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Is encyclopedia.pub a Scam? Security Check Results - Encyclopedia MDPI Reviews

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Is encyclopedia.pub Safe? Security Analysis for Encyclopedia MDPI

Check if encyclopedia.pub is a scam or legitimate. Free security scan and reviews.

EducationN/amedium
JavaScriptTailwind CSSMagnific PopupBoomerang (performance monitoring)Usercentrics CMP+2 more
Analyzed 10/3/2025Completed 4:36:43 PM
65
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

Encyclopedia.pub is an academic encyclopedia platform affiliated with MDPI, offering scientific entries, videos, and images targeted at scholars and researchers. The website positions itself as a niche academic resource, providing authoritative content to the global academic community. The platform leverages modern web technologies including Tailwind CSS and JavaScript frameworks, with performance monitoring and consent management integrated via Usercentrics and Google Tag Manager. While the site demonstrates good content quality and user experience, it lacks explicit privacy and terms of service pages, and no direct contact information is provided, which could impact user trust and compliance. Security posture is moderate, with no detected security headers and no visible vulnerabilities, but improvements are recommended to enhance protection and transparency. Overall, the domain is privacy protected but operated by a reputable registrar, and the website content aligns with the academic publishing industry, indicating legitimacy.

Detected Technologies

JavaScriptTailwind CSSMagnific PopupBoomerang (performance monitoring)Usercentrics CMPGoogle Tag ManagerMatomo Tag Manager

🧠AI Business Intelligence

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

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

The business operates in the education sector, focusing on academic publishing and knowledge dissemination. Its market position is that of a specialized academic encyclopedia under the MDPI brand, targeting researchers and scholars globally. The business model revolves around providing free access to scientific content and encouraging academic contributions. The platform uses third-party services for analytics and consent management, indicating a mature digital marketing approach. However, the absence of visible contact and compliance documentation suggests areas for operational enhancement. The domain's privacy protection is justified given the nature of the business. No suspicious patterns or inconsistencies were found between the website content and WHOIS data.

Extracted Contact Information

Marketing Intelligence Data

Email Addresses (2)

o*****@encyclopedia.pub
e*****@mdpi.com

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website employs HTTPS and integrates consent management for cookies, reflecting awareness of privacy regulations. However, the lack of security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options reduces its defense-in-depth posture. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided content. The absence of incident response contact information and security policies limits transparency and readiness for security events. Overall, the security maturity is moderate, with room for improvement in headers, documentation, and incident response preparedness.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Implement and publish comprehensive privacy and terms of service pages to enhance compliance and user trust.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

Encyclopedia MDPI

Description:

Encyclopedia.pub is an academic encyclopedia offering scientific entries, videos, and images for scholars and researchers. Explore authoritative resources and contribute to the global academic community.

Key Services:
scientific entriesvideosimagesacademic contributions
Content Quality:

good

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
JavaScriptTailwind CSSMagnific PopupBoomerang (performance monitoring)Usercentrics CMPGoogle Tag ManagerMatomo Tag Manager
Performance:

moderate

Mobile:

good

Accessibility:

basic

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
70/100
Best Practices:
  • Consent management for cookies
  • Google Tag Manager with consent

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Google Analytics (deferred via GTM)Matomo Tag Manager
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:basic

Advertising & Marketing

Tracking Pixels:
Google Analytics (via GTM)Matomo Tag Manager
Marketing Tools:
Usercentrics CMP
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 an academic encyclopedia affiliated with MDPI.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

35/100
Score

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

👤GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.

GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment

58/100
Score

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

Privacy policy may not be GDPR compliant

MEDIUM

Privacy policy lacks explicit GDPR compliance elements

GDPR Compliance Analysis

Privacy Policy85% 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

📧Email Security

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

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

65/100
Score

No DKIM record found

MEDIUM

DKIM adds cryptographic signatures to emails

DMARC Partial Enforcement

LOW

DMARC only applies to 25% of messages

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 a mx ip4:195.65.194.219 ip4:195.65.194.209 ip4:114.142.153.167 ip4:103.139.212.219 ip4:210.51.191.2 ip4:210.51.191.7 -all
DNS Lookups:2/10
Policy:-all
DMARC Details
Policy:reject(25% enforcement)
Aggregate Reports:admin@encyclopedia.pub

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

85/100
Score

SSL Certificate Expires Within 90 Days

MEDIUM

SSL certificate expires in 85 days

Mixed Content Detected

MEDIUM

1 resources loaded over insecure HTTP

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 2 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Certificate Details

Subject:encyclopedia.pub
Issuer:R12
Valid Until:12/28/2025 (85 days)
SANs:encyclopedia.pub, www.encyclopedia.pub

OCSP Status

OCSP Stapling Disabled

📊DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment.

DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment

85/100
Score

DNSSEC Not Enabled

MEDIUM

DNSSEC is not configured for this domain

CAA Records Not Configured

LOW

Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) records not found

DNS Records

A Records:2.17.100.186, 2.17.100.248
AAAA Records:2a02:26f0:7100::210:128, 2a02:26f0:7100::210:130
Name Servers:
a1-160.akam.netDNS only
a26-65.akam.netDNS only
a3-64.akam.netDNS only
a5-67.akam.netDNS only
a6-66.akam.netDNS only
a8-66.akam.netDNS only
MX Records:
10: mail.mdpi.com
SOA:Serial: 2024101610, TTL: 300s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:125ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 a mx ip4:195.65.194.219 ip4:195.65.194.209 ip4:114.142.153.167 ip4:103.139.212.219 ip4:210.51.191.2 ip4:210.51.191.7 -all

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis.

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis

100/100
Score

Good Network Security Posture

LOW

No unnecessary services detected on common risky ports

🔧Technical Analysis

Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.

Technical Analysis

Comprehensive security assessment findings

Additional Findings

The website uses a modern front-end stack with Tailwind CSS and JavaScript modules, supported by performance monitoring via Akamai Boomerang and consent management through Usercentrics. Google Tag Manager and Matomo Tag Manager are used for analytics, indicating a sophisticated approach to data collection and user tracking with consent. Hosting appears to be via Akamai CDN, supporting good performance and availability. The site is mobile optimized and SEO friendly with proper meta tags and structured data (JSON-LD). However, no CMS was detected, suggesting a custom-built platform. The absence of security headers and privacy documentation are technical gaps that should be addressed to improve security and compliance.
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