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Security report for edu.za

Education · South Africa

High risk. 8 critical or high findings in Network security, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

47/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The edu.za domain is associated with the education sector in South Africa, likely serving as a domain registry or portal for educational institutions. However, the website is currently non-functional, displaying a database connection error that prevents access to any meaningful content or services. The technical infrastructure is minimal, running on Apache with PHP 7.4.33, but lacks modern security configurations such as a valid SSL certificate and TLS support. The absence of security headers, DNSSEC, and email authentication mechanisms further weakens the security posture. There are no visible privacy or cookie policies, contact information, or business details, indicating a lack of transparency and user engagement. Overall, the site exhibits poor performance, accessibility, and security maturity, posing risks to users and stakeholders.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
40/ 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

8 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: MySQL

      Port 3306 (MySQL) is publicly accessible - MySQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to MySQL using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

  2. 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';…

  3. GDPR outside view

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

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

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

Keep watching edu.za

This scan found 20 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
50
Security headers
15
Email security
50
DNS health
75
Network security
50
GDPR outside view
40
Average
47

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 · found on this site
  • 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

Due to the lack of accessible content and metadata, detailed business intelligence is limited. The domain's naming and DNS records suggest a focus on the South African education sector, potentially as a registry or administrative portal. No company branding, services, or partnerships are evident. The absence of contact details and policies suggests limited direct interaction with end users or customers. The business model and market positioning cannot be determined from the available data.

Security posture

The security posture of edu.za is weak. The site lacks a valid SSL certificate and does not support any TLS versions, exposing users to potential interception and data integrity risks. DNSSEC is not enabled, increasing susceptibility to DNS spoofing. Email security protocols such as DMARC are absent, raising the risk of phishing or spoofing attacks. No security policies or incident response contacts are published, indicating low readiness for security incidents. The server runs an outdated PHP version, which may contain unpatched vulnerabilities. Overall, the site does not follow basic security best practices, resulting in a low security score and increased risk exposure.

Recommendations

  1. Acquire and deploy a valid SSL/TLS certificate supporting TLS 1.2 or higher to secure communications.
  2. Implement DNSSEC to protect DNS queries and prevent spoofing attacks.
  3. Configure email authentication protocols including DMARC, SPF, and DKIM to improve email security.
  4. Publish comprehensive privacy, cookie, and security policies to enhance transparency and compliance.
  5. Upgrade server software including PHP to supported versions and apply security patches regularly.
  6. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options to mitigate common web attacks.
  7. Establish an incident response plan and provide clear contact channels for security issues.
  8. Improve website content, accessibility, and performance to restore user trust and engagement.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is hosted on an Apache server running PHP 7.4.33, which is an outdated version nearing end-of-life. The site lacks a valid SSL certificate and does not support any modern TLS protocols, resulting in unencrypted HTTP traffic. DNS records are standard with multiple authoritative name servers but lack DNSSEC for enhanced security. No CMS or frameworks are detected, and no metadata or structured data is present. The site is currently non-functional due to a database connection error, preventing content delivery and performance measurement. The absence of analytics or tracking scripts indicates minimal digital maturity. Overall, the technical infrastructure requires significant modernization and security hardening to meet current standards.
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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