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Security report for napier.ac.uk

Edinburgh Napier University · Education · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

72/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Edinburgh Napier University is a leading modern university in Scotland, recognized for its high student satisfaction and impactful research. The institution offers a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses to a diverse international student body, supported by comprehensive academic and student services. The website reflects a professional and well-branded digital presence, emphasizing accessibility, user experience, and clear navigation. Technically, the site employs established JavaScript libraries, Google Tag Manager for analytics, and TrustArc for cookie consent management, indicating a mature digital infrastructure. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and no visible sensitive data exposure, though improvements in security headers and incident response disclosures could enhance protection. Overall, the domain and website present a trustworthy and credible educational entity with strong compliance to privacy regulations. The absence of WHOIS data is likely due to privacy protection, which is justified for this type of institution.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
80/ 100 · Low
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

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

  2. 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

  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 napier.ac.uk

This scan found 22 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
62
Security headers
30
Email security
88
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
80
Average
72

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 napier.ac.uk, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
8,556
Employees
197
Customers
5,809
Third parties
2,550
Weak passwords
9%

Latest record dated 2026-06-08 · 161 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 napier.ac.uk.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –staffworkplace.napier.ac.uk2026-06-08
  • –studentprint-1.napier.ac.uk2026-06-06
  • –napier.ac.uk2026-05-28
  • –vsoc.napier.ac.uk2026-05-27
  • –napier.ac.uk2026-05-27

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

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)Monitor on Breach(opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

The university holds a strong market position as Scotland's top modern university, leveraging rankings and research excellence to attract students globally. Its business model centers on delivering education and research services both on-campus and online, supported by international partnerships. The website's content and structure support recruitment, student engagement, and alumni relations. The use of advanced consent management and analytics tools reflects a commitment to data privacy and marketing effectiveness. The lack of direct contact emails or phone numbers on the homepage suggests a preference for contact via dedicated pages or forms, aligning with institutional communication policies. The university's ecosystem includes intranet and student portals, indicating a comprehensive digital environment for stakeholders.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security baseline with HTTPS and cookie consent mechanisms in place. However, the absence of visible security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represents an area for improvement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive information were detected in the HTML content. The lack of a published security policy or incident response contact limits transparency and preparedness visibility. The use of third-party services like TrustArc and Google Tag Manager is managed with consent, supporting GDPR compliance. Overall, the security posture is adequate for the institution's public-facing site but could benefit from enhanced header configurations and explicit security disclosures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate common web attacks.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and provide incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Regularly update all JavaScript libraries and dependencies to their latest secure versions to reduce risk of known vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance accessibility and SEO by maintaining up-to-date meta tags and ensuring all interactive elements are keyboard accessible.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Edinburgh Napier University
Description
Edinburgh Napier University is proud to be the #1 modern university in Scotland (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025) and the leading university in Edinburgh for student satisfaction for five years in a row (National Student Survey 2020–2024). Recognised as the top Scottish modern university for research power and impact (Research Excellence Framework 2021). Home of difference makers with an enterprising and innovative community, delivering over 250 undergraduate and postgraduate courses to nearly 20,000 students from over 145 countries studying on campus, online, and at partner universities worldwide.
Key services
Undergraduate courses, Postgraduate courses, Research and innovation, International education, Student support services
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 1.10.2, Handlebars 4.7.8, Google Tag Manager, TrustArc Consent Manager, YouTube Player API, Modernizr 2.6.2
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Marketing tools
TrustArc Consent Manager
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 navigation
  2. Strong branding consistent with Edinburgh Napier University
  3. Comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with consent management
  4. No exposed sensitive data or obvious security vulnerabilities in HTML
  5. WHOIS data unavailable, likely due to privacy protection or registry restrictions
  6. Use of modern tracking and consent technologies
  7. No suspicious or malicious content detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a combination of legacy and modern JavaScript libraries, including jQuery 1.10.2 and Handlebars 4.7.8, alongside Modernizr for feature detection. Google Tag Manager is employed for analytics and marketing tracking, integrated with TrustArc for GDPR-compliant cookie consent management. The site is responsive and optimized for mobile devices with good accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA labels. Performance is moderate, with some potential for improvement in loading times and resource optimization. The CMS or hosting provider is not explicitly identified. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a robust user experience but could benefit from modernization of some libraries and enhanced security configurations.
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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