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Security report for msd-italia.it

MSD Italia · Healthcare · Italy

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

62/100

Risk levelMedium

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

MSD Italia is a well-established pharmaceutical company operating in Italy for over 65 years and globally for more than 130 years. The company focuses on research, development, and commercialization of innovative therapeutic products, including vaccines and treatments for various diseases. The website reflects a strong corporate identity with comprehensive content targeting healthcare professionals, patients, and institutions. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern plugins and technologies, optimized for SEO and mobile devices. Security posture is solid with HTTPS, security headers, and cookie consent mechanisms, though explicit security policies and incident response information are not publicly available. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and compliant with GDPR regulations.

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

6 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

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

Keep watching msd-italia.it

This scan found 25 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
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  • 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
50
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
62

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 msd-italia.it, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
9
Employees
0
Customers
9
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
22%

3 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 msd-italia.it.

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Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

MSD Italia holds a strong market position as a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., with a focus on healthcare innovation and patient-centric solutions. The business model revolves around pharmaceutical R&D, clinical studies, and product commercialization. The company engages with institutions and the scientific community, emphasizing sustainability and social responsibility. The website links to multiple regional MSD domains, indicating a broad partnership ecosystem. Growth indicators include ongoing investments in R&D and recognition through awards. The company targets healthcare professionals and patients, maintaining a high level of professionalism and trust.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and a cookie consent mechanism compliant with GDPR. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. However, the absence of a public security policy, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms suggests room for improvement in transparency and readiness. The use of third-party scripts like Google Tag Manager and Brightcove is managed appropriately but requires ongoing monitoring. Overall, the security posture is strong but could benefit from enhanced communication of security practices.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and commitments.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file.
  3. Provide clear incident response contact channels, such as security@ or abuse@ emails.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance transparency around data retention policies and user privacy protections.

Contact details published on the site

Legal name
Merck Sharp & Dohme Italia S.r.l.
VAT number
IT 00759360154
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
MSD Italia
Description
Da oltre 65 anni in Italia e da 130 nel mondo, MSD ha rivoluzionato paradigmi terapeutici per decine di patologie attraverso la scoperta di oltre 200 molecole innovative.
Key services
Pharmaceutical research & development, Innovative therapeutic products, Vaccines, Clinical studies, Sustainability and social responsibility initiatives
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, Tiny Slider (tns), Brightcove video player, Google Tag Manager, OneTrust cookie consent
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security headers
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • 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 professionally designed and well-structured.
  2. Strong focus on corporate branding and healthcare research.
  3. Comprehensive cookie and privacy policies with consent mechanisms.
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on homepage; contact form used.
  5. Use of modern web technologies and SEO best practices.
  6. No security policy or incident response information publicly available.
  7. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  8. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
  9. Multiple external domains linked are official MSD regional sites.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by WordPress CMS with Yoast SEO for optimization and Tiny Slider for interactive elements. Brightcove is used for video content delivery, and Google Tag Manager manages analytics and marketing tags. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive images and lazy loading. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in script loading and caching. Accessibility features are present, including skip links and ARIA attributes. The technical infrastructure is modern and well-maintained, supporting a professional user experience with minimal technical debt.
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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