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Security report for st-vincents.ie

St. Vincent's University Hospital · Healthcare · Ireland

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

66/100

Risk levelMedium

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

St. Vincent's University Hospital is a leading academic teaching hospital located in Dublin, Ireland, providing a wide range of acute, chronic, and emergency medical services across more than 40 specialties. It operates within the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group and holds international accreditation, positioning it as a top-tier healthcare provider in the region. The hospital serves patients, visitors, and medical professionals with comprehensive care, education, and research services. The website reflects a mature digital presence with clear navigation, relevant content, and a focus on patient and visitor needs. Technically, the website is built on WordPress using modern frameworks such as Bootstrap and WPBakery Page Builder. It employs SEO best practices and is optimized for mobile devices with good accessibility features. Google Analytics is used with IP anonymization to track user engagement while respecting privacy. The site uses HTTPS with strong SSL configuration, and cookie consent mechanisms are implemented to comply with GDPR requirements. From a security perspective, the hospital website demonstrates good practices including encrypted connections, cookie consent management, and no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. However, there is room for improvement by adding explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and enhanced security headers. The WHOIS data confirms the legitimacy and consistency of the domain registration with the hospital’s identity. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and compliant with privacy regulations, supporting the hospital’s reputation as a leading healthcare institution. Strategic improvements in security transparency and incident response readiness would further strengthen its security posture and user trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
70/ 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

3 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

  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 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';…

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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
70
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
70
Average
66

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

St. Vincent's University Hospital holds a strong market position as Ireland’s premier academic teaching hospital with international accreditation. Its business model focuses on public healthcare delivery combined with academic research and education. The hospital targets a broad audience including patients, visitors, GPs, and medical professionals. Revenue streams likely include public funding, research grants, and patient services. The hospital benefits from partnerships within the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group and related entities such as the St. Vincent’s Foundation. The website content and structure indicate a well-established institution with a focus on transparency, patient engagement, and community support. Growth indicators include ongoing research initiatives and educational programs. The digital presence supports operational goals and stakeholder communication effectively.

Security posture

The hospital website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent mechanisms aligned with GDPR. Google Analytics is configured with IP anonymization, reducing privacy risks. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content or scripts. However, the absence of explicit security policies and incident response contact information represents a compliance gap. Security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options are not evident, which could enhance protection against common web attacks. The site uses well-maintained libraries and frameworks, minimizing risks from outdated components. Overall, the security posture is good but can be improved by formalizing security documentation and enhancing HTTP header protections.

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 configure security HTTP headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  4. Consider adding a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and plugins to ensure they are up to date and free from vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
St. Vincent’s University Hospital
Registration number
338585
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
St. Vincent's University Hospital
Description
St.Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH) is one of the world’s leading academic teaching hospitals providing front line, acute, chronic and emergency care across over 40 different medical specialities – in the country’s only integrated multi-hospital campus. Recognised worldwide for excellence in clinical diagnosis, treatment, education, research and a pioneering multi-disciplinary approach to patient care. The only public hospital in Ireland with international accreditation.
Key services
Acute care, Chronic care, Emergency care, Medical specialities (40+), Education and research, Outpatient clinics, Emergency Department
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, WPBakery Page Builder, Yoast SEO, Bootstrap CSS, jQuery, Google Analytics
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • IP anonymization in Google Analytics
  • Cookie consent mechanism with strict and functional cookie categories
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally maintained academic hospital site with comprehensive patient and visitor information.
  2. Strong GDPR compliance with cookie consent and privacy policy.
  3. No signs of blocking or WAF interference.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and SEO best practices.
  5. Clear trust indicators including international accreditation and transparent contact info.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform enhanced with WPBakery Page Builder and Bootstrap for responsive design. It uses Google Fonts and jQuery libraries, with Google Analytics integrated for visitor tracking. The site is served over HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate, ensuring encrypted communications. Performance is moderate with standard optimization practices. SEO is supported by Yoast SEO plugin, and accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA labels are present. The site includes GDPR-compliant cookie consent with categorized cookie controls. Hosting details are not explicit but appear stable. Technical risks are low, with no visible outdated or vulnerable components. Opportunities exist to improve security headers and formalize security documentation to reduce technical debt and enhance resilience.
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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