Skip to main content

Security report for msd.se

MSD Sverige · Healthcare · Sweden

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

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

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

MSD Sverige is the Swedish branch of Merck & Co., Inc., a leading multinational pharmaceutical company. The website focuses on research, innovation, and healthcare solutions including vaccines and treatments for various diseases. It targets healthcare professionals, patients, and the general public in Sweden, emphasizing its commitment to improving health outcomes. The site is well-branded, professionally designed, and provides comprehensive information about the company's focus areas and corporate responsibility initiatives. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern SEO and privacy compliance tools such as Yoast SEO and OneTrust cookie consent. Google Tag Manager is used for analytics and tracking, indicating a mature digital infrastructure. Security posture is good with HTTPS enforced and no visible vulnerabilities, though some security headers could be improved and a formal security policy or incident response contact is not published. WHOIS data for the exact domain www.msd.se is unavailable, likely because it is a subdomain of msd.se, which aligns with the corporate structure. Overall, the website is trustworthy, compliant with GDPR, and professionally 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

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

Keep watching msd.se

This scan found 24 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.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. See sample alerts.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
65

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 Sverige operates as an essential entity within the healthcare sector, focusing on pharmaceutical research and vaccine development. It benefits from the strong global brand and resources of its parent company Merck & Co., Inc. The business model centers on innovation, patient support, and collaboration with healthcare professionals. The website reflects a large enterprise with extensive content and digital maturity. The company maintains a broad partnership ecosystem, linking to multiple related domains for responsibility, privacy, and animal health. The site’s content and structure support its market position as a trusted healthcare provider in Sweden, with clear growth indicators through digital engagement and career opportunities.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security posture with HTTPS enabled and no exposed sensitive data. Cookie consent is actively managed via OneTrust, supporting GDPR compliance. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and a public security policy or incident response contact reduces transparency. No vulnerabilities or outdated libraries were detected in the provided content. The site lacks a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file, which could enhance security culture and incident response readiness. Overall, the security maturity is solid but could be improved by publishing explicit security policies and implementing additional HTTP security headers.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish a formal security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  2. Add HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  3. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Continue to monitor and update third-party scripts and plugins to avoid vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance transparency by providing more direct contact information such as company emails or phone numbers for support and security inquiries.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
MSD Sverige
Description
Vår vision är att leda och utveckla innovationer för ett hälsosamt Sverige idag och imorgon. Vi är här för att ha en varaktig och positiv inverkan i Sverige och göra vårt yttersta för patienter.
Key services
Pharmaceutical research, Vaccine development, Patient support, Healthcare professional resources
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, Google Tag Manager, OneTrust Cookie Consent, LazyLoad images, JavaScript ES6+
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 scripts or HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Marketing tools
OneTrust Cookie Consent
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 and relevant to healthcare and pharmaceuticals.
  3. Strong privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms are implemented.
  4. No direct company contact emails or phone numbers found on the homepage; contact form is provided.
  5. Use of modern web technologies and SEO best practices.
  6. Social media presence is verified and consistent with corporate branding.
  7. No security.txt or explicit security policy found.
  8. WHOIS data for the exact domain is missing, likely due to subdomain usage.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS with Yoast SEO plugin for search engine optimization and OneTrust for cookie consent management, indicating compliance with privacy regulations. Google Tag Manager is used for analytics and tracking user interactions, showing a modern approach to data collection. The site uses lazy loading for images to improve performance and is mobile optimized with responsive design. The technical implementation is clean with structured data (JSON-LD) for enhanced SEO and social media integration. No hosting provider details were found, but the site is served over HTTPS with good SSL configuration. Performance is moderate, with opportunities to improve loading speed by optimizing scripts and assets further. Accessibility is good, supported by an accessibility badge linking to Level Access. 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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with msd.se. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review msd.se.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.