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Security report for bfh.ch

Bern University of Applied Sciences · Education · Switzerland

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

0–100, higher is better. How it is calculated

Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH) is a prominent Swiss higher education institution offering a broad range of bachelor's and master's degree programs alongside continuing education courses. The website reflects a well-established educational entity with a clear focus on applied sciences, research, and professional development. The institution targets students, researchers, and professionals seeking advanced education and training. The site is professionally designed with consistent branding and multi-language support, enhancing accessibility and user experience. Technically, the website employs modern tools such as Google Tag Manager for analytics and OneTrust for cookie consent management, indicating a mature digital infrastructure. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices evident in meta tags and structured navigation. However, the CMS platform is not explicitly identified, suggesting a custom or proprietary solution. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and includes standard security headers, contributing to a strong security posture. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Nonetheless, the absence of explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms represents areas for improvement to enhance transparency and trust. Overall, BFH's website demonstrates a high level of professionalism and trustworthiness, suitable for its role as an educational institution. Strategic enhancements in privacy and security documentation would further solidify its compliance and user confidence.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
65/ 100 · Medium
Checks completed
7of 7

NIS2 Art. 21(2)

  1. (a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
  2. (b) Incident handling: One indicator
  3. (c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
  4. (d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
  5. (e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
  6. (f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
  7. (g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
  8. (h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
  9. (i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
  10. (j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside

This scan rated NIS2 with an earlier keyword method that is no longer shown; rescan for the per-article view. Risk management, continuity, supply chain, training, MFA, management oversight (Art. 20) and incident reporting (Art. 23) need internal evidence, and Guard cannot tell whether NIS2 applies to this organisation.

GDPR is indicative only, based on publicly visible signals: Articles 7, 12, 13 and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Not a certification or legal assessment.

Priority findings

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

  3. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • High

      Weak Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching bfh.ch

This scan found 20 issues across 6 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

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Results by check

Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.

How this score is calculated

The security score runs 0–100, higher is better. It is the plain average of the security checks that completed in this scan, each counted equally. A check that could not run is left out: it counts neither as a pass nor as a fail.

Counted in this score

SSL/TLS
77
Security headers
60
Email security
50
DNS health
85
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
65
Average
63

Not counted

  • NIS2 outside view: Re-weights evidence from the TLS, email, DNS, network and hygiene checks, so counting it would count that evidence twice. Shown on its own.
  • OffSeq Observations: An AI reading of the site, useful context but not reproducible evidence. Shown on its own.

Findings that cap the score at 49

Each of these is serious on its own, so while any is present the site cannot rate better than high risk, however good the other checks are.

  • The certificate is not trusted by browsers
  • The website is not served over HTTPS
  • A database, remote desktop, file-sharing or Telnet service is reachable from the internet
  • The page loads a script from a compromised source
  • The domain registration has expired
  • SPF authorises every server to send mail as the domain

Partial scans

When the site blocks Guard or most checks cannot run, the score covers only the checks that ran (usually DNS and email), is capped at 75 and is shown as partial, without a risk level.

Risk levels

  • Critical0–25
  • High26–49
  • Medium50–75
  • Low76–100

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

BFH holds a strong market position as a leading Swiss university of applied sciences, serving a large audience across multiple disciplines. Its business model centers on delivering accredited degree programs and continuing education, supported by active research and consulting services. The institution benefits from a robust partnership ecosystem, including an official alumni network. Growth indicators include a diverse program portfolio and international study options. The website's multi-language support and comprehensive content reflect a strategic approach to broadening reach and engagement. Revenue streams likely derive from tuition, research grants, and continuing education fees. The institution's transparent online presence and social media engagement support its competitive advantage in the education sector.

Security posture

The website exhibits a solid security foundation with HTTPS enforcement and multiple security headers, reducing common web vulnerabilities. The integration of OneTrust for cookie consent aligns with privacy regulations, although the lack of a detailed privacy policy and incident response information indicates gaps in compliance maturity. No signs of malware, phishing, or exposed credentials were found. The use of third-party scripts like Google Tag Manager and Monsido Heatmaps introduces potential risk vectors, necessitating regular audits. The absence of a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file limits external reporting capabilities. Overall, the security posture is good but could benefit from enhanced transparency and formalized policies.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive and easily accessible privacy policy detailing data processing and user rights.
  2. Develop and display a clear security policy and incident response plan with dedicated contact channels.
  3. Implement a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Regularly review and audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to mitigate supply chain risks.
  5. Enhance user trust by providing explicit contact information for the Data Protection Officer.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Bern University of Applied Sciences
Description
BFH offers 32 Bachelor's and 27 Master's degree programmes as well as a wide range of application-oriented continuing education courses.
Key services
Bachelor's degree programmes, Master's degree programmes, Continuing education courses, Research and consulting services
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Tag Manager, OneTrust Cookie Consent, Slick Carousel, Monsido Heatmaps
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google Tag Manager with async loading

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Monsido Heatmaps
Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
excellent
User experience
excellent
Content relevance
excellent
Navigation
excellent
Professionalism
excellent
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured.
  2. Strong focus on education and research services.
  3. Comprehensive navigation with multi-language support.
  4. Cookie consent implemented via OneTrust.
  5. Use of modern tracking and analytics tools.
  6. No explicit privacy policy or terms of service found on main page.
  7. No direct contact emails or phone numbers visible in main HTML content.
  8. Social media presence is strong with official accounts linked.
  9. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website leverages modern web technologies including asynchronous loading of Google Tag Manager scripts and OneTrust cookie consent management, indicating a contemporary technical stack. The presence of responsive design elements and media queries for various screen sizes demonstrates good mobile optimization. Performance appears moderate, with potential for improvement in load times due to multiple external scripts. The CMS is not explicitly identified but likely custom-built, which may require dedicated maintenance resources. SEO is well addressed through meta tags and structured navigation. Accessibility features such as ARIA roles and screen reader labels are present, supporting inclusive design. Opportunities exist to streamline scripts and enhance caching strategies to improve performance further.
Standards and sources

Reference chips under each finding point to the standard, regulation or specification the finding relates to. They are taken from the official datasets below and mapped conservatively: a finding with no defensible link shows none. NIS2 and GDPR references mark where a finding is relevant evidence, not a compliance verdict. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 binds digital infrastructure and digital service providers; for other entities it is the most detailed public reading of the Article 21 measures. WCAG, EN 301 549, European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive references name the requirement an automated accessibility rule relates to; they are not a conformance verdict.

Retrieved 2026-10-25

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 53/100Medium26 findingsView report
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