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Security report for snf.ch

Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) · Education · Switzerland

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) is a prominent Swiss government-funded foundation dedicated to supporting excellent research across universities and institutions in Switzerland. It covers a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines and plays a pivotal role in shaping the national research landscape. The website reflects a professional, well-structured digital presence aimed at researchers, academic institutions, and policy makers. It offers comprehensive information on funding schemes, research initiatives, and organizational structure. Technically, the website leverages modern web technologies including Next.js and React, with integration of Google Analytics and Tag Manager for data insights. The site is hosted on reliable infrastructure with media assets served via Google Cloud Storage, ensuring fast performance and excellent mobile optimization. Security best practices are observed with HTTPS enforcement and a robust Content Security Policy. From a security standpoint, the site demonstrates a strong posture with no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. However, it lacks explicit privacy and cookie policies, as well as incident response and vulnerability disclosure information, which are recommended for enhanced compliance and transparency. The domain WHOIS data aligns well with the organization's identity, confirming legitimacy and trustworthiness. Overall, the SNSF website is a high-quality, trustworthy platform that effectively serves its target audience. Strategic improvements in privacy compliance and security transparency would further strengthen its position.

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

7 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 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 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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google APIs, Google Ads

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

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

Keep watching snf.ch

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
77
Security headers
65
Email security
60
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
70

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

SNSF holds a leading position as Switzerland's national research funding agency, operating as a non-profit foundation. Its business model centers on allocating government funds to support scientific research projects and researchers at various career stages. The foundation's competitive advantage lies in its comprehensive funding schemes, commitment to equality and diversity, and strong partnerships nationally and internationally. Revenue streams are primarily government grants. The target customers are researchers, universities, and research institutions. Growth indicators include ongoing funding calls and strategic initiatives such as AI responsibility and open science. The partnership ecosystem includes national and international research bodies. Operationally, SNSF maintains a professional and transparent approach with a clear organizational structure and communication channels.

Security posture

The SNSF website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and a strict Content Security Policy in place. Use of Google reCAPTCHA protects forms from automated abuse. No sensitive data leakage or vulnerable libraries were detected. However, the absence of published security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms represents a compliance gap. GDPR compliance is partially addressed but would benefit from explicit privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms. The security culture appears strong but could be enhanced by publishing more transparency documents and providing dedicated security contacts.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism to improve GDPR compliance.
  2. Add a dedicated security policy and incident response page with clear contact channels.
  3. Implement a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Provide contact details for a Data Protection Officer to enhance trust and compliance.
  5. Regularly review and audit third-party scripts and analytics tools to minimize security risks.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
Description
The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) funds excellent research at universities and other institutions across various disciplines including chemistry, medicine, and sociology. It supports thousands of research teams generating knowledge for societal benefit and plays a key role in shaping research in Switzerland.
Key services
Research funding, Grant management, Research policy shaping, Support for early-career researchers, Promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion in research
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Next.js, React, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google reCAPTCHA, Swiper.js
Frameworks
Next.js
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Content Security Policy implemented
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA for forms
  • No inline scripts except allowed hashes
  • No object-src allowed

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Siteimprove Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Siteimprove Analytics
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured.
  2. Content is comprehensive and targeted at researchers and academic institutions.
  3. Strong use of HTTPS and security headers.
  4. No privacy or cookie policy explicitly found on the homepage or footer.
  5. No visible contact emails or phone numbers on the homepage; contact is via contact pages.
  6. Social media presence is strong with official accounts on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Mastodon, and Bluesky.
  7. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  8. No signs of suspicious or malicious content.
  9. No vulnerability disclosure or security policy pages found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern React/Next.js framework, ensuring server-side rendering and good SEO. It uses Google Analytics and Tag Manager for analytics, and Google reCAPTCHA for form security. Media assets are served via Google Cloud Storage, contributing to fast load times. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible with clear navigation. The Content Security Policy is well-defined, restricting sources and scripts to trusted domains. No deprecated or vulnerable libraries were detected. The technical infrastructure supports scalability and performance, with opportunities to enhance privacy compliance and security transparency.
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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