Skip to main content

Security report for eawag.ch

Eawag · Education · Switzerland

Medium risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view.

Security score

74/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Eawag is a leading water research institute within the ETH domain in Switzerland, focusing on sustainable water resource management, aquatic ecology, and environmental research. The website serves as a comprehensive portal for research, education, consulting, and public information, targeting researchers, policymakers, and the general public. Technically, the site is built on TYPO3 CMS and integrates modern web technologies and analytics tools, but suffers from slow load times and lacks a valid SSL certificate, impacting security and user trust. The security posture is basic with HSTS enabled but no valid TLS protocols or certificate, which is a critical issue. Privacy policies are present and GDPR compliant, though no explicit cookie consent mechanism is implemented. Overall, the site is professional and content-rich but requires urgent improvements in security and performance to enhance trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
43/ 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

2 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.

    • 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

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

Keep watching eawag.ch

This scan found 21 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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
87
Security headers
65
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
43
Average
74

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

Eawag operates as a non-profit research institute affiliated with the ETH domain, focusing on water research and sustainability. It holds a strong market position as a leading research entity with extensive partnerships and a broad service portfolio including research, education, and consultancy. The business model relies on public funding and collaboration with academic and governmental bodies. The website reflects a mature digital presence with multilingual support and active engagement through events and publications. Growth indicators include active social media channels and specialized research initiatives. Strategic observations suggest opportunities to improve digital security and user experience to maintain leadership and trust.

Security posture

The current security maturity level is low due to the absence of a valid SSL certificate and disabled TLS protocols, exposing users to potential data interception risks. While SPF records and HSTS are configured, the lack of DNSSEC, CAA records, and OCSP stapling indicates gaps in DNS and certificate management. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies are publicly available, limiting transparency. Compliance with GDPR is evident through privacy policies but could be enhanced with explicit cookie consent mechanisms. The security culture appears basic with room for improvement in proactive security practices and communication.

Recommendations

  1. Install and maintain a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS and secure user connections.
  2. Enable modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3) and implement OCSP stapling and session resumption for improved security and performance.
  3. Implement DNSSEC and CAA records to strengthen DNS security and certificate issuance control.
  4. Add an explicit cookie consent mechanism to comply fully with GDPR and enhance user privacy transparency.
  5. Develop and publish a security policy and vulnerability disclosure program to improve incident response readiness and stakeholder trust.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Eawag
Registration number
UID-Nummer CHE-116.133.529
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on TYPO3 CMS with a modern front-end stack including jQuery, Parsley.js for form validation, and Splide.js for carousels. Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics are used for tracking. The site has a large page size and slow load time (~12 seconds), indicating potential optimization needs. Accessibility and SEO are well addressed with proper meta tags and ARIA roles. However, the lack of a valid SSL certificate and disabled TLS protocols are critical technical risks. The DNS setup is functional but lacks advanced security features like DNSSEC. Overall, the infrastructure supports a professional research portal but requires modernization in security and performance.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with eawag.ch. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review eawag.ch.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.