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Security report for duke.edu

Duke University · Education · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Duke University is a prestigious private research university based in the United States, offering a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional education programs. The website reflects its comprehensive academic offerings, research initiatives, global partnerships, and community engagement. The target audience includes students, faculty, staff, alumni, and researchers. The university maintains a strong market position as a leading educational institution with extensive resources and services. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies, including JavaScript libraries, Google Tag Manager, and Microsoft Clarity for analytics, and implements a cookie consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations. The site is well-structured, mobile-optimized, and accessible, providing a professional user experience.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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

5 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 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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • 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

  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 duke.edu

This scan found 22 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.

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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
67
Security headers
15
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
70

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

Duke University operates in the education sector as an essential entity with an enterprise-sized footprint. It leverages partnerships with subsidiary institutions such as Duke Kunshan University and Duke-NUS Medical School to expand its global reach. The business model centers on delivering high-quality education, research, and community services. The website's extensive navigation and content demonstrate a mature digital presence, supporting diverse user groups including prospective students, current students, faculty, and alumni. The university's brand consistency and trust indicators, such as official social media links and comprehensive privacy policies, reinforce its credibility and reputation.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS and employs cookie consent banners, indicating a commitment to user privacy and security. However, no explicit security headers were detected in the HTML content, and there is no visible security policy or incident response contact information. The use of modern analytics tools is balanced with privacy compliance measures. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found in the content. Overall, the security posture is strong but could be enhanced by adding security headers and publishing a formal security policy and incident response contacts.

Recommendations

  1. Implement HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and incident response procedures.
  3. Add a vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Ensure all forms and inputs are protected against injection and other common vulnerabilities through backend validation and sanitization.
  5. Maintain transparency with users by updating privacy and cookie policies regularly and providing clear contact channels for security concerns.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Duke University
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Duke University
Description
Duke University is a major private research university offering undergraduate, graduate, and professional education. It provides extensive academic programs, research initiatives, global partnerships, and community engagement.
Key services
Undergraduate and Graduate Admissions, Academic Programs, Research and Innovation, Global Education and Partnerships, Student and Faculty Resources
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Google Tag Manager, Microsoft Clarity, CookieConsent, Modernizr
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security-related JavaScript libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Microsoft Clarity
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-structured.
  2. Comprehensive navigation with clear categories and submenus.
  3. Strong presence of official social media links.
  4. Cookie consent banner implemented with clear messaging.
  5. Search functionality present and accessible.
  6. No signs of malware or phishing.
  7. No exposed sensitive data or credentials in HTML.
  8. Use of modern analytics and tracking tools with privacy considerations.
  9. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page.
  10. No explicit security policy or incident response contact found on homepage.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern tech stack with HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, including libraries like Modernizr and CookieConsent. It integrates Google Tag Manager and Microsoft Clarity for analytics and user behavior tracking. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with responsive design and ARIA attributes for navigation. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization in loading speed. No CMS was explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary platform. Hosting provider details are not evident from the content. The technical implementation supports a professional and user-friendly experience but could benefit from enhanced security headers and performance tuning.
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. 70/100Medium30 findingsView report
  2. 70/100Medium30 findingsView report
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