capabilities for over 1900 devices and 400 services. The website demonstrates a solid market position within the academic research sector, supported by a network of reputable partner institutions. Technically, the site employs a mix of legacy and modern web technologies, including jQuery 1.7.2, CKEditor, and Google Analytics, running on the Unibit CMS framework. While the site is mobile-optimized and SEO-friendly, the use of outdated libraries poses potential security risks. Security posture is generally good with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent mechanisms in place, but lacks some advanced security headers and explicit incident response policies. Overall, the website is trustworthy and professionally maintained, with clear privacy and cookie policies aligned with GDPR requirements.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
25/ 100 · Critical
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. GDPR outside view

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

    • Critical

      EU business without adequate privacy measures

      EU businesses are subject to strict GDPR requirements

      What to do: Implement comprehensive GDPR compliance including privacy policy, cookie consent, and data protection measures

    • 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 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. 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';…

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

Keep watching scientificservices.eu

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.

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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
50
Security headers
55
Email security
85
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
25
Average
65

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 platform operates within the education and research sectors, focusing on cataloguing and sharing scientific resources to enhance research collaboration. Its business model revolves around providing a centralized database and enquiry system for equipment and services, supported by academic partnerships. The presence of multiple EU institutions as partners indicates a strong collaborative ecosystem and potential for growth. The website's content and design reflect a medium-sized organization with a clear focus on research facilitation. Revenue streams are likely indirect, possibly through institutional support and project funding. The partnership network enhances credibility and market reach, positioning UseScience as a niche but valuable resource in the academic research community.

Security posture

The website maintains a good security baseline with HTTPS and cookie consent mechanisms that respect user privacy and GDPR compliance. However, the use of an outdated jQuery version (1.7.2) introduces potential vulnerabilities that should be addressed promptly. The absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options reduces defense-in-depth. No security policy or incident response contact information is published, which limits transparency and preparedness. No signs of exposed sensitive data or malware were detected. Overall, the security posture is adequate but could be improved by updating libraries, enhancing HTTP headers, and publishing security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Upgrade jQuery and other outdated JavaScript libraries to current supported versions to mitigate known vulnerabilities.
  2. Implement and publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Add explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to strengthen browser security.
  4. Maintain and regularly update cookie consent mechanisms and privacy policies to ensure ongoing GDPR compliance.
  5. Consider conducting regular security audits and penetration testing to identify and remediate potential vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Riga Technical University
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Riga Technical University
Description
UseScience is scientific and research equipment and services database developed by Riga Technical University together with Tallinn University of Technology. It contains information about scientific equipment, research services and software available in Riga Technical University and partner institutions. The platform supports collaboration between industry and academia and provides equipment organizing and enquiring features.
Key services
Scientific equipment cataloguing, Research services database, Software resources browsing, Collaboration support between academia and industry
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 1.7.2, CKEditor, Select2, FancyBox, Google Maps iframe, Google Analytics (gtag.js)
Frameworks
Unibit CMS (Kit-Catalogue)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Consent mode for Google Analytics implemented
  • Cookie consent banner with granular controls
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of iframe sandboxing for Google Maps

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (gtag.js)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Marketing tools
Cookie consent management
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a research equipment and services catalog platform developed by Riga Technical University and partners.
  2. Content is comprehensive and professionally presented with clear navigation and search features.
  3. Cookie consent and privacy policies are implemented with GDPR compliance in mind.
  4. Use of older JavaScript libraries may pose security risks.
  5. No explicit terms of service or security policy pages found.
  6. Multiple partner institutions are prominently displayed, enhancing trust.
  7. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected; site fully accessible.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Unibit CMS platform with a technology stack including jQuery 1.7.2, CKEditor, Select2, and FancyBox for UI components. Google Analytics is integrated for traffic analysis with consent mode enabled. The site uses responsive design techniques and includes accessibility and SEO best practices such as meta tags and structured data for social media sharing. Performance is moderate, with some room for optimization, especially by updating legacy scripts. Hosting details are not explicitly identified, but the domain and content are consistent with an academic institution. The site uses HTTPS with a good SSL configuration. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the business goals but would benefit from modernization and enhanced security controls.
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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