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Security report for phsg.ch

Pädagogische Hochschule St.Gallen · Education · Switzerland

High risk. 8 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

36/100

Risk levelHigh

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

Pädagogische Hochschule St.Gallen (PHSG) is a Swiss educational institution specializing in teacher training, research, continuing education, and services for educational professionals and institutions. The website presents a comprehensive and professional digital presence with clear navigation, multilingual support (German and English), and rich content covering study programs, research projects, events, and institutional information. The institution is well-positioned regionally and nationally as a partner in education. Technically, the site is built on Drupal 11 and uses standard web technologies and modules such as Google Tag Manager and EU cookie compliance. However, a critical security gap exists due to the absence of a valid SSL/TLS certificate, exposing users to potential risks. Security headers are partially implemented but insufficient without HTTPS. Privacy compliance is strong with cookie consent mechanisms and a clear privacy policy. Contact information is complete and verified, including email, phone, and physical address. No incident response or security policy pages were found, and no vulnerability disclosure mechanism is published. Overall, the site is trustworthy and professional but urgently needs to implement HTTPS to improve security posture and user trust.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of phsg.ch. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
0/ 100 · Critical
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. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

    • 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

  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.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

  3. 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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • 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';…

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

Keep watching phsg.ch

This scan found 17 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

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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
0
Security headers
40
Email security
50
DNS health
85
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
0
Average
36

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

PHSG operates in the education sector, focusing on teacher education from kindergarten to vocational training, continuing education, and educational research. The business model is that of a public or semi-public educational institution offering degree programs, certifications, and services to educators and institutions. The website indicates a medium-sized organization with approximately 1400 students and 300 lecturers. The institution maintains partnerships with Swiss universities and accreditation bodies, enhancing its credibility. The target audience includes prospective students, educators seeking professional development, researchers, and educational institutions. The site’s content and structure support these segments effectively, with clear calls to action and event information. Marketing and analytics tools are used moderately, respecting privacy compliance. The institution’s market position is stable and reputable within Switzerland.

Security posture

The website currently lacks HTTPS, which is a critical vulnerability that undermines all other security measures. While some security headers like X-Content-Type-Options and X-Frame-Options are present, the absence of SSL/TLS means data transmitted is not encrypted, exposing users to interception and man-in-the-middle attacks. No HSTS policy is set, and no OCSP stapling or session resumption is enabled. The site does not publish any security or incident response policies, nor does it provide a vulnerability disclosure channel or security.txt file. The use of Drupal 11 suggests a modern CMS with security updates, but the missing HTTPS is a major risk. The site is free from obvious malware or phishing indicators. Immediate remediation should focus on obtaining and deploying a valid SSL certificate and enabling HTTPS site-wide.

Recommendations

  1. Obtain and deploy a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS across the entire site.
  2. Implement HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) with includeSubDomains and preload directives.
  3. Enable OCSP stapling and session resumption to improve TLS performance and security.
  4. Publish a security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  5. Add a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosure and improve transparency.
  6. Continue maintaining and updating Drupal CMS and modules to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  7. Enhance privacy compliance by documenting data retention policies and user rights.
  8. Regularly audit and update security headers to align with best practices.
  9. Improve performance metrics and monitor site speed for better user experience.
  10. Maintain consistent branding and professional content updates to sustain trust.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by Drupal 11 CMS running on an Apache server with HTTP/2 support. It uses modern JavaScript libraries and modules such as Google Tag Manager and EU cookie compliance for analytics and privacy management. The DNS records indicate hosting on IP 217.150.245.203 with mail services protected by Outlook. SPF records are well configured to prevent email spoofing. The site is multilingual (German and English) and mobile-optimized with responsive design. Performance data was not available, but the site structure and assets suggest moderate loading times. No SSL/TLS protocols are enabled, which is a significant technical deficiency. The site uses standard SEO and accessibility features, including skip links and ARIA roles. Overall, the technical infrastructure is modern but requires urgent security upgrades to HTTPS and TLS protocols.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 55/100Medium34 findingsView report
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