Skip to main content

Security report for cern.ch

European Organization for Nuclear Research ("CERN") · Education · Switzerland

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The website home.cern is the official online presence of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), a globally recognized intergovernmental scientific research organization based in Switzerland. CERN specializes in fundamental physics research, operating the world's largest particle accelerators and conducting cutting-edge experiments to understand the universe's fundamental structure. The site targets a broad audience including scientists, educators, students, the general public, and the CERN community, providing news, resources, event information, and educational materials. The business model is non-profit and government-supported, focusing on scientific advancement and knowledge dissemination.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of cern.ch. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 100 · Low
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. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  2. 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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

  3. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • High

      Domain Expires Soon

      Domain expires in 11 days

      What to do: Renew domain registration before expiration

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

Keep watching cern.ch

This scan found 21 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.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
90
Security headers
40
Email security
60
DNS health
55
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
71

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

CERN holds a leading position in the global scientific research sector, particularly in particle physics. The organization benefits from strong international collaborations and a reputation for innovation and scientific excellence. The website reflects this stature with comprehensive content, frequent updates, and extensive resources. CERN's ecosystem includes partnerships with educational institutions, governments, and industry, supporting knowledge transfer and societal impact. The site supports outreach and engagement through events, news, and multimedia content, reinforcing CERN's role as a thought leader and community hub.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security posture with HTTPS enforced, domain transfer protection, and privacy-conscious analytics implementation (Matomo with DoNotTrack). However, DNSSEC is not enabled, and security headers are not explicitly detected in the provided data, representing areas for improvement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. The absence of a published security policy or incident response contact is noted, which could enhance transparency and preparedness. Overall, the site maintains good security hygiene appropriate for a high-profile scientific institution.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to strengthen DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement and publish a formal security policy and incident response procedures.
  3. Add standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  4. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy detailing GDPR compliance and data handling practices.
  5. Consider adding a security.txt file or vulnerability disclosure policy to facilitate responsible reporting.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
European Organization for Nuclear Research ("CERN")
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
European Organization for Nuclear Research ("CERN")
Description
CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research. Its business is fundamental physics, finding out what the Universe is made of and how it works.
Key services
Scientific research in particle physics, Public education and outreach, Hosting scientific events and conferences, Providing resources and educational materials, Collaborations with international scientific community
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Matomo Analytics, Owl Carousel, Prism.js, jQuery, CSS3, HTML5
Frameworks
Drupal CMS, Bootstrap (implied by navbar classes)
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of DoNotTrack in analytics

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Marketing tools
Matomo Analytics
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally maintained official site of CERN.
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and updated with news and events.
  3. Strong focus on scientific research and public education.
  4. No signs of malicious content or security issues.
  5. Good use of modern web technologies and analytics with privacy considerations.
  6. Some minor improvements possible in security headers and DNSSEC.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10 CMS, leveraging modern web technologies including Owl Carousel for UI components and Matomo for privacy-respecting analytics. The site is well-optimized for mobile devices and accessibility, with a fast loading performance and good SEO practices. Hosting appears to be managed internally or through CERN's infrastructure, ensuring control and reliability. The technical stack is modern and well-maintained, supporting a high-quality user experience and robust content delivery.
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. 73/100 +24Medium29 findingsView report
  2. 49/100High25 findingsView report
Reviews of this site

Share your experience with cern.ch. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review cern.ch.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.