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Security report for hev.ch

État de Vaud - Direction générale de l’enseignement supérieur (DGES) · Education · Switzerland

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Direction générale de l’enseignement supérieur (DGES) is a governmental entity under the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, responsible for the strategic oversight and policy development of higher education institutions within the canton. It supports education, research, and innovation, focusing on optimizing conditions for universities and specialized schools. The website serves as an official communication channel providing detailed information on missions, projects, legal frameworks, and contact points for stakeholders including students, academic institutions, and government partners. Technically, the website is built on TYPO3 CMS with modern frameworks like Bootstrap, and integrates analytics tools such as Matomo, Mouseflow, and Google Tag Manager. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure suitable for a public sector organization. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses some security headers, though explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not published. No vulnerabilities or suspicious content were detected. Privacy compliance is basic, with cookie consent mechanisms and a privacy policy present, but GDPR compliance is not explicitly stated. Overall, the website is trustworthy, professional, and well-maintained, with a strong alignment between domain registration and organizational identity. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security header implementation, publishing security and incident response policies, and improving privacy compliance transparency.

Scanned

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

6 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 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 Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, Facebook, LinkedIn

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

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

Keep watching hev.ch

This scan found 22 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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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
67
Security headers
35
Email security
70
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
Average
68

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention hev.ch, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for hev.ch right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

DGES holds a key position in the education sector of the Canton of Vaud, acting as the authoritative body for higher education policy and institutional oversight. Its competitive advantage lies in its governmental mandate and integration within the canton’s administrative framework. The business model is public governance, funded by the canton, focusing on service provision rather than revenue generation. Target customers include students, academic institutions, and governmental partners. Growth indicators include ongoing strategic plans and partnerships with universities and research centers. The partnership ecosystem includes local universities, specialized schools, and international research collaborations. Operationally, DGES maintains a stable presence with clear communication channels and digital services supporting administrative processes.

Security posture

The website exhibits a moderate to good security posture with HTTPS enforced and some security headers present. There is no evidence of exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries. However, the absence of a published security policy, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms indicates room for improvement in security transparency and readiness. The use of third-party analytics and tracking scripts is balanced with cookie consent mechanisms, but privacy compliance could be enhanced. Overall, the security culture appears adequate for a government website but would benefit from formalized policies and disclosures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and document comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and Referrer-Policy.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  3. Introduce a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and analytics tools for security and privacy compliance.
  5. Enhance GDPR compliance transparency by updating privacy policies and cookie consent details.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
État de Vaud - Direction générale de l’enseignement supérieur (DGES)
Description
La DGES est responsable de la politique et stratégie cantonale en formation, recherche et innovation pour les hautes écoles dans le canton de Vaud. Elle élabore et veille aux conditions cadres pour le développement optimal des hautes écoles.
Key services
Policy and strategy development for higher education, Oversight and control of higher education institutions, Promotion of STEM (MINT) fields, Support for innovation and international relations, Authentication of diplomas, Authorization for preparatory courses
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
TYPO3 CMS, Bootstrap, Matomo Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Mouseflow
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of secure cookies (implied)
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of analytics with privacy considerations

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo, Mouseflow, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Mouseflow, Matomo
Marketing tools
Mouseflow, Matomo
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official government website for the Canton of Vaud's higher education directorate.
  2. Content is comprehensive and well-structured with clear navigation.
  3. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  4. Good accessibility and mobile optimization.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  6. Contact information is transparent and complete.
  7. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  8. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on TYPO3 CMS, a robust and widely used content management system, combined with Bootstrap for responsive design. It integrates modern analytics tools such as Matomo and Mouseflow, and uses Google Tag Manager for tag management. The site demonstrates good mobile responsiveness and accessibility features, with structured navigation and SEO-friendly metadata. Performance is moderate, likely influenced by multiple external scripts. Hosting appears to be managed by or for the Swiss government, ensuring reliability and compliance with local regulations. Opportunities exist to optimize performance by minimizing third-party script load and enhancing caching strategies.
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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