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Security report for dsu.edu

Dakota State University · Education · United States

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

Security score

77/100

Risk levelLow

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

Dakota State University is a medium-sized higher education institution in the United States specializing in technology-driven education and cybersecurity programs. The website presents a professional and comprehensive overview of academic offerings, student life, and research opportunities, targeting prospective and current students. The institution holds a strong market position as a nationally recognized leader in technology education. Technically, the website employs modern tracking and analytics tools, including Google Tag Manager and multiple advertising pixels, indicating a mature digital marketing strategy. The site is well-designed, mobile-optimized, and accessible, providing a positive user experience. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and standard best practices, though it lacks explicit security policies and incident response disclosures. Privacy compliance is partial, with a clear privacy policy but no cookie consent mechanism. Overall, the website is trustworthy and professionally maintained, with room for improvement in privacy and security transparency.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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 dsu.edu

This scan found 18 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
82
Security headers
55
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
77

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 university operates primarily in the education sector, offering a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programs with a focus on technology and cybersecurity. Its business model centers on tuition-based education and research funding. The website's extensive use of social media and marketing pixels suggests active engagement in student recruitment and brand awareness. Partnerships such as 'trojansunite.org' support alumni relations and fundraising efforts. The institution's digital presence reflects a strategic approach to market positioning and growth, leveraging storytelling and student success stories to attract prospective students.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security baseline with HTTPS enforced and no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. However, it lacks published security policies, incident response plans, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms, which are important for transparency and compliance. The extensive use of third-party tracking scripts introduces potential privacy risks and requires ongoing monitoring. The absence of cookie consent mechanisms may pose compliance challenges under GDPR and similar regulations. Overall, the security posture is adequate but could be enhanced by formalizing policies and improving privacy controls.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive security policy and incident response plan accessible from the website.
  2. Implement a cookie consent banner to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  3. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Review and audit third-party scripts regularly to minimize privacy and security risks.
  5. Enhance security headers (e.g., Content-Security-Policy) to strengthen defense against web attacks.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Dakota State University
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Dakota State University
Description
Dakota State University offers more than 45 undergraduate majors and several graduate degrees, focusing on technology-driven education with hands-on learning experiences, expert faculty, and cutting-edge facilities.
Key services
Undergraduate degree programs, Graduate degree programs, Research opportunities, Student life and campus activities
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, Snapchat Pixel, Reddit Pixel, Bing UET, Siteimprove Analytics, LinkedIn Insight Tag
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Use of Google Tag Manager for script management

Analytics and tracking

Services
Siteimprove Analytics, Google Analytics (via GTM), Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Snapchat Pixel, Reddit Pixel, Bing UET
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Snapchat Ads, StackAdapt, Twitter Ads, Reddit Ads, Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Google Ads
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Snapchat Pixel, Reddit Pixel, Bing UET, LinkedIn Insight Tag
Marketing tools
Siteimprove Analytics
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 comprehensive academic program information.
  2. Strong presence of tracking and advertising pixels indicating marketing and analytics focus.
  3. No visible security or privacy policy gaps but could improve cookie consent and incident response disclosures.
  4. Content is accessible with no WAF or blocking mechanisms detected.
  5. Social media integration is extensive and consistent with institutional branding.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern JavaScript-heavy front end with multiple asynchronous scripts for analytics and advertising. Google Tag Manager is used for centralized tag management. The site is mobile responsive and includes accessibility features such as skip navigation links and ARIA roles. Performance is moderate, likely impacted by numerous third-party scripts. No CMS or hosting provider is explicitly identified. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and canonical links. The technical infrastructure is solid but could benefit from performance optimization and security header enhancements.
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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