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Security report for gold.ac.uk

Goldsmiths, University of London · Education · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Goldsmiths, University of London is a reputable higher education institution specializing in creative, cultural, and social subjects, located in South East London. The website serves students, staff, alumni, researchers, and the local community by providing information on degree programs, research, student life, and community engagement. The institution maintains a strong market position as a specialist university with a large size and well-established brand identity. Technically, the website employs a modern technology stack including Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, TikTok Pixel, and Facebook Pixel, integrated with a cookie consent management system that supports GDPR compliance. The site is built on the TerminalFour CMS platform and demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS with excellent SSL configuration and enforces cookie consent with granular controls. However, security headers are not explicitly detected, and no public security or incident response policies are found. There are no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. The WHOIS data is unavailable due to privacy protection, which is justified for this type of institution. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and compliant with privacy regulations. Recommendations include implementing security headers, publishing a security policy, and providing explicit security contact information to enhance trust and security posture.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of gold.ac.uk. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
50/ 100 · Medium
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

7 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 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';…

  2. 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

    • 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 gold.ac.uk

This scan found 25 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
77
Security headers
15
Email security
75
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
Average
65

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

Goldsmiths operates in the education sector with a focus on creative and social disciplines. Its business model centers on delivering degree programs, conducting research, and engaging with the community. The university targets students, academics, and local stakeholders. It leverages partnerships and digital marketing tools to maintain visibility and attract applicants. The presence of multiple social media channels and advanced analytics indicates a mature digital marketing strategy. The lack of direct contact information on the homepage suggests a preference for centralized contact points or internal portals. The institution's brand consistency and trust signals support a strong market reputation.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and a comprehensive cookie consent mechanism supporting GDPR compliance. The use of multiple tracking and analytics services is managed with user consent. However, the absence of explicit security headers and public security policies indicates areas for improvement. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided, which could hinder transparency and responsiveness in case of security events. The WHOIS privacy protection is appropriate and does not raise suspicion. Overall, the security posture is good but could be enhanced by adopting additional best practices and transparency measures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate common web attacks.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and user trust.
  3. Provide explicit security contact channels (e.g., security@ or abuse@ email addresses) for reporting vulnerabilities or incidents.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and tracking pixels to minimize security risks.
  5. Enhance website performance optimization to improve loading speed and user experience.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Goldsmiths, University of London
Description
Located in south-east London and specialising in the study of creative, cultural and social subjects. Degree programmes, student life and departmental research.
Key services
Degree programmes, Research, Student life support, Business and partnerships, Community engagement, Events
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, TikTok Pixel, Facebook Pixel, StackAdapt, LinkedIn Insight Tag, CookieControl
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent banner with granular controls
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure analytics and tracking with consent management

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, TikTok Analytics, Facebook Analytics, LinkedIn Analytics, StackAdapt
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
StackAdapt, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, TikTok Ads, Twitter Ads
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, TikTok Pixel, Microsoft Clarity, LinkedIn Insight
Marketing tools
CookieControl
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and no blocking detected
  2. Strong cookie consent mechanism with detailed options and third-party cookie disclosures
  3. Multiple social media integrations and tracking pixels present
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on homepage HTML
  5. WHOIS data unavailable, likely due to privacy protection
  6. Use of HTTPS and modern analytics tools
  7. Clear navigation and professional design consistent with university branding
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern JavaScript-heavy front end with multiple third-party analytics and marketing integrations, including Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, TikTok Pixel, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight, and StackAdapt. CookieControl is used for cookie consent management with granular user options. The CMS appears to be TerminalFour, inferred from the admin login URL. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with good SEO metadata and Open Graph tags. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in loading speed. No hosting provider details are explicitly found. The site uses HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate. No major technical debt or deprecated technologies are detected.
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. 65/100Medium34 findingsView report
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