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Security report for spl.org

The Seattle Public Library · Government · United States

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Seattle Public Library operates as a large, government-affiliated public library system serving the Seattle community. It provides free access to a wide range of books, media, online resources, and community programs. The website reflects a professional and comprehensive digital presence with clear navigation, rich content, and multiple service offerings tailored to a broad audience including families, students, and adults. The library's market position is strong as a key public service institution in the region. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies such as Bootstrap, jQuery, Typekit fonts, and integrates Google Analytics and Google Translate for enhanced user experience and accessibility. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices evident in metadata and structured navigation. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS and secure forms but lacks some advanced security headers and a cookie consent mechanism, which are recommended for enhanced protection and compliance. The absence of WHOIS data limits domain trust analysis, but the website's professional appearance and clear contact information mitigate concerns. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Overall, the site is trustworthy, safe, and well-maintained, serving its public service mission effectively. Strategic improvements in security headers, privacy compliance, and transparency around incident response would further strengthen its posture.

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

6 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 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';…

  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

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

Keep watching spl.org

This scan found 21 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
77
Security headers
15
Email security
98
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
71

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 Seattle Public Library is positioned as a critical government and non-profit entity providing educational and cultural services. Its business model focuses on free public access to information and community engagement through physical and digital resources. The library targets a diverse audience including local residents, students, families, and researchers. Revenue streams are likely public funding and donations, supported by visible donation calls on the site. The partnership ecosystem includes community blogs and external media platforms. Growth indicators include active event calendars and digital resource expansion. The organization maintains a strong brand presence with consistent messaging and trust signals such as privacy policies and social media engagement.

Security posture

The security maturity level is moderate to good. HTTPS is enforced, and no sensitive data leaks were found in the HTML content. However, the lack of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options is a gap. No explicit incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is published, which could hinder rapid response to security events. GDPR compliance is partially indicated through privacy policies but lacks explicit cookie consent mechanisms. The site uses third-party analytics which may require further privacy controls. Overall, the security culture appears cautious but could benefit from formalized policies and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  2. Add a cookie consent banner/mechanism to comply fully with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  3. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  4. Consider creating and hosting a security.txt file or vulnerability disclosure page to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and analytics for privacy compliance and minimize user tracking where possible.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Seattle Public Library
Description
The Seattle Public Library gives you 24/7 free access to books, music, movies, TV shows, classes and more.
Key services
Books & Media lending, Online Resources, Programs & Services, Library card management, Events and classes
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Bootstrap 4.3.1, Typekit fonts, Google Analytics, Google Translate
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

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

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

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 navigation
  2. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected
  3. WHOIS data is missing or inaccessible, limiting domain trust analysis
  4. Strong presence of privacy and terms policies
  5. No explicit or adult content detected
  6. Good use of modern web technologies and analytics
  7. Contact information is clearly provided with phone and physical address
  8. No explicit security policy or incident response info found
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a stable and widely supported technology stack including Bootstrap 4.3.1 and jQuery, ensuring compatibility and responsiveness. Typekit fonts enhance branding consistency. Google Analytics and Tag Manager are used for user behavior tracking, with Google Translate integration for multilingual support. The site structure is semantic and accessible, with ARIA labels and skip links. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in script loading and caching. No CMS was explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary platform. Hosting details are not disclosed. Overall, the technical implementation supports a robust user experience but could benefit from modernization and enhanced security configurations.
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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