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Security report for nic.ch

Switch · Technology · Switzerland

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

75/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Switch operates as the official registry for .ch and .li domain names under mandate from the Swiss Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM). The website serves as a portal for domain name lookup, registrar information, and legal and security details related to Swiss internet domains. Positioned as a trusted national authority, Switch provides essential services ensuring the stability and security of the Swiss internet namespace. The site targets domain registrants, registrars, and internet users in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, offering a straightforward domain lookup tool and access to registrar listings. Technically, the website employs a modern tech stack including Bootstrap for responsive design and Piwik for analytics, hosted on Switch's own infrastructure. The site is mobile optimized with good navigation clarity and basic accessibility features. Security is well addressed with HTTPS enforced and CAPTCHA protection on forms, though some security headers are missing. Privacy compliance is partial, with an Acceptable Use Policy present but no explicit GDPR-compliant privacy or cookie policy visible. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates a solid posture with no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. However, improvements are recommended in cookie consent implementation, privacy policy transparency, and security header deployment. The WHOIS data confirms the legitimacy of the domain registration, consistent with the official registry operator Switch, reinforcing trustworthiness. Overall, the website is professional, secure, and credible, serving its role effectively as the Swiss domain registry portal. Strategic enhancements in privacy compliance and security best practices would further strengthen its position and user trust.

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

5 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"

  2. 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 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

  3. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • High

      No Name Servers Found

      Unable to find name servers for domain

      What to do: Configure proper name servers for the domain

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

Keep watching nic.ch

This scan found 16 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

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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
100
Security headers
45
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
Average
75

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

Switch holds a unique market position as the official registry for .ch and .li domains, mandated by the Swiss government. Its business model centers on domain administration and registry services, generating revenue likely through registrar fees and domain management. The company benefits from a strong trust ecosystem due to its government affiliation and long-standing presence. The target customers include registrars, businesses, and individuals seeking Swiss domain names. The website reflects a medium-sized organization with a focused service portfolio. Partnerships appear limited to registrar relationships, with no evident subsidiaries or parent companies. Growth indicators are stable given the essential nature of domain registry services. The company maintains a professional digital presence aligned with its authoritative role in the Swiss internet infrastructure.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and CAPTCHA-protected forms to mitigate automated abuse. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive information were detected. However, the absence of certain security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represents an area for improvement. Privacy compliance is partial; the lack of a dedicated GDPR-compliant privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism could expose the organization to regulatory scrutiny. Incident response contact details and vulnerability disclosure policies are not publicly available, which may hinder rapid response to security incidents. Overall, the security culture appears sound but could benefit from enhanced transparency and adherence to privacy regulations.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a comprehensive cookie consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations.
  2. Publish a detailed GDPR-compliant privacy policy clearly accessible from the homepage.
  3. Add security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  4. Provide explicit incident response and abuse contact information on the security page.
  5. Consider establishing and publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Switch
Description
Switch acts as the official registry under a mandate from the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), handling the administration of domain names that end in .ch and ensuring that the Swiss Internet is secure and stable.
Key services
Domain name registration administration, Domain name lookup services, Registrar listings, Security and stability of Swiss internet domains
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Bootstrap CSS, Piwik Analytics
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of CAPTCHA for domain lookup form
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Piwik
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Piwik
Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is official registry for .ch and .li domains
  2. Content is professional and relevant to domain registration services
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed on main page
  4. Uses HTTPS and includes CAPTCHA for form security
  5. No cookie consent banner detected
  6. No explicit privacy policy page found but Acceptable Use Policy is linked
  7. No social media or external contact channels found
  8. Uses Piwik analytics with minimal tracking
  9. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy found
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a custom CMS platform (SWITCH OCMS) with Bootstrap for responsive design and Piwik for analytics tracking. The infrastructure is hosted by Switch, ensuring control over hosting and security. Performance is moderate with mobile optimization rated good. SEO and accessibility are basic but functional. The site uses modern JavaScript and CSS frameworks but lacks some advanced accessibility features and security headers. The domain lookup form includes CAPTCHA for bot mitigation, indicating attention to security in user input handling. Overall, the technical implementation supports the business needs effectively but has room for modernization and enhanced security hardening.
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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