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Security report for msd.com

Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA · Healthcare · United States

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

77/100

Risk levelLow

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

Merck & Co., Inc., operating as MSD outside the US and Canada, is a leading global biopharmaceutical company focused on research and development of medicines and vaccines to tackle major health threats. The website reflects a mature enterprise with a comprehensive digital presence targeting patients, healthcare professionals, investors, and suppliers worldwide. The company emphasizes innovation, clinical trials, sustainability, and global outreach through multiple regional domains. Technically, the site is built on WordPress VIP with modern SEO and accessibility features, delivering fast and mobile-optimized user experience. Security posture is strong with HTTPS, cookie consent, and external link warnings, though explicit security policy and incident response pages are not found. WHOIS data for the domain www.msd.com is missing or unavailable, which is a concern but likely due to privacy or proxy registration. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained, supporting the company's market position as a premier research-intensive pharmaceutical entity.

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

3 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.

    • 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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Keep watching msd.com

This scan found 19 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
42
Security headers
80
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
77

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 operates in the healthcare sector with a focus on pharmaceuticals and vaccines. The business model centers on research-driven innovation, clinical trials, and global distribution. The company targets multiple customer segments including patients, healthcare providers, suppliers, and investors. The extensive network of regional MSD domains indicates a broad international footprint. The website content and structure support strong brand consistency and trust. Revenue streams likely include pharmaceutical sales, licensing, and partnerships. The company demonstrates commitment to sustainability and corporate responsibility. The digital presence is aligned with industry standards and supports business growth and stakeholder engagement.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, cookie consent mechanisms, and warnings for external links to third-party sites. Security headers are inferred but not explicitly confirmed in the HTML. No sensitive data exposure or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided content. However, the absence of explicit security policy, incident response, and vulnerability disclosure pages suggests room for improvement in transparency and readiness. The missing WHOIS data for the domain is a potential red flag but may be explained by privacy protection. Overall, the security posture is strong but could benefit from enhanced documentation and public disclosure of security practices.

Recommendations

  1. Publish explicit security headers and verify their presence (CSP, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options).
  2. Add a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Implement and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Ensure WHOIS data is accessible or provide justification for privacy protection to improve trust.
  5. Maintain and regularly update privacy and cookie policies to comply with evolving regulations.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA
Description
At MSD, we're following the science to tackle some of the world's greatest health threats. Get a glimpse of how we work to improve lives.
Key services
Pharmaceutical research and development, Clinical trials, Vaccine development, Medical outreach programs, Supplier engagement
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, Google Tag Manager, Tiny Slider, Lazy loading images, JavaScript ES6+
Platforms
WordPress VIP hosting
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • External link warning modal for third-party sites
  • 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 rich content and no blocking detected
  2. Strong focus on healthcare research, clinical trials, and patient information
  3. Comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms
  4. Multiple regional MSD domains linked, indicating global presence
  5. Use of modern web technologies and SEO best practices
  6. No exposed sensitive data or obvious security vulnerabilities in HTML
  7. Social media presence on major platforms with official accounts
  8. No explicit security or incident response pages found
  9. WHOIS data missing or domain not found in public WHOIS
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress VIP platform using a custom theme and plugins optimized for performance and SEO. It employs modern web technologies including lazy loading images, responsive design, and JavaScript frameworks for UI components like sliders. Google Tag Manager is used for analytics and marketing tracking. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO metadata and structured data (JSON-LD). Hosting appears robust with CDN usage for fonts and scripts. No technical debt or major performance bottlenecks were detected in the provided content. Opportunities exist to enhance security header implementation and incident response capabilities.
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. 55/100Medium22 findingsView report
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