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Security report for msd.no

Merck & Co., Inc. · Healthcare · Norway

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Email security and 1 other check.

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

MSD Norge operates as the Norwegian branch of Merck & Co., Inc., a global pharmaceutical company focused on improving health through innovative medicines and vaccines. The website presents a professional and comprehensive digital presence, targeting healthcare professionals and the general public with information on vaccines, clinical studies, and corporate values. The site is well-branded and consistent with the global MSD identity, emphasizing their commitment to public health and sustainability. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern plugins such as Yoast SEO and Google Tag Manager, ensuring good SEO and analytics integration. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and performs moderately well. Security practices include HTTPS enforcement and cookie consent mechanisms, though explicit security headers and policies could be enhanced. The security posture is solid with no evident vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. However, the absence of WHOIS data for the domain reduces transparency and trust slightly. No direct contact emails or phone numbers are published, relying instead on contact forms and pages. Privacy compliance is strong with clear policies and GDPR adherence. Overall, MSD Norge's website reflects a mature, professional healthcare entity with a strong digital presence, though domain registration transparency and explicit security policies could be improved to enhance trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
50/ 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

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.

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • 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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

  2. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • High

      No SPF record found

      SPF helps prevent email spoofing

      What to do: Add SPF record: "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourmailprovider.com ~all"

  3. 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

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

Keep watching msd.no

This scan found 20 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
65
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
Average
70

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 Norge is positioned as a key player in the Norwegian healthcare sector, leveraging the global strength of Merck & Co., Inc. Their business model focuses on pharmaceutical research, vaccine development, and public health initiatives. The company targets healthcare professionals, patients, and policymakers, offering clinical study participation and educational resources. Their partnership ecosystem includes related MSD sites and global Merck entities. The website's content and structure indicate a stable enterprise with a focus on innovation, sustainability, and corporate responsibility. Growth indicators include active communication on antibiotic resistance, vaccination, and sustainability of health budgets.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent implemented. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, the lack of explicit security headers like X-Frame-Options and absence of a published security policy or incident response contacts are gaps. There is no security.txt file for vulnerability disclosure. Compliance with GDPR is evident through privacy policies and cookie management. Incident response readiness and security culture indicators are not publicly visible, suggesting room for improvement in transparency and communication.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a detailed security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  2. Implement and verify security headers such as X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection.
  3. Consider adding a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosure and improve transparency.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to meet higher standards and improve user experience for all visitors.
  5. Investigate and resolve the lack of WHOIS data to improve domain registration transparency and trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Merck & Co., Inc.
Description
MSD jobber for å redde og forbedre liv. Siden etableringen i Norge har vi stått i bresjen for en rekke gjennombrudd – et arbeid vi fortsetter hver eneste dag.
Key services
Pharmaceutical products, Vaccination programs, Clinical studies participation, Healthcare information portal
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, Google Tag Manager, Tiny Slider, OneTrust Cookie Consent
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
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 Google Tag Manager for controlled script loading

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via 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. Content is comprehensive and targeted at healthcare professionals and the public.
  3. Strong branding consistent with Merck & Co., Inc. global identity.
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  5. Cookie consent and privacy policies are implemented properly.
  6. WHOIS data is unavailable, which is a concern for domain transparency.
  7. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found; contact is via forms and pages.
  8. Use of modern web technologies and SEO best practices.
  9. No security.txt or explicit security policy found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform using modern plugins like Yoast SEO for search optimization and Google Tag Manager for analytics and marketing tag management. The use of Tiny Slider enhances interactive content presentation. The site is mobile responsive and includes accessibility features, though some security headers are missing. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization. The technical infrastructure supports a professional and user-friendly experience but could benefit from enhanced security configurations and hosting transparency.
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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