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Is rd-alliance.org a Scam? Security Check Results - Research Data Alliance Reviews

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Is rd-alliance.org Safe? Security Analysis for Research Data Alliance

Check if rd-alliance.org is a scam or legitimate. Free security scan and reviews.

OtherN/amedium
WordPressBuddyPressjQueryFont AwesomeNew Relic Browser monitoring
Analyzed 9/7/2025Completed 4:38:06 AM
52
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

Research Data Alliance (RDA) is a globally recognized non-profit organization dedicated to enabling open data sharing and collaboration across research communities. The website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive information about governance, membership, working groups, and events. The organization targets researchers, data professionals, and institutions involved in data sharing and standards development. The business model is centered on community-driven collaboration and dissemination of best practices and recommendations in data management. The website's content quality and navigation are good, supporting the organization's mission effectively. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with BuddyPress for community features, leveraging common web technologies such as jQuery and Font Awesome. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and SEO practices. The site uses New Relic and Google Analytics for monitoring and analytics, indicating a focus on performance and user behavior insights. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and includes standard security headers, reflecting good security hygiene. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, the absence of a visible cookie consent mechanism and explicit privacy policy links suggests room for improvement in privacy compliance. WHOIS data is unavailable, likely due to privacy protection, which is typical for organizations of this nature. Overall, the website presents a professional and trustworthy digital front for the Research Data Alliance, with strong business credibility and a solid technical foundation. Strategic recommendations include enhancing privacy compliance with clear cookie consent and privacy policy visibility, publishing security incident response information, and improving accessibility features to meet broader compliance standards.

Detected Technologies

WordPressBuddyPressjQueryFont AwesomeNew Relic Browser monitoring

🧠AI Business Intelligence

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

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

RDA occupies a niche in the research data sharing ecosystem, providing a platform for collaboration and standards development. Its competitive advantage lies in its global community and recognized outputs that influence data management practices. The business model is non-commercial, focusing on membership and community engagement rather than direct revenue. Target customers include academic researchers, data stewards, and funding bodies. Growth indicators include active working groups, plenary meetings, and strategic plans. The partnership ecosystem is broad but not explicitly detailed on the site. The organization's operations emphasize transparency and community governance, supporting its market position as a trusted facilitator in open data.

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforcement and multiple security headers such as HSTS, CSP, and X-Frame-Options. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive information were found in the HTML content. However, the lack of explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms indicates potential gaps in security transparency and readiness. Compliance with GDPR is implied but not explicitly documented on the site. The use of third-party analytics and monitoring tools is standard but requires clear privacy disclosures. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be enhanced by formalizing policies and improving user-facing security information.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Implement a visible cookie consent banner to comply with privacy regulations.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

Research Data Alliance

Description:

Research Data Alliance is an organization focused on building the social and technical bridges to enable open sharing of data.

Key Services:
Facilitating working groups and interest groupsPublishing recommendations and outputsOrganizing plenary meetings and eventsMembership services
Content Quality:

good

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
WordPressBuddyPressjQueryFont AwesomeNew Relic Browser monitoring
Frameworks:
WordPress
Platforms:
Web
Performance:

moderate

Mobile:

good

Accessibility:

basic

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
85/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Security headers present
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Google AnalyticsNew Relic Browser
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:basic

Advertising & Marketing

Tracking Pixels:
New Relic
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 fully accessible with rich content and navigation

🛡️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

53/100
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

No Data Protection Officer mentioned

LOW

Large organizations may need to designate a DPO under GDPR

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

75/100
Score

DMARC not enforcing

MEDIUM

DMARC policy is set to "none"

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 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all
DNS Lookups:1/10
Policy:-all
DKIM Selectors Found
Selector:k2(1416-bit rsa)
DMARC Details
Policy:none
Subdomain Policy:none
Aggregate Reports:re+orcoojne1ms@dmarc.postmarkapp.com

🏆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 68 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

75/100
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

DMARC Policy Set to None

LOW

DMARC is configured but not enforcing any policy

Domain Registration Details

Domain Age
13 years(mature)
Expiry Risk
low(359 days)
Protection Level
basicDNSSEC OFF
Suspicious Indicators Detected
  • Privacy/proxy registration detected

DNS Records

A Records:139.59.151.100
Name Servers:
sage.ns.cloudflare.com
tiffany.ns.cloudflare.com
MX Records:
0: rdalliance-org0e.mail.protection.outlook.com
SOA:Serial: 2378886217, TTL: 1800s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:89ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis.

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis

40/100
Score

Service Exposed: SSH

MEDIUM

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

🔧Technical Analysis

Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.

Technical Analysis

Comprehensive security assessment findings

Additional Findings

The website is powered by WordPress CMS with BuddyPress for social features, using standard web technologies including jQuery and Font Awesome. It integrates New Relic for performance monitoring and Google Analytics for user tracking. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design and uses structured data (JSON-LD) for SEO enhancement. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization in loading speed. The technical stack is modern and well-maintained, but reliance on multiple third-party scripts requires ongoing security and privacy oversight. Opportunities exist to improve accessibility and privacy compliance through technical and content updates.
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