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Security report for ethz.ch

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich · Education · Switzerland

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

Security score

78/100

Risk levelLow

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

ETH Zürich is a leading technical university in Switzerland, offering comprehensive education and research services across multiple disciplines including engineering, natural sciences, and social sciences. The website serves as a central portal for students, researchers, industry partners, and the public, providing detailed information on study programs, research initiatives, and campus life. The institution maintains a strong global presence and emphasizes innovation and sustainability in its operations. Technically, the website is built on a modern stack including JavaScript frameworks (likely Vue.js), Adobe Experience Manager CMS, and integrates with Google Tag Manager and OneTrust for analytics and cookie consent management. While the site is well-structured and accessible, it suffers from a critical security issue: the absence of a valid SSL certificate and lack of HTTPS support, which significantly impacts its security posture. Security-wise, the site has valid SPF records and no detected subdomain takeover risks, but lacks essential SSL/TLS configurations, HSTS, and OCSP stapling. Privacy compliance is strong with clear privacy and cookie policies and consent mechanisms in place. The site demonstrates good business credibility and professionalism but must address its SSL issues urgently to protect user data and maintain trust. Overall, ETH Zürich's website is a high-quality, content-rich platform with excellent user experience and privacy compliance but requires immediate security improvements to meet modern standards and ensure secure communications.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of ethz.ch. View the latest report

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 ethz.ch

This scan found 16 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
90
Security headers
70
Email security
85
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
43
Average
78

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

ETH Zürich holds a prominent position as a top-tier technical university in Europe, with a large student body and extensive research activities. Its business model revolves around public education, research, and knowledge transfer, supported by collaborations with industry and global partners. The website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive content targeting prospective and current students, researchers, and industry stakeholders. The institution's strategic focus includes sustainability, digital transformation, and innovation, supported by specialized departments and initiatives. The presence of multiple language options and global network links indicates a strong international orientation. The university's brand is consistent and trusted, supported by official domains and recognized social media channels.

Security posture

The current security posture of the ETH Zürich website is moderate but with critical gaps. The absence of a valid SSL certificate and lack of HTTPS support expose users to potential data interception and undermine trust. The site does implement SPF records to protect against email spoofing but lacks DMARC and DNSSEC, which could enhance email and DNS security. No advanced security headers or mechanisms like HSTS or OCSP stapling are enabled, reducing protection against certain attacks. No known vulnerabilities or malware were detected in the provided data. The cookie consent mechanism and privacy policies indicate a good compliance culture, but the technical security deficiencies must be addressed to prevent potential exploitation and to comply with best practices and regulations.

Recommendations

  1. Obtain and deploy a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS across the entire site.
  2. Enable modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3) and disable insecure protocols.
  3. Implement HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) with includeSubDomains and preload directives.
  4. Configure OCSP stapling to improve certificate validation performance and security.
  5. Review and correct CAA DNS records to specify authorized certificate authorities.
  6. Add DMARC DNS records to enhance email security and prevent spoofing.
  7. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and scripts to avoid vulnerabilities.
  8. Enhance security headers (e.g., Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options) for better protection.
  9. Maintain and publicize an incident response policy and contact information for security issues.
  10. Continue to enforce and improve privacy compliance and user consent mechanisms.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using Adobe Experience Manager CMS, leveraging JavaScript frameworks (likely Vue.js) and jQuery for dynamic content and interactions. It integrates Google Tag Manager for analytics and OneTrust for cookie consent management. The site is content-rich with extensive navigation and multi-language support, optimized for mobile devices with responsive design. Performance is currently slow with a load time of over 7 seconds, indicating potential optimization opportunities. The DNS setup includes multiple authoritative name servers, but DNSSEC is not enabled. SPF is configured correctly, but DMARC is missing. The SSL configuration is currently invalid, with no TLS protocols enabled, which is a significant technical risk. The site uses modern web standards for accessibility and SEO, but security improvements are needed to align with best practices.
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. 80/100 −6Low24 findingsView report
  2. 86/100 +7Low19 findingsView report
  3. 79/100Low26 findingsView report
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