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Security report for cooper.edu

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art · Education · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS and GDPR outside view.

Security score

59/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art is a well-established non-profit educational institution founded in 1859, offering degree programs in art, architecture, and engineering, along with continuing education courses. The website reflects a strong market position in the education sector, targeting students, alumni, donors, and the academic community. It provides comprehensive information about academic programs, admissions, events, and institutional history, supported by a consistent and professional brand presence. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 10, leveraging modern web technologies including Google Tag Manager, Mailchimp, and Termly for cookie consent management. The site is hosted likely on Pantheon, optimized for mobile devices, and demonstrates good SEO and accessibility practices. Performance is moderate, with no critical technical issues detected. From a security perspective, the site employs HTTPS with strong SSL configuration and uses security headers with nonce-based Content Security Policy. While no explicit security policy or incident response information is published, the site follows best practices in privacy compliance with visible privacy and cookie policies and consent mechanisms. No vulnerabilities or suspicious activities were detected. Overall, the website is trustworthy, professional, and secure, with a high AI score reflecting excellent content quality, technical implementation, and business credibility. Strategic recommendations include publishing explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure information to further enhance transparency and trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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

5 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  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

      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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube

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

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

Keep watching cooper.edu

This scan found 19 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
0
Security headers
65
Email security
75
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
59

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

The Cooper Union operates as a specialized higher education institution with a focus on STEM and arts disciplines. Its competitive advantage lies in its historic legacy, niche academic offerings, and strong community engagement through events and alumni relations. The business model is primarily non-profit, supported by tuition, donations, and grants. The institution targets prospective and current students, alumni, and donors, with growth indicators seen in continuing education and outreach programs. Partnerships with external platforms like SharePoint and virtual tour providers indicate a mature digital ecosystem supporting operational efficiency and user engagement.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced, use of security headers including CSP with nonce, and cookie consent mechanisms aligned with privacy regulations. However, the absence of a publicly available security policy, incident response plan, or vulnerability disclosure program represents a gap in transparency and readiness. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. The site would benefit from publishing security contact channels and formalizing incident response documentation to improve stakeholder confidence and compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page detailing security practices and commitments.
  2. Implement and publicize an incident response plan with clear contact channels for security issues.
  3. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to mitigate supply chain risks.
  5. Enhance transparency on data retention and privacy compliance to align with GDPR and other regulations.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Description
The Cooper Union, est. 1859, grants degrees in art, architecture and engineering and offers courses in continuing education in New York City's East Village.
Key services
Degree programs in art, architecture, engineering, Continuing education courses, Events and exhibitions, Student financial services, Alumni services
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Google Tag Manager, Mailchimp, Termly (cookie consent), YouVisit (virtual tour), Yext Answers
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of HTTPS
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of nonce in scripts for CSP

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (G-0BH61XPKQC, G-PPSCF1FHPB)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ads (AW-962667380)
Tracking pixels
arttrk.com
Marketing tools
Mailchimp, Termly
Transparency
good

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 maintained.
  2. Content is rich and relevant to the educational sector.
  3. Multiple social media channels are linked and active.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and CMS (Drupal 10).
  5. Good privacy and cookie compliance mechanisms in place.
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  7. No explicit security policy or incident response info publicly available.
  8. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10, a modern and widely supported CMS, ensuring a robust content management framework. Integration with Google Tag Manager and analytics services supports data-driven decision making. The use of Termly for cookie consent and accessibility widgets indicates attention to compliance and user experience. Hosting on Pantheon provides scalable infrastructure. Performance is moderate, with opportunities to optimize loading times further. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, though continuous monitoring and updates are recommended to maintain technical health and security.
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

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