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Security report for msdacademy.nl

MSD Academy Nederland · Healthcare · Netherlands

Partial score · DNS & email only

71/100

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

MSD Academy Nederland is a professional educational platform affiliated with Merck & Co., Inc., providing accredited medical education, patient support materials, and comprehensive information on therapeutic areas and MSD products targeted at healthcare professionals and patients in the Netherlands. The website demonstrates a mature digital presence with a well-structured WordPress-based infrastructure, enhanced by SEO and privacy compliance tools such as Yoast SEO and OneTrust. The platform integrates Google Tag Manager for analytics and maintains a consistent brand identity aligned with its parent company. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent mechanisms in place, though DNSSEC is not enabled and some security headers could be explicitly implemented. Overall, the site is trustworthy, professionally maintained, and compliant with GDPR requirements.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
48/ 100 · High
Checks completed
6of 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

4 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

  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 msdacademy.nl

This scan found 17 issues across 5 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
52
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
48
Average
71

Not counted

  • Security headers: did not complete in this scan.
  • 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 msdacademy.nl, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
1
Employees
0
Customers
1
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
0%

1 subdomain 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 msdacademy.nl.

Select it in the checkout above.

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

The business operates in the healthcare sector, focusing on pharmaceutical education and patient engagement. It leverages a business model centered on providing accredited continuing education and support resources, enhancing MSD's market position in the Netherlands. The platform supports professional growth and patient care through collaborations with scientific leaders and specialists. The company benefits from a strong parent company brand and maintains active social media channels to engage its audience. The domain age and WHOIS data confirm a long-standing and legitimate presence. No suspicious or privacy-protected registrations are present, reinforcing credibility.

Security posture

The website exhibits a solid security posture with HTTPS enabled and use of nonce tokens in AJAX calls to prevent CSRF attacks. Cookie consent is managed via OneTrust, indicating GDPR awareness. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, which could be a potential improvement area. Security headers like X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options are not explicitly visible and should be verified or added. No incident response or security policy pages were found, which could be considered for enhanced transparency and readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Explicitly implement and verify security headers such as X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response information to enhance transparency.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and plugins for vulnerabilities and update them promptly.
  5. Consider adding physical contact information or phone numbers for improved user trust and support.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
MSD Academy Nederland
Description
Krijg eenvoudig toegang tot informatie over MSD’s therapeutische domeinen en geneesmiddelen, en materialen voor u en uw patiënten.
Key services
Accredited online and offline medical education, Patient and healthcare professional support materials, Information on therapeutic areas, clinical studies, congresses, scientific articles
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, Google Tag Manager, OneTrust Cookie Consent, JavaScript ES6+, CSS3
Frameworks
WordPress VIP
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of nonce tokens in AJAX calls
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in 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 a professional educational platform for MSD products and therapeutic areas in the Netherlands.
  2. Content is well-structured, multilingual metadata present (Dutch primarily).
  3. Strong focus on accredited medical education and patient support.
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  5. Good privacy and cookie compliance with OneTrust integration.
  6. Social media presence on major platforms linked in footer.
  7. No phone numbers or physical addresses explicitly found in content.
  8. Contact primarily via email link to info@msdacademy.nl.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress VIP platform using modern web technologies including Yoast SEO for optimization and OneTrust for cookie consent management. Google Tag Manager is used for analytics and tracking. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features. Performance is moderate, likely due to rich content and multiple scripts. The technical stack is well-maintained with no visible deprecated or vulnerable libraries. The site uses structured data (JSON-LD) for SEO and enhanced search engine understanding. Hosting and registrar data align with corporate standards, ensuring reliability.
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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