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Security report for gomason.com

George Mason University · Education · United States

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

George Mason University's official athletics website serves as a comprehensive platform for sports news, schedules, rosters, and multimedia content related to the university's NCAA Division I teams. The site targets students, alumni, and sports enthusiasts, providing timely updates and engagement opportunities. Technically, the site leverages a modern tech stack including Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, and the Sidearm Sports CMS platform, hosted on Cloudfront CDN with DNS managed by Rackspace. The website demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices, although performance is moderate due to multiple tracking and advertising scripts. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enabled and domain transfer lock active, but DNSSEC is not enabled, and no explicit security or incident response policies are publicly available. Privacy compliance is basic, with a privacy policy found but no visible cookie consent mechanism despite extensive user tracking. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and well-branded, but could improve in privacy transparency and DNS security.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
70/ 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

6 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

    • High

      No SPF record found

      SPF helps prevent email spoofing

      What to do: Add SPF record: "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourmailprovider.com ~all"

  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 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 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 gomason.com

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.

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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
72
Security headers
65
Email security
40
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
70
Average
70

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

The website represents an important digital asset for George Mason University's athletics department, positioning itself as the authoritative source for athletics-related information. Its business model revolves around providing content and services to the university community and sports fans, including ticketing and media streaming partnerships. The presence of multiple social media accounts and integration with ESPN and other partners indicates a robust partnership ecosystem. The site supports a wide range of sports, reflecting a large and diverse athletics program. Growth indicators include active content updates and scheduled events. The business benefits from the university's established reputation and NCAA affiliation, which enhances credibility and market position.

Security posture

The security maturity level is moderate to good. HTTPS is enforced, and domain transfer lock is enabled, reducing risk of unauthorized domain transfers. However, the absence of DNSSEC leaves DNS queries vulnerable to spoofing attacks. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policies are found, limiting transparency for security researchers. The site uses multiple third-party tracking and advertising scripts, which may increase the attack surface and privacy risks. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the analyzed content. Incident response readiness and security culture indicators are not publicly visible, suggesting room for improvement in security governance and communication.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement a visible cookie consent banner to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  3. Publish explicit security and incident response policies to improve transparency and trust.
  4. Review and minimize third-party tracking scripts to reduce privacy risks and improve performance.
  5. Conduct regular security audits and update libraries to ensure no vulnerabilities are present.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
George Mason University
Description
The official athletics website for the George Mason University Patriots
Key services
Sports team information, Schedules and results, News and media content, Ticketing information
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, RequireJS, jQuery, Knockout.js, Underscore.js, LazySizes, Slick Carousel, Sidearm Sports platform
Frameworks
Sidearm Sports CMS
Platforms
Cloudfront CDN, Rackspace DNS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of HTTPS
  • Domain transfer lock enabled

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, comScore, Facebook Pixel
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Google DFP, PubMatic
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, comScore, Scorecard Research
Marketing tools
ID5 Universal ID
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is an official athletics site for George Mason University
  2. Content is rich with sports schedules, news, and media
  3. Multiple Google Tag Manager containers and analytics IDs are present
  4. No explicit privacy or cookie consent banner visible despite tracking scripts
  5. No visible contact emails or phone numbers on the homepage content
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy found
  7. DNSSEC not enabled, which is a minor security gap
  8. Use of multiple ad networks and tracking pixels indicates extensive user tracking
  9. Good accessibility features including skip links and ARIA labels
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Sidearm Sports CMS platform, utilizing modern JavaScript libraries such as RequireJS, Knockout.js, and jQuery. It employs multiple Google Tag Manager containers and analytics services, indicating a complex tracking setup. Hosting is via Cloudfront CDN, ensuring global content delivery, with DNS managed by Rackspace. The site includes accessibility features like skip links and ARIA labels, enhancing usability. Performance is moderate, likely impacted by numerous third-party scripts and ads. The site is mobile optimized and SEO friendly with proper meta tags and Open Graph data. Technical risks include potential performance degradation due to extensive tracking and lack of DNSSEC. Opportunities exist to streamline scripts and enhance DNS security.
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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