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Security report for liv.ac.uk

University of Liverpool · Education · United Kingdom

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

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The University of Liverpool is a prestigious higher education institution based in the United Kingdom, established in 1881. It offers a broad range of undergraduate, postgraduate, and research programs, supported by a strong research culture and global partnerships including campuses in China and India. The university holds a strong market position, ranked within the top 150 globally by QS and a member of the Russell Group, reflecting its academic excellence and reputation. Technically, the website is built on the TerminalFour CMS platform and employs modern web technologies such as Google Tag Manager and LiveChat for analytics and user engagement. The site is well-optimized for mobile devices, accessible, and SEO-friendly, providing a professional and user-friendly experience. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS, uses appropriate security headers, and secures its forms, demonstrating a mature security posture. However, explicit incident response and vulnerability disclosure policies are not publicly evident, representing an area for improvement. Overall, the website is trustworthy, professional, and compliant with privacy regulations including GDPR. The lack of WHOIS data is likely due to privacy protection, which is justified for an institution of this size. The site presents minimal risk and aligns well with the university's brand and business objectives.

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 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: Google Analytics, Facebook, 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 liv.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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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
77
Security headers
30
Email security
98
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
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

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 liv.ac.uk, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
6,719
Employees
4
Customers
6,411
Third parties
304
Weak passwords
16%

Latest record dated 2026-01-13 · 184 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for liv.ac.uk.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –.liv.ac.uk2026-01-13
  • –plm.liv.ac.uk2025-07-16
  • –payments.liv.ac.uk2025-04-15
  • –payments.liv.ac.uk2025-04-14

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)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

The University of Liverpool operates in the education sector, targeting prospective and current students, academic staff, and researchers globally. Its business model centers on delivering high-quality education and research outputs, supported by global campuses and partnerships. The university's competitive advantages include its strong global rankings, membership in the Russell Group, and comprehensive course offerings. Revenue streams likely include tuition fees, research grants, and partnerships. The institution demonstrates growth through new campuses and research initiatives. Its partnership ecosystem includes international campuses and collaborations with industry and academia.

Security posture

The university's website exhibits a solid security posture with enforced HTTPS, use of security headers, and secure form handling. No obvious vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy policies and cookie consent mechanisms are in place, supporting GDPR compliance. However, the absence of a public incident response or vulnerability disclosure policy limits transparency and may hinder rapid security issue resolution. The use of third-party scripts like Google Tag Manager and LiveChat requires ongoing monitoring to mitigate supply chain risks. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be enhanced with explicit security governance disclosures.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a clear incident response and vulnerability disclosure policy to improve transparency and security readiness.
  2. Implement and publish a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability reporting.
  3. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and dependencies to minimize supply chain risks.
  4. Enhance communication of security certifications and compliance frameworks to build user trust.
  5. Continue to monitor and improve privacy compliance, especially regarding data retention and user consent.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
University of Liverpool
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
University of Liverpool
Description
A leading UK university offering undergraduate, postgraduate, and research courses with a strong emphasis on research and global partnerships.
Key services
Undergraduate education, Postgraduate taught courses, Postgraduate research, Continuing professional development, Research and innovation, International partnerships
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Tag Manager, LiveChat, HTMX, WebP images, TerminalFour CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure forms with CSRF protection
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security headers

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ads
Tracking pixels
Google Ads Conversion Tracking
Marketing tools
LiveChat
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-structured
  2. Strong emphasis on education, research, and global partnerships
  3. Multiple trust indicators including rankings and certifications
  4. Comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms
  5. Use of modern web technologies and CMS
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious content
  7. WHOIS data unavailable, likely due to privacy protection
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern CMS (TerminalFour) and uses contemporary web technologies including Google Tag Manager for analytics and LiveChat for user support. Images are optimized with WebP format and responsive design is implemented for mobile devices. The site demonstrates good SEO practices with proper meta tags and structured navigation. Performance is moderate, with potential for improvement in loading speed. Accessibility features are well implemented, supporting a broad user base. Technical risks are minimal but include reliance on third-party scripts which require ongoing security management.
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. 49/100High30 findingsView report
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