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Security report for dur.ac.uk

Durham University · Education · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 2 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

73/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Durham University operates as a prestigious higher education institution in the United Kingdom, offering a wide range of undergraduate, postgraduate, and research programs. The website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive content targeting prospective students, current students, researchers, and alumni. The institution emphasizes global partnerships, student support, and research impact, positioning itself as a leading academic entity. The domain's long registration history and direct registration with Nominet reinforce its legitimacy and trustworthiness. Technically, the website employs modern JavaScript frameworks, integrates multiple analytics and tracking tools, and is optimized for mobile and accessibility standards. However, explicit privacy, cookie, and security policies are not evident in the provided content, which may impact compliance and user trust. Security posture is strong with HTTPS and best practices observed, but could be improved with clearer policy disclosures and security headers. Overall, the website is professional, content-rich, and credible, with room for enhanced privacy transparency and incident response readiness.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 100 · Low
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

2 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. 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 dur.ac.uk

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.

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Recommended

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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
77
Security headers
45
Email security
70
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
73

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

Durham University holds a strong market position as a large, established educational institution in the UK. Its business model centers on academic education, research, and community engagement. The website's extensive navigation and content reflect a broad service offering including study programs, student experience, research initiatives, and global collaborations. The presence of multiple tracking and marketing tools indicates a mature digital marketing strategy aimed at student recruitment and engagement. The lack of visible contact emails or phone numbers on the homepage suggests contact information may be located deeper within the site or handled via forms. The university's partnerships and global networks are highlighted, supporting its international reach and reputation. The domain's WHOIS data aligns with the institution's profile, supporting high business credibility.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security posture with enforced HTTPS, asynchronous loading of scripts, and no visible exposure of sensitive data. Multiple security headers are likely implemented though not explicitly visible in the HTML. The use of third-party analytics and tracking services is extensive, which increases the attack surface but appears managed. No vulnerabilities or malware indicators were detected in the content. However, the absence of published security policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms represents a compliance gap and potential risk in incident handling. Enhancing transparency around security practices and providing dedicated security contact channels would strengthen the security culture and user trust.

Recommendations

  1. Publish clear and accessible privacy and cookie policies with GDPR compliance details.
  2. Implement and verify comprehensive security headers including CSP, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Provide explicit security policy and incident response information including dedicated contact channels.
  4. Introduce a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize security risks and improve privacy compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Durham University
Description
Durham University is a higher education institution providing undergraduate, postgraduate, international study, and research services. It offers student support, enrichment activities, and global partnerships.
Key services
Undergraduate Study, Postgraduate Study, International Study, Research and Business Support, Student Support and Wellbeing, Global Partnerships
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Alpine.js, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Facebook SDK, Hotjar, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Curator.io, Uptrends RUM
Frameworks
Alpine.js
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of async loading for scripts
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Uptrends RUM
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Twitter Ads
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar
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 homepage with extensive content and navigation.
  2. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found in the provided HTML content.
  3. Multiple tracking and analytics services are used, indicating extensive user data collection.
  4. No visible security or incident response policies or contact information found.
  5. WHOIS data confirms domain legitimacy and long-term registration consistent with a UK university.
  6. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected; content is fully accessible.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Terminalfour CMS platform and uses modern JavaScript frameworks such as Alpine.js. It integrates multiple analytics and marketing tools including Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, and Twitter Ads. The site is mobile-optimized with good accessibility features and SEO meta tags. Performance is moderate, with asynchronous script loading to improve page speed. The domain is registered with Nominet and has a long history, indicating a stable technical foundation. Hosting details are not explicit but likely managed by the university or a trusted provider. The technical implementation supports a professional and scalable digital presence suitable for a large educational institution.
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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