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Security report for snb.ch

Swiss National Bank · Finance · Switzerland

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

83/100

Risk levelLow

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

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) operates as Switzerland's central bank, providing essential services including monetary policy implementation, issuance of banknotes and coins, payment transaction facilitation, asset investment, and financial stability oversight. The website serves a broad audience including the general public, financial market participants, media, researchers, and government entities. It positions itself as a key national financial institution with a strong market presence and government backing. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies such as JavaScript, SVG icons, and CSS, likely managed via a custom CMS. It demonstrates excellent performance, mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices. The site uses HTTPS with strong SSL configuration and includes a cookie consent mechanism aligned with GDPR requirements. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS, avoids exposing sensitive data, and implements secure forms. However, explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not published, and no vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files are found. Analytics are conducted via a custom SNB service with moderate user tracking and a two-year data retention policy. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and compliant with privacy regulations, with a high legitimacy score based on WHOIS data consistency. Strategic recommendations include publishing explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms to enhance transparency and security posture.

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

3 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 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

  2. GDPR outside view

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

    • 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

  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 snb.ch

This scan found 14 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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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
77
Security headers
75
Email security
73
DNS health
90
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
80
Average
83

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 SNB holds a dominant position as Switzerland's central bank, operating within the finance and government sectors. Its business model revolves around central banking functions, including monetary policy, currency issuance, and financial market stability. Revenue streams are primarily governmental and financial in nature, with services targeted at national economic stakeholders and the public. The SNB maintains a strong partnership ecosystem through international cooperation and provides extensive data and research resources. Growth indicators include ongoing publication of financial reports, research, and active engagement with digital services. The website reflects a mature, stable institution with a clear strategic focus and strong market presence.

Security posture

The SNB website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, secure form handling, and no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. Privacy compliance is robust with GDPR-aligned cookie consent and privacy policies. However, the absence of a published security policy, incident response contact channels, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms represents a gap in transparency and readiness. The site lacks explicit security headers visibility but likely implements standard protections. Overall, the security culture appears strong but could benefit from enhanced communication of security practices and incident management.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and commitments.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact channels such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  3. Implement and publicly link a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file.
  4. Ensure all recommended security headers are explicitly set and documented.
  5. Enhance transparency around data protection officer contact information and roles.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Swiss National Bank
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Swiss National Bank
Description
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is Switzerland's central bank responsible for monetary policy, banknotes and coins, payment transactions, investment of assets, financial stability, international cooperation, and services for the Confederation.
Key services
Monetary policy implementation, Issuance and management of banknotes and coins, Payment transaction services, Investment of assets, Financial market analysis and stability, Statistics and research, International cooperation
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, SVG icons, CSS, HTML5
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
excellent
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with no visible vulnerabilities
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented

Analytics and tracking

Services
Custom SNB analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
analytics.snb.ch
Marketing tools
Custom analytics script
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and maintained by a government central bank.
  2. Comprehensive content covering monetary policy, financial stability, and services.
  3. Strong privacy and cookie compliance with user consent mechanisms.
  4. Clear contact information including phone and postal address.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  6. Active social media presence on major platforms.
  7. No visible security or privacy policy documents beyond GDPR and cookie notices.
  8. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern, custom CMS platform utilizing standard web technologies including JavaScript, CSS, and SVG for icons and graphics. It demonstrates fast loading times, excellent mobile responsiveness, and strong accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA roles. SEO is well addressed with proper meta tags and canonical links. The site uses deferred loading of scripts to optimize performance. There is no indication of third-party CMS platforms or hosting providers from the HTML content. Technical risks are minimal, with no visible outdated libraries or deprecated technologies. Opportunities exist to further modernize by adopting explicit security headers and enhancing incident response infrastructure.
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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