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Security report for lborolondon.ac.uk

Loughborough University London · Education · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Loughborough University London is a prestigious postgraduate campus located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. It offers a range of innovative postgraduate courses, research opportunities, and career services, positioning itself as a top ten UK university with a strong reputation for employability and innovation. The website targets prospective postgraduate students, researchers, and industry partners, providing comprehensive information and resources to support academic and professional growth. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including jQuery, Google Tag Manager, and Silktide Analytics, with a responsive design optimized for accessibility and SEO. The site is well-structured, fast-loading, and mobile-friendly, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure suitable for a large educational institution. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses secure forms, though it lacks some advanced security headers and a public incident response policy. Privacy compliance is strong, with clear privacy and cookie policies and GDPR adherence. No vulnerabilities or suspicious activities were detected, and WHOIS data confirms the legitimacy and consistency of the domain registration. Overall, the website demonstrates a high level of professionalism, trustworthiness, and compliance, making it a reliable digital presence for Loughborough University London.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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

5 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 Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

  4. 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.

    • High

      SSL Certificate Expires Soon

      SSL certificate expires in 11 days

      What to do: Renew SSL certificate before expiration

      • NIS2 21(2)(h)
      • IR 2024/2690 9.2(c): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 9.2(c): Cryptography
      • NIST SC-17: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-17: Public Key Infrastructure Certificates

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

Keep watching lborolondon.ac.uk

This scan found 20 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
85
Security headers
70
Email security
40
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
71

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

Loughborough University London operates within the education sector, focusing on postgraduate education and research. Its market position as a top ten UK university with a five-star rating for employability highlights its competitive advantage. The business model centers on delivering high-quality academic programs and fostering industry collaborations. Revenue streams likely include tuition fees, research grants, and partnerships. The target customer segments are postgraduate students, academic researchers, and corporate partners. The university maintains a strong partnership ecosystem, including its parent institution Loughborough University and various industry collaborators. Strategic observations indicate a focus on innovation, employability, and international reach, supported by a robust digital platform and active social media engagement.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and secure handling of user inputs in forms. However, the absence of certain security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options suggests room for improvement. There is no publicly available incident response or vulnerability disclosure policy, which could enhance transparency and readiness. Privacy policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, indicating good data protection practices. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. Overall, the security maturity is good but could benefit from enhanced header configurations and formalized incident response documentation.

Recommendations

  1. Implement security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options to strengthen defense against common web attacks.
  2. Publish an incident response plan or security contact page to improve transparency and facilitate vulnerability reporting.
  3. Consider adding a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and analytics tools to ensure they comply with privacy and security standards.
  5. Enhance monitoring and logging capabilities to detect and respond to potential security incidents promptly.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Loughborough University
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Loughborough University London
Description
An inspiring postgraduate campus located on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park offering innovative programmes and access to a comprehensive network of industry experts and employers.
Key services
Postgraduate courses, Research opportunities, Career services, Industry collaboration
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 3.5.1, Google Tag Manager, Silktide Analytics, Fountain CSS/JS, Slick Carousel
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure forms with proper input types
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Silktide Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Silktide Analytics
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 maintained.
  2. Content is rich and relevant to postgraduate education and research.
  3. Clear navigation and accessibility features are present.
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  5. Social media presence is active and consistent with brand.
  6. No exposed sensitive information or security misconfigurations detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a combination of modern JavaScript libraries and custom CSS frameworks to deliver a responsive and accessible user experience. The use of Google Tag Manager and Silktide Analytics indicates a focus on data-driven insights and performance monitoring. The site is mobile-optimized and includes accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA labels. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in image loading and script optimization. The absence of a known CMS suggests a custom or proprietary content management solution, which may require dedicated maintenance resources. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the university's digital goals but could benefit from ongoing modernization and performance tuning.
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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