Skip to main content

Security report for kth.se

Kungliga Tekniska högskolan (KTH) · Education · Sweden

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

57/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Kungliga Tekniska högskolan (KTH) is Sweden's largest technical university and a leading European institution in technology education and research. The website serves a broad audience including students, researchers, faculty, and industry partners, offering comprehensive information about education programs, research initiatives, and collaboration opportunities. The site is professionally designed with clear navigation and multilingual support, reflecting KTH's strong market position and academic reputation. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including JavaScript, CSS, and a CMS platform (Polopoly). It integrates Matomo analytics and Klaro for cookie consent management, demonstrating a mature approach to privacy and data protection. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices evident from meta tags and structured content. From a security perspective, the website uses HTTPS with excellent SSL configuration and enforces cookie consent mechanisms. However, it lacks explicit security headers and published security policies or incident response contacts, which are recommended for enhanced security posture. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the provided content. Overall, the website is trustworthy, compliant with GDPR, and professionally maintained, supporting KTH's brand as a reputable educational institution. Strategic improvements in security policy transparency and incident response readiness would further strengthen its security and compliance stance.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of kth.se. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
15/ 100 · Critical
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. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • Critical

      EU business without adequate privacy measures

      EU businesses are subject to strict GDPR requirements

      What to do: Implement comprehensive GDPR compliance including privacy policy, cookie consent, and data protection measures

    • Critical

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

    • 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

  2. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

  3. 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';…

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

Keep watching kth.se

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.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. See sample alerts.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
0
Security headers
65
Email security
85
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
15
Average
57

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

KTH operates as a public university focused on technology education and research, targeting students, academics, and industry collaborators. Its competitive advantage lies in its size, reputation, and comprehensive service offerings including education, research, and societal engagement. Revenue streams are primarily public funding and research grants. The partnership ecosystem includes internal platforms (intranet, Canvas) and external academic collaborations. The website reflects a well-established institution with a global alumni network and strategic European partnerships (e.g., Unite!). Growth indicators include active research dissemination and international conference hosting. The business model emphasizes knowledge creation and dissemination, with digital services supporting education and research delivery. The website supports this model by providing rich content, event information, and access to academic resources.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, cookie consent management, and anonymized analytics data collection. The absence of security headers and explicit security policies represents a gap in defense-in-depth and transparency. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are publicly visible, which could hinder rapid response to security events. The site does not expose sensitive data or use vulnerable libraries in the analyzed content. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be improved by adopting best practices such as security.txt, CSP headers, and published security policies. Compliance with GDPR is evident through cookie consent and privacy policy. However, no direct contact for data protection officers or security incidents was found, which is a minor compliance gap.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish a comprehensive security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  2. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  3. Publish a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure and improve transparency.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and libraries to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance visibility of data protection officer contact details to improve GDPR compliance and user trust.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Kungliga Tekniska högskolan
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Kungliga Tekniska högskolan (KTH)
Description
KTH is one of Europe's leading technical universities, gathering students, researchers, and faculty from around the world. It focuses on research, education, and societal collaboration.
Key services
Higher education programs, Research activities, Collaboration with industry and society, Library services, Alumni network
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Matomo Analytics, Klaro Consent Manager, CSS, HTML5
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced (canonical URL is https)
  • Cookie consent with granular controls
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No vulnerable libraries detected in scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Transparency
good

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 maintained.
  2. Strong focus on education and research content.
  3. Comprehensive cookie consent and privacy compliance.
  4. No visible security or privacy red flags.
  5. Clear contact information with phone and address provided.
  6. No terms of service or explicit security policy found.
  7. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern technology stack with JavaScript, CSS, and Polopoly CMS. It uses asynchronous loading for scripts and styles to optimize performance. The integration of Matomo analytics and Klaro consent manager indicates a focus on privacy-aware tracking. The site is mobile responsive and accessible, with good SEO metadata including Open Graph tags and canonical URLs. Hosting appears to be managed internally or via academic infrastructure, ensuring control over data and compliance. Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization in script loading and caching strategies. No technical debt or legacy technology indicators were found.
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. 68/100Medium29 findingsView report
Reviews of this site

Share your experience with kth.se. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review kth.se.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.