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Is si.edu a Scam? Security Check Results - Smithsonian Institution Reviews

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Is si.edu Safe? Security Analysis for Smithsonian Institution

Check if si.edu is a scam or legitimate. Free security scan and reviews.

EducationUnited Stateslarge
Drupal 10jQueryGoogle Tag ManagerMicrosoft ClarityFundraiseUp+3 more
Analyzed 9/4/2025Completed 10:14:48 PM
67
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

The Smithsonian Institution website represents a large, reputable educational and cultural organization providing extensive museum, research, and educational resources. The site is well-designed, content-rich, and targets a broad audience including the general public, educators, and researchers. Technically, it leverages a modern Drupal 10 CMS with various analytics and fundraising integrations, demonstrating a mature digital infrastructure. Security posture is strong with HTTPS and no visible vulnerabilities, though some security headers could be improved. Privacy compliance is good with clear privacy and cookie policies and consent mechanisms. Overall, the site is trustworthy and professionally maintained, with no indications of malicious activity or content blocking.

Detected Technologies

Drupal 10jQueryGoogle Tag ManagerMicrosoft ClarityFundraiseUpVerint Unified Web SDKSplide.jsGSAP

🧠AI Business Intelligence

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

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

Smithsonian Institution holds a leading position in the education and cultural sector in the United States, operating as a non-profit entity. Its business model relies on government funding, memberships, donations, and public engagement through digital and physical channels. The website supports this model by providing access to collections, educational materials, events, and membership programs. Partnerships with affiliated domains like Smithsonian Magazine and Smithsonian Channel enhance its outreach. The institution targets a wide demographic, from casual visitors to academics, and maintains a strong brand presence online.

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website demonstrates a solid security posture with enforced HTTPS and no exposed sensitive data. It uses modern libraries and tracking tools responsibly. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy and HSTS is a minor gap. There is no public security policy or incident response information, and no vulnerability disclosure program detected. These areas represent opportunities for improvement to enhance transparency and security maturity.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Implement and publish a formal security policy and incident response plan on the website.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

Smithsonian Institution

Description:

The Smithsonian Institution is the world's largest museum, research, and education complex offering access to museums, research centers, educational resources, and digital collections.

Key Services:
Museum exhibitions and visitsEducational resourcesResearch resourcesDigital collections accessPodcasts and mediaMembership and donations
Content Quality:

excellent

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
Drupal 10jQueryGoogle Tag ManagerMicrosoft ClarityFundraiseUpVerint Unified Web SDKSplide.jsGSAP
Frameworks:
Drupal CMS
Performance:

moderate

Mobile:

good

Accessibility:

good

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
85/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of modern JavaScript libraries
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Microsoft ClarityGoogle Analytics (via GTM)Facebook Pixel
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:good

Advertising & Marketing

Tracking Pixels:
Facebook PixelMicrosoft Clarity
Marketing Tools:
FundraiseUp
Transparency Level:good

Website Quality Assessment

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

Key Observations

1

Website is a large, well-established educational and cultural institution site.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

35/100
Score

Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

HIGH

Forces HTTPS connections

Weak X-Content-Type-Options configuration

LOW

Current value: "nosniff, nosniff"

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: "no-referrer-when-downgrade"

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
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

97/100
Score

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 ip4:160.111.0.0/16 ip4:67.231.156.100 ip4:67.231.148.101 include:spf1.si.edu include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:mailsenders.netsuite.com -all
DNS Lookups:3/10
Policy:-all
DKIM Selectors Found
Selector:selector1(1296-bit rsa)
Selector:s1(1440-bit rsa)
DMARC Details
Policy:reject
Aggregate Reports:5e661d18@mxtoolbox.dmarc-report.com
Forensic Reports:5e661d18@forensics.dmarc-report.com
MTA-STS Details

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

60/100
Score

SSL Certificate Expires Within 90 Days

MEDIUM

SSL certificate expires in 50 days

Weak SSL Key Length

HIGH

SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

HSTS Not Enabled

MEDIUM

HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) is not configured

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 3 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Certificate Details

Subject:www.si.edu
Issuer:E6
Valid Until:10/25/2025 (50 days)
SANs:www.si.edu

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:160.111.244.22
Name Servers:
a1-88.akam.netDNS only
a11-67.akam.netDNS only
a24-67.akam.netDNS only
a26-66.akam.netDNS only
a28-65.akam.netDNS only
a9-64.akam.netDNS only
MX Records:
0: si-edu.mail.protection.outlook.com
SOA:Serial: 763975890, TTL: 1800s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:211ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 ip4:160.111.0.0/16 ip4:67.231.156.100 ip4:67.231.148.101 include:spf1.si.edu include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:mailsenders.netsuite.com -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 is built on Drupal 10, a modern and widely supported CMS, ensuring maintainability and security updates. It integrates multiple third-party analytics and fundraising tools, indicating a sophisticated digital marketing and engagement strategy. Performance is moderate with room for optimization, especially in script loading and caching. Accessibility and SEO best practices are well implemented, supporting broad user access and discoverability. The technical stack is robust but could benefit from enhanced security configurations and performance tuning.
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