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Security report for msd.es

Merck & Co., Inc. · Healthcare · Spain

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

Security score

74/100

Risk levelMedium

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

MSD Spain is a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., a leading global biomedical research company with over 130 years of history. The website reflects a mature, enterprise-level pharmaceutical business focused on research, development, and distribution of innovative medicines and vaccines. The site targets a broad audience including patients, healthcare professionals, and the general public, emphasizing transparency, ethics, and social responsibility. Technically, the site is built on WordPress VIP with modern SEO and privacy compliance tools, including cookie consent and GDPR-aligned privacy policies. Security posture is strong with HTTPS and best practices observed, though explicit security headers could be improved. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and well-optimized for performance and accessibility.

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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  • 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
70
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
74

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 Spain holds a strong market position as a key player in the healthcare sector in Spain, backed by its parent company Merck & Co., Inc. The business model centers on pharmaceutical innovation, clinical trials, and patient education. The company demonstrates commitment to sustainability, diversity, and ethical compliance, supported by certifications like ISO 27001. The website ecosystem includes related domains for privacy and global operations, and social media channels for engagement. The presence of detailed transparency reports and compliance documentation indicates a mature governance framework. Growth indicators include active clinical trials and ongoing R&D investment.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS with a good SSL configuration and integrates cookie consent mechanisms aligned with GDPR. Security best practices such as no exposed sensitive data and use of privacy policies are evident. However, explicit security headers like X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options are not clearly present and should be implemented to enhance protection. No vulnerabilities or security incidents are apparent from the content. The absence of a public vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file suggests an area for improvement in transparency and incident response readiness. Overall, the security posture is strong but could benefit from formalized incident response visibility.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and verify security headers such as X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate clickjacking and MIME sniffing risks.
  2. Establish and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to improve transparency and facilitate responsible reporting.
  3. Regularly audit third-party scripts and plugins to ensure no known vulnerabilities are present.
  4. Enhance visibility of incident response contacts or security team communication channels on the website.
  5. Maintain up-to-date CMS and plugin versions to reduce risk of exploitation.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Merck & Co., Inc.
Description
El propósito de MSD es emplear el potencial de la ciencia de vanguardia para salvar y mejorar vidas en todo el mundo.
Key services
Pharmaceuticals, Vaccines, Clinical trials, Research and development
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO, Google Tag Manager, OneTrust Cookie Consent, Nice inContact Chat Client
Frameworks
WordPress VIP
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security and privacy policies

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
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 professional design
  2. Strong focus on transparency, ethics, and compliance
  3. Comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms
  4. Use of modern web technologies and SEO best practices
  5. No signs of suspicious or malicious content
  6. WHOIS data unavailable due to registry query restrictions, but no red flags in website content
  7. Social media presence on Twitter (x.com), LinkedIn, and YouTube
  8. Contact information available via contact page and forms
  9. No explicit security incident response or vulnerability disclosure pages found
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a robust WordPress VIP platform, leveraging modern technologies including Yoast SEO for optimization, Google Tag Manager for analytics, and OneTrust for cookie consent management. The site demonstrates good mobile responsiveness, accessibility, and SEO practices. Performance is moderate with room for optimization, particularly in image loading and script management. The use of lazy loading and preloading fonts indicates attention to performance. No hosting provider details were explicitly found. The technical stack supports a secure and user-friendly experience suitable for an enterprise healthcare organization.
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

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