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Security report for ethrat.ch

ETH-Rat · Government · Switzerland

High risk. 10 critical or high findings in Network security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

44/100

Risk levelHigh

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

ETH-Rat is the official strategic leadership and supervisory body for the ETH domain in Switzerland, overseeing the two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH Zurich and EPFL) and four research institutes. The website serves as a government portal providing governance documents, strategic plans, and public information. The site is professionally designed using WordPress with Elementor and Yoast SEO, supporting multiple languages and integrating official social media channels. Security posture is strong with HTTPS and security headers, though explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not published. Privacy compliance is good with a GDPR-compliant privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism. Overall, the site reflects a mature governmental digital presence with moderate user tracking via Google Tag Manager.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 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

10 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 ethrat.ch

This scan found 26 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

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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
62
Security headers
20
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
35
Average
44

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

The ETH-Rat operates as a central governmental entity in the education and research sector, providing strategic oversight and governance. Its market position is authoritative within Switzerland's federal research ecosystem. The business model is non-commercial, focused on public service and institutional management. The website targets government officials, researchers, and the public interested in Swiss federal research governance. The presence of multilingual content and official social media accounts supports broad stakeholder engagement. No commercial or advertising activities are evident, reinforcing its public sector nature.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security foundation with enforced HTTPS, multiple security headers, and no visible exposure of sensitive data. However, it lacks a publicly available security policy, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms, which are best practices for transparency and responsiveness. The use of third-party scripts like Google Tag Manager introduces moderate tracking but is common and managed. No vulnerabilities or outdated libraries were detected in the provided content. Overall, the security posture is good but could be enhanced by publishing explicit security governance documents.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security governance and practices.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact information, including security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  3. Implement and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to meet higher compliance standards.
  5. Regularly review and audit third-party scripts and plugins for security and privacy compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
ETH-Rat
Description
Der ETH-Rat ist das vom Bundesrat gewählte strategische Führungs- und Aufsichtsorgan des ETH-Bereichs. Der ETH-Bereich umfasst die beiden Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschulen ETH Zürich und EPFL, die vier Forschungsanstalten PSI, WSL, Empa und Eawag sowie unabhängige Beschwerdeorgane.
Key services
strategic leadership, supervision of ETH domain institutions, publication of reports and strategic plans, communication and public information
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, Elementor page builder, jQuery, Google Tag Manager
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Security headers present
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google Tag Manager with async loading

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Official Swiss government site for ETH-Rat, the strategic supervisory body for ETH domain.
  2. Multilingual support with language switcher for DE, FR, EN, IT, ZH-Hans, JA.
  3. Use of modern WordPress CMS with Elementor and Yoast SEO plugins.
  4. Good SEO and social media integration with verified official accounts.
  5. No visible security or privacy policy pages beyond standard GDPR-compliant privacy policy.
  6. No exposed emails or phone numbers in main content; contact via form only.
  7. No evidence of advertising or affiliate marketing.
  8. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy found.
  9. No signs of WAF or content blocking; site fully accessible.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern WordPress CMS platform using Elementor for page building and Yoast SEO for search optimization. It employs jQuery and Google Tag Manager for analytics and tracking. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and good navigation clarity. Performance is moderate, likely influenced by rich media content such as sliders and images. The technical stack is standard for governmental informational sites, balancing usability and maintainability. Opportunities exist to improve accessibility and reduce tracking footprint for enhanced privacy.
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. 37/100High26 findingsView report
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