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Security report for thersa.org

The RSA · Non-profit · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

74/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Royal Society of Arts (RSA) is a historic and globally recognized non-profit organization dedicated to empowering social innovators and advancing arts and social progress. With a rich history dating back to 1754, the RSA operates a large fellowship network, hosts numerous events, publishes the RSA Journal, and offers venue hire services at its iconic RSA House in London. The website reflects a mature digital presence with professional design, clear navigation, and comprehensive content tailored to creators, leaders, and the general public interested in social change and the arts. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern optimization and SEO tools, ensuring good performance and mobile responsiveness. Security posture is strong with HTTPS and standard best practices, though explicit security headers should be confirmed. Privacy and cookie policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, with clear contact information provided. WHOIS data is unavailable due to privacy protection, which is justified for this type of organization. Overall, the RSA website demonstrates high trustworthiness, professionalism, and compliance, making it a reliable resource for its audience.

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

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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
    • 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

  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 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

  3. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • 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 thersa.org

This scan found 20 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
54
Security headers
65
Email security
75
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
73
Average
74

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 RSA holds a prominent position in the non-profit sector focused on arts and social innovation. Its competitive advantage lies in its historic legacy, extensive fellowship network, and diverse service offerings including events, publications, and venue hire. The business model is membership-driven supplemented by event revenues and donations. Target customers include social innovators, policymakers, creatives, and the wider public interested in societal progress. The organization shows strong growth indicators through active event programming and digital engagement. Partnerships with social platforms and professional networks enhance its ecosystem. The RSA maintains a clear brand identity and consistent messaging, supporting its market presence and operational effectiveness.

Security posture

The RSA website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, absence of exposed sensitive data, and use of controlled third-party scripts via Google Tag Manager. Privacy and cookie consent mechanisms are implemented, supporting GDPR compliance. However, explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options were not explicitly detected in the HTML and should be verified. No vulnerabilities or suspicious domains were found. Incident response and vulnerability disclosure policies are not publicly evident, representing an area for improvement. Overall, the security maturity is good, with recommendations to enhance header policies and formalize disclosure processes.

Recommendations

  1. Verify and implement explicit security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to strengthen browser security.
  2. Publish a security policy and vulnerability disclosure program, including a security.txt file, to improve transparency and incident response readiness.
  3. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to mitigate risks from external libraries.
  4. Enhance data protection officer contact visibility to support GDPR compliance and user trust.
  5. Maintain and update privacy and cookie policies in line with evolving regulations and best practices.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
The RSA
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The RSA
Description
The RSA is a royal society for the arts that empowers social innovators worldwide for a sustainable future. It is a global network of creators, leaders, policymakers, and entrepreneurs united to progress society. The RSA offers fellowship, events, reports, awards, and venue hire services.
Key services
Fellowship membership, Events and lectures, Publications (RSA Journal), Venue hire at RSA House, Awards and recognitions
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO Premium, Google Tag Manager, Google Adsense, Swiper.js, ShortPixel Image Optimization, YouTube iframe API
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google Tag Manager for controlled script loading
  • Cookie consent banner present

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Adsense
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 rich content and no blocking detected.
  2. Strong presence of privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms.
  3. Clear contact information including emails, phone numbers, and physical address.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and SEO best practices.
  5. No security or privacy red flags detected in content or technical setup.
  6. WHOIS data is unavailable or privacy protected, which is common for non-profits.
  7. No adult or questionable content detected; content is safe for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The RSA website is built on a WordPress CMS platform enhanced with Yoast SEO Premium for search optimization and Google Tag Manager for script management. It uses modern JavaScript libraries such as Swiper.js for interactive carousels and ShortPixel for image optimization, contributing to good performance and mobile responsiveness. The site employs asynchronous script loading and lazy loading for images, improving load times. The presence of structured data (JSON-LD) and Open Graph tags supports SEO and social media integration. While hosting provider details are not explicit, the site uses CDN services for assets. The technical infrastructure is robust with opportunities to improve security headers and formalize incident response mechanisms.
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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