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Security report for vai.org

Van Andel Institute · Healthcare · United States

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Van Andel Institute is a well-established independent biomedical research and education organization focused on improving human health through cutting-edge research and science education. The website reflects a strong market position with comprehensive content targeting researchers, students, educators, donors, and the general public. The business model is primarily non-profit, supported by donations and grants, with key services including biomedical research, graduate education, and K-12 science education programs. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern plugins and tools such as Elementor, Yoast SEO, and multiple analytics and tracking services. The site demonstrates excellent design quality, mobile optimization, and SEO practices, contributing to a positive user experience and strong digital maturity. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS and implements several best practices such as secure forms and content protection measures. However, explicit security headers are not detected, and there is no visible cookie consent mechanism or published security policy, which are areas for improvement. The WHOIS data is incomplete, limiting domain registration trust analysis, but the professional presentation and consistent branding support legitimacy. Overall, the website presents a low-risk profile with strong business credibility and technical implementation. Strategic enhancements in privacy compliance and security transparency 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

7 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

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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
57
Security headers
15
Email security
80
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
65

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

Van Andel Institute occupies a significant niche in the healthcare and education sectors, focusing on biomedical research and science education. Its competitive advantage lies in its integrated approach combining research, graduate education, and K-12 outreach. Revenue streams likely include philanthropic donations, grants, and event sponsorships. The target customers include academic researchers, students, educators, donors, and the broader community interested in health sciences. The partnership ecosystem includes ethics reporting platforms and donation processing services. Growth indicators include active event scheduling, recent publications, and a robust online presence. The organization's operations reflect a mature and professional approach to market engagement and stakeholder communication.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to high security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and secure form handling. The use of multiple analytics and tracking scripts is managed asynchronously to reduce performance impact. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represents a compliance gap. No visible incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided, which could impact readiness for security events. Data protection practices are partially evident through privacy policy presence but lack explicit cookie consent mechanisms. Overall, the security culture appears professional but would benefit from enhanced transparency and formalized policies.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and explicitly declare comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Add a visible cookie consent banner to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and trust.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance form security by adding anti-CSRF tokens and CAPTCHA mechanisms to prevent abuse.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Van Andel Research Institute
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Van Andel Institute
Description
Van Andel Institute is an independent research facility devoted to improving human health through biomedical research and science education.
Key services
Biomedical research, Graduate education (Ph.D. program), K-12 science education, Public outreach and events
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Elementor, Yoast SEO, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Microsoft Clarity, TVSquared, Viant Universal Pixel, Relevanssi Live Search, Event Tickets plugin, The Events Calendar plugin, jQuery
Frameworks
WordPress CMS, Elementor page builder
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure forms with validation
  • Prevention of right-click on images to protect content
  • Use of multiple tracking and analytics scripts with asynchronous loading

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Facebook Pixel, TVSquared
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Viant, TVSquared
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Microsoft Clarity, Viant Universal Pixel, TVSquared
Marketing tools
Facebook Pixel, Microsoft Clarity
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and content-rich with clear navigation.
  2. Strong focus on biomedical research, education, and community engagement.
  3. Multiple forms for newsletter subscription and contact with proper validation.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  5. No evidence of WAF or blocking mechanisms.
  6. WHOIS data unavailable, limiting domain registration trust analysis.
  7. Privacy policy and terms of use are present and accessible.
  8. No explicit cookie consent mechanism detected.
  9. Social media presence across major platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and Bluesky.
  10. No visible security policy or incident response information.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern WordPress CMS platform using Elementor for page building and Yoast SEO for search optimization. It integrates multiple analytics and marketing tools including Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Facebook Pixel, and TVSquared, indicating a mature digital marketing strategy. Performance optimizations such as lazy loading and minification are in place, contributing to fast load times. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility considerations. Technical risks include reliance on multiple third-party scripts which require ongoing security management. Hosting provider details are not explicitly identified. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a robust and scalable online presence.
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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