Skip to main content

Security report for sonoma.edu

Sonoma State University · Education · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Sonoma State University is a public higher education institution located in Northern California, part of the California State University system. The website provides comprehensive information about academic programs, campus life, admissions, and events, targeting prospective and current students, faculty, staff, and alumni. The university positions itself as a community-focused institution with strong graduation rates and student success. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 10, leveraging modern JavaScript libraries and analytics tools such as Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, and TikTok Analytics. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and professionally designed, offering a positive user experience. Security posture is good with HTTPS enforced and no visible vulnerabilities, though some security headers could be improved and a vulnerability disclosure policy is absent. Privacy compliance is moderate with a comprehensive privacy policy but lacking a visible cookie consent mechanism. Overall, the site is trustworthy and professional, with minor areas for improvement in privacy and security transparency.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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. 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
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

  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

    • 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. 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

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

Keep watching sonoma.edu

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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
42
Security headers
65
Email security
75
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
69

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 operates in the education sector, serving a large audience including students and academic staff. It benefits from its affiliation with the California State University system, enhancing its credibility and reach. The business model is public education funded by state and tuition revenues. The website supports recruitment and community engagement through detailed program information, events, and news. The presence of official social media channels and partner domains indicates a mature digital ecosystem. Growth indicators include active event promotion and student involvement initiatives. No suspicious or unrelated domains are linked, reinforcing legitimacy.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and no exposed sensitive data. Use of modern frameworks and libraries reduces risk of vulnerabilities. However, the absence of explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and lack of a security.txt file or incident response contact reduces transparency. No signs of malware or phishing were detected. Privacy compliance is partial, with a comprehensive privacy policy but no cookie consent banner. Incident response and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not publicly visible, which could be improved to enhance trust and readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a visible cookie consent banner to comply with privacy regulations and improve user trust.
  2. Add a security.txt file and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  3. Enhance HTTP security headers, including Content-Security-Policy and X-Content-Type-Options, to strengthen defense against attacks.
  4. Publish an incident response policy and contact information to improve transparency and preparedness.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking pixels to ensure no vulnerabilities or privacy risks.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Sonoma State University
Description
Sonoma State University is a public university located in Northern California offering undergraduate and graduate education with a focus on student success, community, and academic excellence.
Key services
Undergraduate education, Graduate education, Student housing, Campus life and student organizations, Community engagement
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, TikTok Analytics, AddToAny sharing, HLS.js for video streaming, Alpine.js
Frameworks
Drupal CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of modern JS libraries
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via GTM), Facebook Pixel, TikTok Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, TikTok Analytics
Marketing tools
AddToAny
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-designed, content-rich official university site.
  2. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  3. Uses modern web technologies and analytics.
  4. Lacks explicit cookie consent mechanism.
  5. WHOIS data unavailable likely due to .edu domain privacy policies.
  6. Strong presence of official social media and partner links.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses Drupal 10 CMS, a robust and widely supported platform for content management. It integrates multiple analytics and marketing tools including Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, and TikTok Analytics, indicating a data-driven approach to user engagement. The site uses HLS.js for video streaming and Alpine.js for UI interactivity, reflecting modern frontend practices. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. The site structure is clear with semantic HTML and proper meta tags supporting SEO. No critical technical debt or outdated libraries were detected, though some security headers could be improved.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with sonoma.edu. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review sonoma.edu.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.