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Security report for swisshistorictowns.org

BEST SWISS VILLAGES · Other · Switzerland

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

58/100

Risk levelMedium

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

BEST SWISS VILLAGES operates a WordPress-based website focused on promoting Swiss historic towns and villages, targeting tourists and cultural enthusiasts interested in heritage sites. The platform offers informational content, news updates, a newsletter, press coverage, and an e-commerce shop. The business is relatively new, having started in 2023, and maintains partnerships with Austrian networks of small historic towns. Technically, the website uses modern WordPress plugins and themes, including WooCommerce and Elementor, hosted on Hoststar. The site is mobile-optimized and SEO-friendly but lacks some advanced accessibility features. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS and cookie consent mechanisms but lacks security headers and explicit security policies. No contact emails or phone numbers are provided, which may affect user trust and support. The domain registration is transparent and consistent with the business timeline, enhancing legitimacy. Overall, the website is professional and functional but could improve privacy compliance and security practices.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
88/ 100 · Low
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. 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. 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

  3. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • High

      High-Risk Service Exposed: FTP

      Port 21 (FTP) is publicly accessible - FTP - Often unencrypted file transfer

      What to do: Consider restricting access to FTP or implementing strong authentication

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

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

Keep watching swisshistorictowns.org

This scan found 23 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
72
Security headers
15
Email security
75
DNS health
80
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
88
Average
58

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 website positions itself in the niche cultural tourism sector, promoting Swiss historic towns with a focus on authenticity and heritage. Its business model combines informational content with e-commerce capabilities, likely generating revenue through merchandise sales. The target audience includes tourists, cultural heritage enthusiasts, and possibly local municipalities. The partnership with Austrian networks indicates a collaborative approach to heritage promotion. Growth potential exists through expanded partnerships and enhanced digital marketing. However, the lack of direct contact information and formal policies may limit business credibility and customer engagement.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS and a cookie consent management system, demonstrating awareness of privacy and security requirements. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security reduces protection against common web attacks. No incident response or security policy information is available, indicating potential gaps in security governance. The use of third-party analytics (Sourcebuster) introduces moderate user tracking, which is disclosed via cookie consent. Overall, the security posture is moderate but would benefit from enhanced headers, explicit policies, and incident response readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive privacy and cookie policies accessible from the website footer.
  2. Add security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to improve defense against attacks.
  3. Publish a security policy and incident response plan with clear contact channels for reporting issues.
  4. Provide clear contact information including company emails and phone numbers to improve trust and support.
  5. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
BEST SWISS VILLAGES
Description
The website promotes Swiss historic towns and villages, highlighting a project started in 2023 that partners with the Austrian network of Small historic Towns. It targets municipalities with fewer than 25,000 inhabitants with historic centers of national importance. The site provides information about towns, news, press, partnerships, and a shop.
Key services
Promotion of Swiss historic towns, News and updates, Newsletter subscription, Press and media coverage, E-commerce shop
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, WooCommerce, Elementor, jQuery, Font Awesome, CookieYes Consent Management
Frameworks
Yoast SEO
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Cookie consent with customization
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Sourcebuster
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Sourcebuster (sbjs_ cookies)
Marketing tools
CookieYes Consent Management
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a WordPress-based cultural tourism platform promoting Swiss historic towns.
  2. Cookie consent is implemented with detailed categories and user customization.
  3. No explicit privacy policy or terms of service found on the analyzed page.
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on the page.
  5. Social media presence on Facebook and Instagram is linked.
  6. No security headers detected in the HTML content.
  7. Domain registration is recent but consistent with business timeline.
  8. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress with WooCommerce and Elementor, leveraging modern web technologies such as jQuery and Font Awesome. It uses a cookie consent tool (CookieYes) for GDPR compliance. Hosting is provided by Hoststar, inferred from nameservers. The site is mobile-optimized and SEO-friendly with Yoast SEO plugin integration. Performance is moderate with room for optimization. No critical technical vulnerabilities were detected in the HTML content. However, the lack of security headers and DNSSEC indicates some technical debt in security hardening. The site uses multiple external resources including Google Fonts and social media platforms. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but could be improved with enhanced security configurations and performance tuning.
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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