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Security report for pennathletics.com

University of Pennsylvania · Education · United States

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The University of Pennsylvania Athletics website serves as the official digital platform for the university's sports programs, primarily targeting students, alumni, and sports enthusiasts interested in Ivy League athletics. The site offers key services such as sports news, ticket sales including group tickets, and event information. It positions itself as a trusted source for collegiate athletics content within the education sector. Technically, the website leverages a modern technology stack including jQuery, RequireJS, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and the Sidearm Sports CMS platform. Hosting and content delivery are managed via Cloudfront CDN and Rackspace DNS, ensuring moderate performance and good mobile optimization. Accessibility features and SEO best practices are implemented to enhance user experience. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS with a strong SSL configuration and employs domain status protections to prevent unauthorized changes. Consent management is handled through Transcend Consent Manager, supporting GDPR compliance. However, the absence of explicit security headers and the use of multiple Google Tag Manager containers present areas for improvement. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Overall, the website demonstrates a solid security posture and compliance with privacy regulations, coupled with a professional and trustworthy user experience. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, consolidating tag management, and expanding visible contact and security policy information to further strengthen trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 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

8 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  2. 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 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';…

  3. 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

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

Keep watching pennathletics.com

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.

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
72
Security headers
65
Email security
40
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
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

The University of Pennsylvania Athletics website operates within the education and media sectors, serving a large institutional audience. Its market position as an official Ivy League athletics platform provides competitive advantages in brand recognition and trust. The business model focuses on content delivery and ticket sales, supported by partnerships with marketing and consent management providers. Growth indicators include the use of advanced analytics and advertising networks. The partnership ecosystem includes Sidearm Sports for CMS and ticketing, Oracle Krux for marketing, and Google for analytics and advertising. The site’s operations reflect a mature digital presence aligned with institutional goals.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, domain registration protections, and consent management aligned with GDPR. The lack of explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy or X-Frame-Options is a notable gap that could expose the site to certain web-based attacks. The presence of multiple Google Tag Manager containers increases the attack surface and complexity of script management. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is publicly available, which could be improved to enhance transparency and readiness. Overall, the site maintains good data protection practices but would benefit from enhanced security controls and clearer security communication.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to harden the site against common web attacks.
  2. Consolidate Google Tag Manager containers to reduce complexity and potential security risks from third-party scripts.
  3. Publish a clear vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to improve transparency and encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Enhance visible contact information including security and incident response contacts to build user trust.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and consent management tools to ensure compliance and security.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
University of Pennsylvania
Description
Official athletics website for the University of Pennsylvania, providing sports news, ticketing, and related content.
Key services
Sports news and updates, Ticket sales and group ticketing, Athletics event information
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, RequireJS, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, DoubleClick, Krux (Oracle Data Cloud), Sidearm Sports platform, Transcend Consent Manager
Frameworks
Sidearm Sports CMS, Knockout.js
Platforms
Cloudfront CDN, Rackspace DNS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • ClientDeleteProhibited domain status
  • Consent management implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, ScorecardResearch, Oracle Krux
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
DoubleClick, Google Ads, ScorecardResearch
Tracking pixels
DoubleClick, ScorecardResearch, Krux
Marketing tools
Oracle Krux, Transcend Consent Manager
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is an official athletics site for University of Pennsylvania.
  2. Uses multiple Google Tag Manager containers which may increase complexity.
  3. Consent management is implemented via Transcend Consent Manager.
  4. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed on this splash page.
  5. No terms of service found on this page or linked.
  6. No explicit security headers detected in HTML content.
  7. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  8. No data protection officer contact found.
  9. Ad blocker detection modal implemented.
  10. Site uses HTTPS with valid SSL.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a robust technical infrastructure using Sidearm Sports CMS, supported by modern JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and Knockout.js. It employs asynchronous loading of scripts and uses multiple CDNs for performance optimization. Mobile responsiveness and accessibility are well addressed. However, the presence of multiple Google Tag Manager containers and extensive third-party tracking scripts may introduce technical debt and security risks. Performance is moderate, with opportunities to optimize script loading and reduce external dependencies. The site’s SEO and metadata are well configured, supporting good search engine visibility.
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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