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Is globeatnight.org a Scam? Security Check Results - NOAO/AURA, Inc. Reviews

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Is globeatnight.org Safe? Security Analysis for NOAO/AURA, Inc.

Check if globeatnight.org is a scam or legitimate. Free security scan and reviews.

EducationUnited Statesmedium
JavaScriptjQueryMatomo AnalyticsFontAwesomeOwl Carousel+3 more
Analyzed 9/5/2025Completed 11:10:43 AM
59
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

Globe at Night is a well-established international citizen science campaign managed by NOAO/AURA, Inc., affiliated with NSF’s NOIRLab. The website serves as an educational platform to raise awareness about light pollution by engaging the public in measuring night sky brightness. It offers resources, reporting tools, and interactive maps to support its mission. The target audience includes general public, educators, and astronomy enthusiasts worldwide. Technically, the site uses a modern JavaScript stack with privacy-conscious Matomo analytics and is hosted on Amazon AWS infrastructure. The website is mobile optimized with good design and navigation, though some SEO and accessibility features could be improved. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and no exposed sensitive data, but lacks some security headers and DNSSEC. Privacy compliance is weak due to missing privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the domain registration and WHOIS data strongly support the legitimacy and trustworthiness of the site.

Detected Technologies

JavaScriptjQueryMatomo AnalyticsFontAwesomeOwl CarouselMagnific PopupWOW.jsSplitting.js

🧠AI Business Intelligence

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

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

The Globe at Night program operates as a non-profit educational initiative under the umbrella of AURA and NSF’s NOIRLab, targeting global citizen scientists and educators. Its competitive advantage lies in its international reach and large dataset of night sky observations. The business model focuses on public engagement and scientific data collection rather than commercial revenue. Partnerships with scientific organizations and dark sky initiatives enhance its credibility. Growth indicators include ongoing campaigns and multilingual resources. The website ecosystem includes related domains such as noirlab.edu and darksky.org, reinforcing its scientific and educational positioning.

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and no visible sensitive data leaks. Use of Matomo analytics reflects a privacy-conscious approach. However, the absence of security headers like Content-Security-Policy and lack of DNSSEC implementation are notable gaps. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response information is provided, which could hinder coordinated security improvements. The lack of privacy and cookie policies also indicates compliance risks under GDPR and similar regulations. Overall, the security posture is adequate for an educational site but could be enhanced with standard best practices and transparency measures.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies to improve GDPR and global privacy compliance.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

NOAO/AURA, Inc.

Description:

Globe at Night is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure and submit their night sky brightness observations.

Key Services:
Citizen science data collection on night sky brightnessEducational resources on constellations and light pollutionInteractive data maps and reporting tools
Content Quality:

good

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
JavaScriptjQueryMatomo AnalyticsFontAwesomeOwl CarouselMagnific PopupWOW.jsSplitting.js
Performance:

moderate

Mobile:

good

Accessibility:

basic

SEO:

basic

Security Assessment

Security Score:
75/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enabled
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of asynchronous loading for analytics scripts

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Matomo
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:poor

Advertising & Marketing

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

Website Quality Assessment

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

Key Observations

1

Website is an educational and citizen science platform focused on light pollution and astronomy.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

50/100
Score

Weak Strict-Transport-Security configuration

LOW

Current value: "max-age=15724800; includeSubDomains"

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)

Weak Referrer-Policy configuration

LOW

Current value: "same-origin"

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: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

GDPR Compliance Analysis

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

🛡️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

60/100
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

No email authentication configured

CRITICAL

Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

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

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

72/100
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 52 days

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

60/100
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 Transfer Lock Not Enabled

MEDIUM

Domain can be transferred without authorization

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
16 years(mature)
Expiry Risk
none(595 days)
Protection Level
noneDNSSEC OFF
Suspicious Indicators Detected
  • No domain protection locks enabled

DNS Records

A Records:54.70.199.87, 35.84.111.60, 52.24.154.72
Name Servers:
ns-1482.awsdns-57.org
ns-1831.awsdns-36.co.uk
ns-254.awsdns-31.com
ns-648.awsdns-17.net
MX Records:
10: tucsmtp-lv1.noirlab.edu
SOA:Serial: 1, TTL: 86400s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:64ms

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 is built on a custom or unknown CMS with a modern JavaScript tech stack including jQuery and various UI libraries. Hosting on AWS and use of S3 for media assets indicate a scalable infrastructure. Performance is moderate with asynchronous script loading but could benefit from further optimization. Mobile responsiveness is good, but accessibility is basic. SEO metadata is minimal, lacking Open Graph or JSON-LD structured data. The site uses Matomo analytics, favoring privacy over commercial trackers. No major technical debt or vulnerabilities are apparent from the HTML content.
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