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Security report for thecommonwealth.org

Commonwealth Secretariat · Government · United Kingdom

Low risk. 4 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

77/100

Risk levelLow

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

The Commonwealth Secretariat operates as a large, well-established intergovernmental organization focused on promoting democracy, peace, prosperity, and sustainable development among its member countries. The website reflects a professional and authoritative presence with comprehensive content covering its mission, programs, and events. The organization targets governments, civil society, youth, and the general public interested in Commonwealth affairs. Technically, the site is built on Drupal 10 with modern integrations such as Algolia Search and Google Tag Manager, hosted with reputable providers and secured with HTTPS. Security posture is strong with no critical vulnerabilities detected, though improvements such as enabling DNSSEC and publishing a security policy could enhance trust further. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear cookie and privacy policies and consent mechanisms. Overall, the site demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and digital maturity.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 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

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

    • High

      No SPF record found

      SPF helps prevent email spoofing

      What to do: Add SPF record: "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourmailprovider.com ~all"

  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 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';…

  3. 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 SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching thecommonwealth.org

This scan found 17 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
75
Security headers
75
Email security
55
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
77

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 Commonwealth Secretariat holds a strong market position as a global intergovernmental organization with a broad membership base and a diverse portfolio of services including policy advocacy, events, youth programs, and environmental initiatives. Its business model is non-profit and mission-driven, supported by member countries and partnerships. The website's content and structure indicate a mature digital presence with clear branding and consistent messaging. The organization leverages social media effectively and maintains transparency through accessible policies. Growth indicators include upcoming events and strategic plans. The partnership ecosystem includes official Commonwealth meetings and youth award platforms. Strategic observations suggest continued focus on digital modernization and enhanced security transparency.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced, clientTransferProhibited domain status, and cookie consent mechanisms in place. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options represents areas for improvement. No explicit security policy or incident response contacts were found, which could be a gap in transparency and readiness. Overall, the site is secure for its purpose but could benefit from enhanced DNS security and published security governance documents to align with best practices and compliance frameworks.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to protect against DNS spoofing and improve overall DNS security.
  2. Implement and publish a formal security policy and incident response contact information to enhance transparency and preparedness.
  3. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to strengthen browser security.
  4. Consider publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  5. Maintain and regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to ensure no vulnerabilities or privacy risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Commonwealth Secretariat
Description
The Commonwealth is an intergovernmental organization of member countries committed to democracy, peace, prosperity, and sustainable development. It supports member countries through advocacy, events, policy frameworks, and programs across democracy, trade, environment, youth empowerment, and gender equality.
Key services
Policy advocacy, Events and conferences, Youth empowerment programs, Trade facilitation, Environmental and climate change initiatives
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, jQuery UI, Algolia Search, Google Tag Manager, CookiesJSR
Frameworks
Drupal CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • clientTransferProhibited domain status
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Algolia Search Insights
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Algolia Search Insights
Marketing tools
Algolia Search
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well maintained.
  2. Content is comprehensive and relevant to the Commonwealth Secretariat's mission.
  3. Strong presence of official social media links.
  4. Cookie consent and privacy policies are implemented and accessible.
  5. No signs of security blocking or WAF challenges.
  6. No exposed sensitive information or vulnerabilities detected in HTML content.
  7. Use of modern web technologies and CMS (Drupal 10).
  8. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed; contact is via web form.
  9. No explicit security policy or incident response contact found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10, a modern and robust CMS platform, with integrations including Algolia Search for enhanced search capabilities and Google Tag Manager for analytics and marketing. The site uses jQuery UI components and CookiesJSR for cookie management. Hosting is supported by Cloudflare DNS services and Network Solutions as registrar. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. SEO is well addressed with proper meta tags and Open Graph data. The site uses a clean and consistent design with a strong focus on user experience. Technical risks are minimal but could be reduced further by enabling DNSSEC and adding additional security headers.
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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