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Security report for semanticscholar.org

The Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) · Technology · United States

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

79/100

Risk levelLow

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

Semantic Scholar is a leading AI-powered research tool developed by the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2), designed to facilitate discovery and understanding of scientific literature. The platform offers advanced semantic search capabilities, an augmented reading experience via Semantic Reader, and a public API for developers, positioning itself as a critical resource for researchers and scholars worldwide. The website reflects a mature digital presence with professional design, clear navigation, and comprehensive content tailored to its academic audience. Technically, the site leverages modern web technologies including React, Google Analytics, HubSpot, and Appcues, hosted likely on AWS infrastructure with strong performance and mobile optimization. The presence of multiple security headers and enforced HTTPS indicates a robust security posture, although explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not publicly detailed. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear privacy and cookie policies and consent mechanisms. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates good practices with no detected vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. The WHOIS data is privacy protected, which is typical for institutional domains, and does not detract from the site's legitimacy given its affiliation with Ai2. Overall, Semantic Scholar presents a trustworthy, professional, and secure platform with strong business credibility in the technology and education sectors. Strategic recommendations include publishing a dedicated security policy and incident response information, establishing a vulnerability disclosure program, and enhancing direct contact options for security and support to further strengthen trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
73/ 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

3 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

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

Keep watching semanticscholar.org

This scan found 15 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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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
90
Security headers
35
Email security
85
DNS health
90
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
73
Average
79

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

Semantic Scholar operates as a free AI-driven academic research platform under the Allen Institute for AI, targeting researchers, scholars, and developers. Its competitive advantage lies in its advanced semantic understanding of scientific literature and developer-friendly API offerings. The business model focuses on providing open access to scholarly data while fostering developer engagement through API enhancements. Partnerships with platforms like Medium for blogging and integration with HubSpot for marketing indicate a mature ecosystem. The platform's growth is supported by continuous feature development such as Semantic Reader and Scholar's Hub, reinforcing its market position as a leader in AI-powered research tools.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and cookie consent mechanisms. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive information were detected. However, the absence of a publicly available security policy, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure program suggests room for improvement in transparency and readiness. Compliance with GDPR is indicated through privacy policy content and consent banners. The use of third-party analytics and marketing tools is balanced with privacy considerations. Overall, the security culture appears strong but could benefit from enhanced communication and formalized security processes.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response plan on the website.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure or bug bounty program.
  3. Provide explicit security contact emails such as security@ or abuse@ domains.
  4. Enhance contact information with verified company phone numbers and emails.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts to mitigate supply chain risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Allen Institute for AI (Ai2)
Description
Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature, based at Ai2. It uses AI and engineering to understand scientific literature semantics to help scholars discover relevant research.
Key services
Scientific literature search, Semantic Reader (augmented reading), Public API for research data, Scholar's Hub
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, HubSpot, Appcues, Google Identity Services
Frameworks
React
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Security headers present
  • Cookie consent banner implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, HubSpot Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
HubSpot Ads
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel
Marketing tools
HubSpot, Appcues
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 no blocking or WAF challenge.
  2. Content is rich, professional, and targeted at academic researchers.
  3. Strong privacy and cookie consent mechanisms are in place.
  4. WHOIS data is privacy protected, common for institutional domains.
  5. Multiple third-party marketing and analytics tools are used responsibly.
  6. No security or content safety concerns detected.
Technical notes

Notes

Semantic Scholar's technical infrastructure is modern and robust, utilizing React for frontend development and integrating analytics and marketing tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, and Appcues. The site is hosted likely on AWS, indicated by the presence of AWS WAF scripts, ensuring scalability and reliability. Performance is optimized with fast loading times and excellent mobile responsiveness. SEO and accessibility best practices are implemented, including proper meta tags and ARIA landmarks. The technical stack supports a high-quality user experience but should maintain vigilance on third-party dependencies to avoid potential vulnerabilities.
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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