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Security report for msd.at

Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA · Healthcare · Austria

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

MSD Austria is a regional branch of the global biopharmaceutical company Merck & Co., Inc., with a strong focus on healthcare innovation and research. The website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive content about the company's mission, therapeutic areas, corporate responsibility, and career opportunities. The site targets healthcare professionals, patients, and potential employees in Austria, providing localized content in German. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern SEO and privacy compliance tools, including cookie consent and privacy policies. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and consent mechanisms, though some security headers and explicit security policies are absent. The WHOIS data is unavailable, likely due to privacy protection, which is common for large enterprises. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
28/ 100 · High
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. 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

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

    • 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

  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.

    • High

      Weak Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
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  • 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
42
Security headers
80
Email security
70
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
68

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

MSD Austria operates as part of a global pharmaceutical leader, focusing on human and animal health. Their business model centers on research, development, and distribution of pharmaceutical products, vaccines, and therapies in key areas such as oncology and infectious diseases. The company maintains a medium-sized workforce in Austria and leverages a strong global brand. The website ecosystem includes multiple country-specific MSD domains, indicating a broad international presence. The company emphasizes corporate responsibility and transparency, which enhances its market reputation. The career section suggests ongoing growth and talent acquisition efforts. The digital presence supports brand consistency and stakeholder engagement.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security posture with enforced HTTPS, cookie consent management via OneTrust, and external link warnings to protect users. However, the absence of explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and a published security policy or incident response contacts indicates room for improvement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. The lack of a security.txt file or vulnerability disclosure program reduces transparency for security researchers. Overall, the site is secure for general users but could enhance its security maturity by adopting additional best practices and publishing clear security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Implement security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to strengthen browser security.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy page and provide incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party plugins and scripts to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance monitoring and controls around third-party tracking and analytics to ensure privacy compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA
Description
MSD is a global leading biopharmaceutical company with three locations and around 950 employees in Austria. The company is committed to improving and saving lives through scientific research and innovation in human and animal health.
Key services
Pharmaceutical research, Therapeutic areas including oncology, vaccines, infectious diseases, and animal health, Career opportunities
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, Google Tag Manager, OneTrust cookie consent, Micromodal, Lazy loading images
Platforms
WordPress VIP
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • External link warning modal
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
good

Site quality

Design
excellent
User experience
excellent
Content relevance
excellent
Navigation
excellent
Professionalism
excellent
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is professionally presented in German targeting Austrian audience.
  3. Strong corporate branding consistent with MSD global identity.
  4. Comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms.
  5. No direct company emails or phone numbers found on homepage; contact form provided.
  6. Multiple external links to official MSD country sites and social media.
  7. Use of modern web technologies and SEO best practices.
  8. No security.txt or explicit security policy found.
  9. WHOIS data unavailable, likely due to privacy protection.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress VIP platform using a modern tech stack including Yoast SEO for optimization, Google Tag Manager for analytics, and OneTrust for cookie consent management. The site uses lazy loading for images and responsive design techniques to ensure good mobile performance. The HTML and CSS are valid and well-structured, supporting accessibility and SEO best practices. Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization in image delivery and script loading. The site integrates multiple external domains for regional MSD sites and social media, reflecting a complex but well-managed digital ecosystem. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional and user-friendly experience.
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. 59/100Medium14 findings · partial scanView report
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