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Security report for msd.at

Merck & Co., Inc. · Healthcare · Austria

Partial score · DNS & email only

59/100

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

MSD Austria operates as a significant regional branch of the global biopharmaceutical leader Merck & Co., Inc., focusing on human and animal health with a workforce of approximately 950 employees. The website reflects a professional corporate presence with comprehensive information about the company's mission, values, and career opportunities. Technically, the site is built on WordPress VIP, leveraging modern web technologies and SEO best practices, with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. However, the absence of a valid SSL/TLS certificate and HTTPS support is a critical security gap, exposing users to potential risks and undermining trust. Security headers are well configured, but the lack of encryption significantly lowers the security posture. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear privacy and cookie policies and consent mechanisms. Overall, the site is credible and professional but requires urgent security improvements to meet modern standards.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of msd.at. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

Checks completed
5of 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

1 finding rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

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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
Email security
50
DNS health
85
Network security
100
Average
59

Not counted

  • Security headers: did not complete in this scan.
  • GDPR outside view: did not complete in this scan.
  • 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

MSD Austria holds a strong market position as part of a global healthcare giant, targeting healthcare professionals, patients, and job seekers in Austria. The business model centers on pharmaceutical research, vaccine development, and animal health products. The company maintains a broad partnership ecosystem with multiple regional MSD domains and emphasizes corporate responsibility and compliance. Growth indicators include active career pages and regional expansion. The website supports brand consistency and trust through transparency and social media engagement.

Security posture

The current security posture is weak due to the lack of HTTPS and SSL/TLS encryption, which is a critical vulnerability. While security headers like CSP, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection are implemented, the absence of encryption exposes the site to interception and man-in-the-middle attacks. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is present. Privacy policies and cookie consent are well managed, indicating a mature privacy culture. Immediate remediation of SSL/TLS is essential to protect user data and maintain compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Deploy a valid SSL/TLS certificate and enforce HTTPS site-wide.
  2. Enable modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 or 1.3) and disable legacy protocols.
  3. Implement HSTS with includeSubDomains and preload flags for enhanced security.
  4. Add a publicly accessible security policy and vulnerability disclosure page.
  5. Enhance incident response contact channels with dedicated security email addresses.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern WordPress VIP platform with nginx web server and integrates Yoast SEO for optimization. Google Tag Manager and OneTrust manage analytics and cookie consent, respectively. The site loads multiple fonts and scripts asynchronously for performance. DNS is managed via AWS Route 53. However, the lack of SSL/TLS and HTTPS is a major technical deficiency. Performance metrics are unavailable, but the site appears well structured and mobile optimized. Accessibility features and SEO metadata are well implemented, supporting good user experience and search visibility.
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. 68/100Medium31 findingsView report
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