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Security report for liv.ac.uk

University of Liverpool · Education · United Kingdom

High risk. 8 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

49/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The University of Liverpool is a prestigious UK-based higher education institution with a strong global reputation, ranked within the top 150 universities worldwide. The website effectively communicates its academic offerings, research excellence, and vibrant student life, targeting prospective students, staff, and partners. The digital infrastructure leverages modern technologies such as Google Tag Manager and Civic Cookie Control, integrated with a recognized CMS (TERMINALFOUR), ensuring a responsive and accessible user experience. Security posture is robust with HTTPS enforcement and cookie consent mechanisms, though explicit security headers could be enhanced. Privacy policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, reflecting a mature approach to data protection. Overall, the website demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and alignment with the university's brand and mission.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of liv.ac.uk. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
25/ 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

8 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

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

  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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • 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';…

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

Keep watching liv.ac.uk

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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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
0
Security headers
15
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
25
Average
49

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 as a large public educational entity, offering a broad spectrum of academic programs and research initiatives. It maintains a competitive market position through its Russell Group membership and high rankings. The business model focuses on education delivery, research funding, and international partnerships. The website supports multiple user segments including students, staff, researchers, and global collaborators. The presence of dedicated portals and news channels indicates a well-established partnership ecosystem and strong community engagement. Growth is supported by new initiatives such as the India campus. The university's digital presence is consistent with its institutional stature and strategic goals.

Security posture

The website exhibits a solid security foundation with HTTPS and secure form handling. Use of third-party analytics and tag management is balanced with privacy controls and cookie consent. However, the absence of explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options suggests room for improvement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. Incident response and security policy information are not publicly available, which could be enhanced to improve transparency and readiness. Overall, the security maturity is good but could benefit from formalized policies and enhanced header configurations.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to strengthen browser security.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and trust.
  3. Consider establishing a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to ensure they comply with privacy and security standards.
  5. Enhance data retention disclosures and privacy notices to align with best practices and regulatory requirements.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
University of Liverpool
Description
The University of Liverpool is a dynamic institution of academic excellence and innovation, offering world-class research and education since 1881. It is a member of the Russell Group and provides a wide range of undergraduate, postgraduate, and continuing education courses.
Key services
Undergraduate courses, Postgraduate taught courses, Postgraduate research, Continuing professional development, Research and innovation, International partnerships
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics (gtag.js), Civic Cookie Control, HTMX, SVG graphics
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure forms with POST method
  • Use of Google Tag Manager with async loading
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ads
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. Content is comprehensive and targeted at students, staff, researchers, and partners.
  3. Strong trust signals including rankings, certifications, and Russell Group membership.
  4. Good privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms.
  5. No signs of blocking or WAF interference.
  6. Use of modern tracking and analytics tools with privacy considerations.
  7. No exposed sensitive data or obvious security vulnerabilities detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the TERMINALFOUR CMS platform, utilizing modern web technologies including SVG graphics, asynchronous Google Tag Manager scripts, and Civic Cookie Control for privacy compliance. The site is mobile responsive and accessible, with clear navigation and structured content. Performance is moderate, with potential optimization opportunities in image delivery and script loading. The technical stack is mature and well-integrated, supporting a professional and user-friendly experience. Hosting details are not explicitly identified but appear stable and secure. Technical risks are minimal, with no visible deprecated or vulnerable libraries.
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. 71/100Medium28 findingsView report
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