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Security report for spca.com

SPCA de Montréal · Non-profit · Canada

High risk. 9 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 2 other checks.

Security score

35/100

Risk levelHigh

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

SPCA de Montréal is a well-established non-profit organization dedicated to animal welfare since 1869. The website serves as a comprehensive platform for adoption services, reporting animal abuse, sterilization clinics, and community support programs. It targets a broad audience including potential adopters, donors, volunteers, and the general public interested in animal protection in the Montreal region. The organization maintains a strong market position as a leading animal welfare entity in Quebec, supported by partnerships with recognized brands and active social media engagement. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with Elementor, leveraging modern JavaScript libraries and third-party integrations such as Google reCAPTCHA and Donorbox for donations. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, SEO practices, and moderate performance. Hosting is provided by Selectrum Communications, and the site uses HTTPS with a good SSL configuration. From a security perspective, the site employs HTTPS, reCAPTCHA, and cookie consent mechanisms, but lacks explicit advanced security headers and a published security.txt or incident response policy. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is strong with a clear privacy policy and cookie consent. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained, with a high legitimacy score based on domain age and WHOIS data. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, publishing incident response information, and improving accessibility features to further strengthen the security posture and compliance.

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

9 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

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

  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.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

  3. 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';…

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

Keep watching spca.com

This scan found 22 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
0
Security headers
20
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
25
Average
35

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

SPCA de Montréal operates as a charitable non-profit with a business model reliant on donations, memberships, and partnerships. Its competitive advantage lies in its long history, regional leadership, and comprehensive animal welfare services. Revenue streams include donations (online via Donorbox), fundraising events, and educational programs. The target customer segments include animal lovers, potential adopters, volunteers, and corporate partners. Growth indicators include active social media presence and partnerships with major pet-related brands. The partnership ecosystem includes Purina, Mondou, Royale, Agendrix, Skechers BOBS, and Petco, enhancing credibility and resource access. The organization demonstrates strategic operational maturity with clear service offerings and community engagement.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced, use of Google reCAPTCHA v3 to protect forms, and cookie consent for privacy compliance. However, it lacks explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options, which could mitigate risks like clickjacking and cross-site scripting. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is published, which is a gap in transparency and readiness. Third-party scripts are used extensively, requiring ongoing monitoring for vulnerabilities. Overall, the security posture is good but can be improved by adopting additional best practices and publishing security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a security.txt file to provide clear vulnerability disclosure and incident response contacts.
  2. Implement and enforce security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Referrer-Policy.
  3. Enhance accessibility compliance to meet WCAG standards for broader user inclusivity.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and plugins to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  5. Provide explicit incident response and abuse contact information on the website.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
SPCA de Montréal
Registration number
11921 9954 RR0001
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
SPCA de Montréal
Description
Organisation à but non lucratif dédiée à la protection animale, offrant des services d'adoption, de signalement de mauvais traitements, de stérilisation, et de soutien communautaire.
Key services
Adoption d’animaux, Signalement de mauvais traitements, Clinique de stérilisation, Capture-Stérilisation-Retour-Maintien, Famille d’accueil, Programmes éducatifs et communautaires
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Elementor, jQuery, Google reCAPTCHA, Donorbox, Facebook SDK, Google Tag Manager, js-cookie, Slick Slider, Parsley.js
Frameworks
WordPress, Elementor
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced (canonical URLs use https)
  • Google reCAPTCHA v3 implemented
  • Facebook SDK loaded securely
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed credentials or sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of nonce and integrity attributes on some scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel
Marketing tools
Facebook SDK, Donorbox
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 and professionally designed
  2. Strong presence of social media and partner integrations
  3. Multiple donation and newsletter subscription forms with reCAPTCHA protection
  4. No visible security or privacy policy gaps
  5. No detected WAF or blocking mechanisms
  6. Good SEO and structured data implementation
  7. No suspicious or malicious content detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern WordPress CMS platform with Elementor page builder, utilizing jQuery and various JavaScript libraries for UI components and form validation. It integrates Google reCAPTCHA v3 for bot protection and Donorbox for donation processing. Hosting is managed by Selectrum Communications, indicating a professional hosting environment. Performance is moderate with deferred script loading and optimized CSS. SEO is well addressed with meta tags, Open Graph, and JSON-LD structured data. Mobile optimization is good, with responsive design and accessible navigation. Technical risks include reliance on multiple third-party scripts and lack of some advanced security headers, which should be addressed to reduce attack surface.
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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