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Security report for cmu.edu

Carnegie Mellon University · Education · United States

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

Security score

72/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Carnegie Mellon University is a prestigious private global research university based in Pittsburgh, USA, recognized among the top 20 universities in the United States. It offers a broad range of undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs with a strong emphasis on technology, artificial intelligence, and interdisciplinary research. The university has a large faculty body, notable alumni, and a history of pioneering contributions to AI and robotics. The website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive academic and campus life information targeting students, faculty, alumni, and researchers. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 10 CMS and integrates multiple modern analytics and marketing tools such as Google Tag Manager, Microsoft Clarity, Facebook Pixel, and LinkedIn Insight Tag. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and SEO-friendly, though performance is moderate. Security posture is good with HTTPS enabled and no visible sensitive data exposure, but lacks explicit security headers and a vulnerability disclosure policy. The WHOIS data is unavailable, which is typical for .edu domains due to registry policies, but the domain and content strongly indicate legitimacy. Privacy compliance is partially met with a comprehensive privacy policy but lacks a cookie consent mechanism. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained, serving as a key digital asset for Carnegie Mellon University.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 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 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';…

  2. GDPR outside view

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

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

  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 cmu.edu

This scan found 23 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

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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
50
Email security
75
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
72

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention cmu.edu, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
24,108
Employees
109
Customers
16,775
Third parties
7,224
Weak passwords
10%

Latest record dated 2026-06-17 · 380 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for cmu.edu.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –opportunities.africa.local.cmu.edu2026-06-17
  • –socratic-bots.hss.cmu.edu2026-06-16
  • –login.cmu.edu2026-06-13
  • –login.cmu.edu2026-06-07
  • –info.sv.cmu.edu2026-06-06

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)Monitor on Breach(opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

Carnegie Mellon University holds a strong market position as a top-tier educational institution with a focus on technology and AI. Its competitive advantages include a history of innovation, top-ranked programs, and a large, accomplished faculty. The business model centers on education, research, and global engagement. Revenue streams likely include tuition, research grants, donations, and partnerships. The target customer segments include prospective and current students, faculty, researchers, and alumni. Growth indicators include new degree programs and global initiatives. The university maintains a broad partnership ecosystem and a strong brand reputation in education and research.

Security posture

The university's website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and no apparent exposure of sensitive data. However, the absence of explicit security headers and a published incident response or vulnerability disclosure policy indicates room for improvement. The use of multiple third-party analytics and marketing scripts introduces potential privacy and security risks that should be regularly audited. Compliance with GDPR is partially evident through the privacy policy, but the lack of a cookie consent mechanism is a gap. Incident response readiness and security culture indicators are not publicly visible on the site.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Deploy a clear cookie consent banner/mechanism to improve GDPR compliance and user privacy transparency.
  3. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Provide explicit incident response contact information, including security or abuse email addresses, to improve trust and readiness.
  5. Regularly review and audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize privacy risks and ensure compliance with data protection regulations.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Carnegie Mellon University
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Carnegie Mellon University
Description
A private, global research university, Carnegie Mellon stands among the world's top educational institutions with its cutting-edge programs and innovations.
Key services
Undergraduate and graduate education, Research and creativity, Online education, Continuing education, Campus life and student services
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Google Tag Manager, Google Adsense, Microsoft Clarity, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Usersnap, LiveWhale Events, Font Awesome
Frameworks
Drupal CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security and analytics scripts asynchronously

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via GTM), Microsoft Clarity, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Adsense
Tracking pixels
Microsoft Clarity, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Usersnap
Marketing tools
Microsoft Clarity, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally designed university site with extensive content and resources
  2. No signs of blocking or WAF challenges
  3. Strong presence of social media and external trusted domains
  4. Use of modern analytics and marketing tools
  5. No visible security policy or incident response contact info
  6. WHOIS data unavailable, typical for .edu domains
  7. No cookie consent banner detected despite GDPR relevance
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by Drupal 10 CMS, leveraging modern web technologies and third-party analytics/tracking tools. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features. Performance is moderate, likely due to rich media content and multiple external scripts. The technical infrastructure appears robust but could benefit from enhanced security header implementation and optimization of third-party script usage. The absence of hosting provider details limits full infrastructure assessment. Overall, the technical setup supports a professional and scalable digital presence aligned with the university's stature.
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. 72/100 −1Medium31 findingsView report
  2. 73/100Medium30 findingsView report
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