Skip to main content

Security report for vlaanderen-circulair.be

OVAM · Government · Belgium

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and Network security.

Security score

62/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Vlaanderen Circulair is an official Flemish government platform dedicated to promoting and coordinating the circular economy in the Flanders region of Belgium. It operates as a partnership among government bodies, businesses, civil society, and knowledge institutions to drive circular economy initiatives through thematic work agendas and supporting lever actions. The website serves as an information hub, offering resources, training programs, and tools to facilitate circular economy adoption. The platform is well-positioned as a leading regional authority and knowledge center in this domain, supported by a network of recognized partners and stakeholders. Technically, the website is built on Fork CMS and employs modern web technologies including Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, and Smartlook for analytics and user behavior tracking. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and SEO-friendly, with a professional design and clear navigation. Security-wise, the site uses HTTPS and implements cookie consent mechanisms, but lacks explicit security policies or incident response disclosures. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Overall, the website demonstrates a mature digital presence with strong business credibility and compliance with privacy regulations.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
95/ 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

3 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 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. 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 vlaanderen-circulair.be

This scan found 21 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.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

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
85
Security headers
50
Email security
55
DNS health
65
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
95
Average
62

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 platform targets government entities, businesses, and knowledge sectors interested in circular economy practices in Flanders. Its business model is that of a public partnership and knowledge hub, facilitating collaboration and dissemination of best practices. The organization benefits from a strong ecosystem of partners including regional agencies, industry associations, and academic institutions. The website content and structure indicate a focus on education, policy support, and practical implementation tools. Growth indicators include international training editions and active community engagement. The platform's market position is that of a recognized leader in circular economy initiatives within the Flemish region and Europe.

Security posture

The website exhibits a good security posture with enforced HTTPS, use of security-conscious third-party services, and a cookie consent mechanism aligned with GDPR requirements. However, it lacks published security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms such as security.txt. Security headers are not explicitly visible in the HTML content, suggesting potential room for improvement. No signs of malware, phishing, or exposed credentials were found. The site uses asynchronous loading of analytics scripts to reduce performance impact and potential security risks. Overall, the security maturity is moderate to good but could be enhanced with formal policies and additional technical controls.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and incident response procedures.
  2. Implement and verify HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Add a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies for vulnerabilities and update them accordingly.
  5. Enhance transparency by providing direct contact information for security or privacy concerns.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
OVAM
Description
Vlaanderen Circulair is het knooppunt en de inspirator voor de circulaire economie in Vlaanderen. Het is een partnerschap van overheden, bedrijven, middenveld en kenniswereld die samen actie ondernemen.
Key services
Thematic work agendas, Support through lever actions, Information dissemination, Training programs (Circular Ambassador Program), Tools and platforms for circular economy, Databases of circular economy cases
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Fork CMS, jQuery, Font Awesome 4.7, Alpine.js v2.8.0, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Smartlook
Frameworks
Fork CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of Google Tag Manager and analytics scripts loaded asynchronously
  • Cookie consent banner with opt-in/out
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No inline scripts with suspicious content

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Smartlook
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Smartlook
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official Flemish government circular economy platform
  2. Comprehensive content with thematic work agendas and lever actions
  3. Strong partner ecosystem with multiple recognized organizations
  4. Good privacy and cookie compliance with consent mechanism
  5. Use of modern CMS and technologies with good SEO and accessibility
  6. No exposed sensitive data or security red flags detected
  7. No direct contact emails or phone numbers publicly listed, contact via form
  8. No explicit security or incident response policies published
  9. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Fork CMS, a specialized content management system, and uses modern JavaScript libraries including jQuery and Alpine.js. It integrates Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for tracking, as well as Smartlook for session recording. The site is mobile responsive and optimized for accessibility and SEO, with proper meta tags and structured data (JSON-LD) for search engines. Hosting is likely provided by Combell nv, the domain registrar. Performance is moderate, with deferred loading of scripts to improve page load times. The site uses standard web fonts and icons (Font Awesome). There is no evidence of outdated or vulnerable libraries in the provided HTML content. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional and scalable web 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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with vlaanderen-circulair.be. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review vlaanderen-circulair.be.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.