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Security report for cottey.edu

Cottey College · Education · United States

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

54/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Cottey College is a well-established independent women's liberal arts college located in Nevada, Missouri, with a history dating back to 1884. The institution offers a variety of bachelor's degree programs focused on personalized learning and leadership development. The website reflects a strong market position within the niche of women's education, supported by a large philanthropic organization, P.E.O. International. The site is professionally designed with excellent content quality, clear navigation, and strong branding consistency, targeting young women seeking a comprehensive liberal arts education. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern technologies such as React and integrates multiple analytics and user feedback tools, indicating a mature digital infrastructure. Security measures are robust, including HTTPS enforcement and appropriate security headers, though explicit security policies and incident response information are not present. Overall, the website demonstrates a high level of professionalism and trustworthiness, with room for improvement in security policy transparency and vulnerability disclosure.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
33/ 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

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

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

    • Critical

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

    • 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

  2. 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

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

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

Keep watching cottey.edu

This scan found 14 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

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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
0
Security headers
80
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
33
Average
54

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

Cottey College operates as a private educational institution specializing in women's liberal arts and sciences education. Its competitive advantage lies in its long-standing history, focused mission, and strong community ties through P.E.O. International. The business model centers on undergraduate education with integrated leadership development and a supportive campus environment. Revenue streams likely include tuition, philanthropic support, and merchandise sales. The target customer segment is young women seeking a single-sex educational environment with personalized attention. The college maintains a strong partnership ecosystem with related domains for applications, athletics, merchandise, and online bookstore services. Growth indicators include active news updates and social media engagement. Strategic observations highlight the importance of maintaining digital maturity and enhancing security transparency to sustain trust and compliance.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enabled and multiple security headers implemented, reducing risks of common web attacks. The absence of exposed sensitive data and use of secure forms indicate good security hygiene. However, the lack of a dedicated security policy page, incident response contact information, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms represent compliance gaps. The integration of user feedback and analytics tools is balanced with privacy considerations, but ongoing monitoring of third-party scripts is recommended. Overall, the security culture appears proactive but could benefit from enhanced transparency and formalized policies to improve incident readiness and regulatory compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Develop and publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and compliance.
  2. Implement a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  3. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and plugins to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  4. Enhance form security with advanced validation and anti-bot measures to protect user data.
  5. Maintain and communicate clear data retention and privacy policies aligned with GDPR and other regulations.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Cottey College
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Cottey College
Description
Cottey College is an independent, liberal arts and sciences women’s college in Nevada, Missouri. Since 1884, the College has offered young women the opportunity to learn and grow into leaders, role models, and confident individuals.
Key services
Undergraduate education, Leadership development, Student life and campus experience
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, React, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Hotjar, Userback, jQuery
Frameworks
React
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Security headers present
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security and feedback tools (Userback, Hotjar)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Hotjar
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Hotjar, Userback
Marketing tools
Userback, Hotjar
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 designed, content-rich site for an independent women's liberal arts college.
  2. Strong emphasis on academic programs, student life, and community.
  3. Multiple contact forms for prospective students with detailed fields.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  5. No signs of blocking or WAF interference.
  6. Security headers and HTTPS are properly implemented.
  7. No explicit security or incident response policies found.
  8. Social media presence is well integrated.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform enhanced with React for dynamic components, indicating a modern and flexible tech stack. It uses widely adopted analytics and user feedback tools such as Google Analytics, Hotjar, and Userback, supporting data-driven decision-making. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features, contributing to a positive user experience. Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization in loading times. The presence of comprehensive SEO meta tags and structured data (JSON-LD) supports strong search engine visibility. Technical risks are minimal but include dependency on multiple third-party scripts which require regular security reviews. Overall, the technical infrastructure is robust and well-maintained.
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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