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Security report for hug.ch

Hôpitaux Universitaires Genève · Healthcare · Switzerland

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

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Hôpitaux Universitaires Genève (HUG) is a prominent university hospital in Geneva, Switzerland, providing a wide range of medical services including surgery, outpatient consultations, and specialized care. It also engages in research and education in close collaboration with the University of Geneva Faculty of Medicine. The website reflects a well-established institution with a strong market position as a national and international reference in healthcare. The target audience includes patients, their families, and healthcare professionals. The business model is public healthcare with academic and research components. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 10, uses modern web technologies, and integrates analytics via Piwik PRO. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and no obvious vulnerabilities, though it lacks some public security policies and cookie consent mechanisms. WHOIS data confirms legitimacy and consistency with the institution's identity. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and comprehensive, serving its audience effectively.

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

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 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

      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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube

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

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

Keep watching hug.ch

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
67
Security headers
55
Email security
70
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
69

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

HUG operates as a large enterprise in the healthcare sector, offering essential medical services and research activities. Its competitive advantage lies in its university affiliation and comprehensive care network. Revenue streams likely include public funding and research grants. The website supports multiple languages and provides extensive resources for patients and professionals, indicating a mature digital presence. Partnerships with foundations and the university enhance its ecosystem. Growth indicators include active news, events, and digital tools like chatbots. Strategic observations suggest a focus on innovation, patient engagement, and professional collaboration.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and use of reputable analytics platforms. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. However, the absence of a publicly available security policy, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms indicates room for improvement in transparency and preparedness. GDPR compliance is partially addressed with a privacy policy but lacks explicit cookie consent. The security score is good but could be enhanced by adopting best practices in policy publication and user consent management.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and commitments.
  2. Implement a cookie consent banner to comply fully with GDPR and enhance user privacy transparency.
  3. Provide clear incident response contact information, including security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  4. Consider publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Enhance HTTP security headers (e.g., Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options) to improve protection.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Hôpitaux Universitaires Genève
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Hôpitaux Universitaires Genève
Description
Services médicaux, chirurgie, consultation ambulatoire, informations pour les patients et les professionnels de santé, toute l’actualité des soins, de la formation et de la recherche aux HUG
Key services
Medical services, Surgery, Outpatient consultations, Patient and professional information, Research and training
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Font Awesome 6, Piwik PRO analytics, Facebook SDK
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • No exposed sensitive data detected
  • Use of secure analytics platform (Piwik PRO)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Piwik PRO
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Piwik PRO
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured
  2. Content is comprehensive and relevant to healthcare and hospital services
  3. Multiple social media channels are linked and active
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity
  5. Lacks explicit cookie consent mechanism
  6. No public security or incident response policies found
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10, a modern and secure CMS platform, with integration of Font Awesome icons and Piwik PRO analytics. The site uses responsive design techniques and accessibility features, ensuring good user experience across devices. Performance is moderate, with preloading of fonts and optimized images. The presence of social media SDKs and chatbot components indicates a focus on user engagement. No critical technical debt or outdated libraries were observed. Opportunities exist to improve security headers and cookie management for enhanced compliance and protection.
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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