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Security report for ubiquitypress.com

Ubiquity Press · Education · N/a

Low risk. 5 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Email security and 2 other checks.

Security score

80/100

Risk levelLow

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

Ubiquity Press is an established open access academic publisher founded in 2008, specializing in both books and journals with a strong commitment to open access principles and research integrity. The company supports flexible publishing models including diamond and gold open access, serving a global academic audience. Technically, the website is built on modern frameworks such as Next.js and React, with integrations like Google reCAPTCHA and Sentry for security and monitoring. The site is well-structured, mobile-optimized, and provides a good user experience with clear navigation and relevant content. Security posture is generally good with HTTPS enforced and bot protection mechanisms in place, but lacks some advanced DNS security features like DNSSEC and does not publish explicit security or incident response policies. Privacy compliance is weak due to the absence of visible privacy and cookie policies, which is a notable gap for GDPR and other regulations. Overall, the domain registration is consistent and trustworthy, reflecting a mature and legitimate business. Strategic improvements in privacy compliance and security transparency would enhance trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
70/ 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

5 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.

    • 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

  2. 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.

  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 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

  4. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • High

      Unregistered MX Record

      MX record points to unregistered domain: aspmx2.l.google.com

      What to do: Remove or fix MX record pointing to unregistered domain

      • RFC 5321 §5.1
      • NIS2 21(2)(i)
      • IR 2024/2690 12.4: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 12.4: Asset inventory
      • NIST CM-8: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-8: System Component Inventory

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

Keep watching ubiquitypress.com

This scan found 16 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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Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
95
Email security
75
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
70
Average
80

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

Ubiquity Press occupies a strong niche in the academic publishing market, focusing on open access models that appeal to researchers and institutions seeking transparent and flexible publishing options. Their business model leverages both diamond and gold open access funding, positioning them competitively in the evolving scholarly communication landscape. The company benefits from a network of hosted journals and partnerships, including a support portal hosted on Atlassian. Their transparent pricing and community-driven approach are key competitive advantages. Growth potential is supported by their commitment to innovation and research integrity, though expanding visible compliance and security policies could improve institutional trust and adoption.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and use of Google reCAPTCHA to mitigate automated abuse. Error monitoring via Sentry indicates proactive operational security. However, the absence of DNSSEC reduces DNS security, and lack of published security policies or incident response contacts limits transparency and preparedness. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files were found, which are best practices for mature security programs. The site does not explicitly implement or expose advanced security headers, which could improve protection against common web attacks. Overall, the security posture is adequate but could be significantly improved with better policy publication and DNS security enhancements.

Recommendations

  1. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with clear GDPR compliance statements.
  2. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  3. Implement and expose security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  4. Create and publish a security policy and incident response contact information, including a security@ or abuse@ email address.
  5. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Ubiquity Press
Description
Ubiquity Press is an open access academic publisher focused on books and journals, supporting diamond and gold open access funding models with flexible publishing options and transparent pricing. Founded by researchers, it promotes open access publishing and community infrastructure with a mission to make open access the norm in academic communication.
Key services
Open access book publishing, Open access journal publishing, Hosting independent journals, Publishing services for journals and books
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Next.js, JavaScript, Google reCAPTCHA v2 and v3, Google Maps API, Sentry for error tracking
Frameworks
Next.js
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA v2 and v3 for bot protection
  • Sentry for error monitoring

Analytics and tracking

Services
Sentry
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google reCAPTCHA v2, Google reCAPTCHA v3
Marketing tools
Google Maps API
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content.
  2. No explicit privacy or cookie policies found on the main page or navigation.
  3. No visible contact emails or phone numbers in the provided content.
  4. Strong focus on open access academic publishing.
  5. Use of modern web technologies and frameworks.
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy found.
  7. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  8. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
  9. Multiple external links to partner and hosted journals.
  10. No advertising networks detected beyond Google reCAPTCHA and Maps APIs.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern technology stack centered on Next.js and React, enabling server-side rendering and good performance. Integration with Google APIs and Sentry indicates a mature approach to functionality and monitoring. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices evident from meta tags and structured navigation. Hosting is managed via Gandi SAS, a reputable provider. Performance is moderate, with some opportunities for optimization. No common CMS detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary platform. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the business goals effectively but could benefit from enhanced security configurations and formalized compliance 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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