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Is civicsciencestories.org a Scam? Security Check Results - Aspiration

civicsciencestories.org Security Report Summary

civicsciencestories.org received a security score of 43 out of 100 in Guard's comprehensive security analysis, classified as "Elevated Risk". This report covers Aspiration's website security posture. Aspiration operates in the Education industry in United States.

Civic Science Stories is a small, US-based educational publication project operated under the organization Aspiration. The website focuses on sharing personal and societal narratives about the role and impact of science in civic life, aiming to foster a more just and inclusive approach to science. Supported by foundations such as the Rita Allen Foundation and the Packard Foundation, the platform distributes downloadable publications and engages its audience through newsletters and social media. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with a child theme of Twenty Seventeen, uses Matomo for analytics, and is hosted on Aspiration's own hosting infrastructure. The site is moderately optimized for performance and accessibility, with good mobile responsiveness and SEO practices. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS and domain transfer protections, but lacks DNSSEC and security headers, and no explicit privacy or cookie policies are present, indicating compliance gaps. Overall, the site is trustworthy and professional but would benefit from enhanced security and privacy compliance measures.

The security scan identified 36 findings across security headers, SSL/TLS, DNS health, email security, GDPR compliance, and NIS2 compliance analysis modules.

Technologies detected: WordPress 6.8.2, jQuery 3.7.1, Matomo Analytics.

About this security scan

Guard performs automated security assessments of websites by analyzing SSL/TLS certificates, HTTP security headers, DNS configuration, email authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), GDPR compliance indicators, NIS2 directive compliance, network exposure, and AI-powered business intelligence. Each report provides domain-specific findings, risk scores, and actionable recommendations.

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Is civicsciencestories.org Safe? Security Analysis for Aspiration

https://civicsciencestories.org

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EducationUnited Statessmall
WordPress 6.8.2jQuery 3.7.1Matomo Analytics
Analyzed 7/22/2025Completed 8:02:35 PM8mo ago
43
Security Score
HIGH RISK

Below Education avg (55)

10,000+

Domains scanned

500+

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Domaincivicsciencestories.org
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SEQ SIA

Lastadijas 12 k-3, Riga, Latvia, LV-1050

Reg. No. 40203410806 • VAT LV40203410806

Support: guard@offseq.com+371 2256 5353

AI Summary

Civic Science Stories is a small, US-based educational publication project operated under the organization Aspiration. The website focuses on sharing personal and societal narratives about the role and impact of science in civic life, aiming to foster a more just and inclusive approach to science. Supported by foundations such as the Rita Allen Foundation and the Packard Foundation, the platform distributes downloadable publications and engages its audience through newsletters and social media. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with a child theme of Twenty Seventeen, uses Matomo for analytics, and is hosted on Aspiration's own hosting infrastructure. The site is moderately optimized for performance and accessibility, with good mobile responsiveness and SEO practices. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS and domain transfer protections, but lacks DNSSEC and security headers, and no explicit privacy or cookie policies are present, indicating compliance gaps. Overall, the site is trustworthy and professional but would benefit from enhanced security and privacy compliance measures.

Detected Technologies

WordPress 6.8.2jQuery 3.7.1Matomo Analytics

13 urgent findings need attention

1 critical · 12 high

  • + 5 more findings in the full report below
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Security drift alerts

Risk score drops, new high-severity issues, and header hardening gaps

Compliance watch

GDPR / NIS2 posture changes with governance evidence snapshots

Infrastructure surface

Unexpected open services, SSL expiry, DNS & email authentication changes

Content & tracker intelligence

Marketing tech shifts, analytics drift, and AI recommendation updates

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Security Headers

8 findings

15/100

GDPR Compliance

4 findings

35/100

NIS2 Compliance

8 findings

17/100

Email Security

4 findings

70/100

🧠AI Business Intelligence

Technology stack, business insights, and market analysis powered by AI.

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

The project occupies a niche in the education and non-profit sector, targeting civic science communities and socially conscious individuals interested in science's societal role. Its business model relies on foundation grants and collaborative funding, with no evident commercial activities. The platform's partnership ecosystem includes reputable foundations and agencies, enhancing credibility. The site’s content and design reflect a consistent brand identity and professional quality, supporting its mission to influence science culture. Growth potential lies in expanding community engagement and formalizing compliance and security practices to build trust further.

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website demonstrates a basic to moderate security maturity level. HTTPS is enforced, and domain registration includes clientTransferProhibited status, reducing domain hijacking risks. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options limits protection against DNS spoofing and clickjacking attacks. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response contacts are published, which could hinder timely security issue reporting. The use of Matomo analytics suggests some privacy awareness, but lack of privacy and cookie policies indicates compliance gaps with GDPR and similar regulations. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. Overall, the security posture is functional but requires improvements to meet best practices and regulatory standards.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Implement and publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with explicit consent mechanisms to improve GDPR compliance.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

Aspiration

Description:

A platform publishing stories and reflections on the role of science in society, focusing on civic science and its impact on societal progress and justice.

Key Services:
Publication of Civic Science StoriesDistribution of downloadable reports/publicationsCommunity engagement via newsletter and social media
Content Quality:

good

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
WordPress 6.8.2jQuery 3.7.1Matomo Analytics
Frameworks:
Twenty Seventeen WordPress ThemeTwenty Seventeen Child Theme
Platforms:
WordPress CMS
Performance:

moderate

Mobile:

good

Accessibility:

good

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
65/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced (implied by canonical URLs)
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Matomo
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:basic

Advertising & Marketing

Tracking Pixels:
Matomo
Marketing Tools:
Mailchimp
Transparency Level:basic

Website Quality Assessment

Design Quality:good
User Experience:good
Content Relevance:good
Navigation Clarity:good
Professionalism:good
Trustworthiness:moderate

Key Observations

1

Website is a WordPress-based publication focused on civic science storytelling.

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🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

15/100
Score

Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

HIGH

Forces HTTPS connections

Missing X-Frame-Options header

HIGH

Prevents clickjacking attacks

Missing X-Content-Type-Options header

MEDIUM

Prevents MIME type sniffing

Missing Content-Security-Policy header

HIGH

Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

Missing X-XSS-Protection header

MEDIUM

Legacy XSS protection (deprecated but still recommended)

Missing Referrer-Policy header

LOW

Controls referrer information sent with requests

Missing Permissions-Policy header

MEDIUM

Controls browser features and APIs

Sensitive data may be cached

LOW

Cache-Control header should include "no-store" for sensitive pages

👤GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.

GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment

35/100
Score

No Privacy Policy found

HIGH

GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

No Cookie Policy found

HIGH

GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

No Cookie Consent Banner found

HIGH

GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

Third-party services without privacy policy

HIGH

Detected services: Twitter, Google APIs

GDPR Compliance Analysis

Privacy Policy0% confidence
Cookie Policy0% confidence
Contact Information Found90% confidence
emailphone

🛡️NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive compliance assessment.

NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive

17/100
Score

No information security framework found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity and information security measures

No vulnerability disclosure policy

MEDIUM

NIS2 encourages coordinated vulnerability disclosure

No security policy documentation found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity governance and risk management

No incident response procedures found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented incident response and business continuity plans

No business continuity planning found

MEDIUM

NIS2 emphasizes operational resilience and business continuity

No security contact information

HIGH

NIS2 requires clear incident reporting channels

No vulnerability reporting mechanism

MEDIUM

Clear vulnerability reporting supports coordinated disclosure

No NIS2 reference found

LOW

Consider explicitly mentioning NIS2 compliance efforts

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📧Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation and email security assessment.

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

70/100
Score

No DKIM record found

MEDIUM

DKIM adds cryptographic signatures to emails

No BIMI Record

LOW

BIMI displays brand logos in email clients

No MTA-STS Policy

MEDIUM

MTA-STS enforces TLS for email delivery

No TLS-RPT Record

LOW

TLS-RPT provides reporting for email TLS issues

SPF
Sender Policy Framework
DKIM
DomainKeys Identified Mail
DMARC
Domain-based Message Authentication
MX Records
Mail Exchange Records
BIMI
Brand Indicators
MTA-STS
Mail Transfer Agent Security
TLS-RPT
TLS Reporting
DNSSEC
DNS Security
SPF Details
Record:
v=spf1 ip4:52.14.157.209 include:relay.mailchannels.net +a +mx +ip4:207.210.208.122 ~all
DNS Lookups:3/10
Policy:~all

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

62/100
Score

Weak Protocols Supported

HIGH

Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

OCSP Stapling Not Enabled

LOW

OCSP stapling improves performance and privacy

Certificate Transparency Not Implemented

LOW

Certificate is not logged in Certificate Transparency logs

SSL Certificate Expires Within 90 Days

MEDIUM

SSL certificate expires in 37 days

Mixed Content Detected

MEDIUM

1 resources loaded over insecure HTTP

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 3 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Protocol Support

TLSv1.3TLSv1.2TLSv1.1

OCSP Status

OCSP Stapling Disabled

📊DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment.

DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment

70/100
Score

DNSSEC Not Enabled

MEDIUM

DNSSEC is not configured for this domain

CAA Records Not Configured

LOW

Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) records not found

Domain Delete Lock Not Enabled

LOW

Domain can be deleted without additional verification

No DMARC Record

MEDIUM

DMARC policy not configured

Domain Registration Details

Domain Age
3 years(established)
Expiry Risk
medium(expired)
Protection Level
basicDNSSEC OFF

DNS Records

A Records:52.14.157.209
Name Servers:
ns1.aspirationhost.org
ns2.aspirationhost.org
MX Records:
0: civicsciencestories.org
SOA:Serial: 2025060400, TTL: 86400s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:246ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 ip4:52.14.157.209 include:relay.mailchannels.net +a +mx +ip4:207.210.208.122 ~all

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis.

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis

0/100
Score

Service Exposed: SSH

MEDIUM

Port 22 (SSH) is publicly accessible - SSH - Secure but can be brute-forced

Critical Service Exposed: MySQL

CRITICAL

Port 3306 (MySQL) is publicly accessible - MySQL - Database server

How does civicsciencestories.org compare?

civicsciencestories.org scores below average. Browse similar domains to see how competitors handle security.

🔧Technical Analysis

Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.

Technical Analysis

Comprehensive security assessment findings

Additional Findings

The website is built on a stable and widely used CMS platform, WordPress 6.8.2, with a child theme based on Twenty Seventeen, indicating a standard and maintainable infrastructure. The use of jQuery 3.7.1 and Matomo analytics reflects a balance between functionality and privacy. Hosting is managed by Aspiration, consistent with the registrant information. Performance is moderate, with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and structured content. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers indicates technical debt in security configuration. The site could benefit from modernization efforts to implement advanced security controls and improve privacy compliance, which would enhance overall technical maturity and reduce operational risks.
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Marketing Intelligence

Contact emails, phone numbers & warm leads

49.90 €one-time • Incl. 21% VAT

Plan Comparison

FeaturePDF ReportMarketing+
Full security analysis
Professional PDF export
Email delivery
Lifetime access + unlock code
Contact emails & phones
Marketing outreach data

Already purchased?

Order summary

Domaincivicsciencestories.org
Access tierFull report or marketing add-on

Digital reports are delivered immediately after payment. By continuing you acknowledge the withdrawal waiver described in our Returns & Refunds policy.

VisaMastercardApple PayGoogle Pay

Secure payments processed via EveryPay. Prices in EUR; Incl. 21% VAT.

SEQ SIA

Lastadijas 12 k-3, Riga, Latvia, LV-1050

Reg. No. 40203410806 • VAT LV40203410806

Support: guard@offseq.com+371 2256 5353

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