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Security report for swiftref.com

Swift · Finance · N/a

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS and GDPR outside view.

Security score

64/100

Risk levelMedium

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

SwiftRef, operated by Swift, offers a specialized online BIC Search tool that provides users with access to ISO-registered Bank Identifier Codes worldwide. The platform supports financial institutions and businesses involved in international payments by delivering accurate reference data. The website demonstrates a professional design with consistent branding and modern web technologies, including web components and SVG-based interactive maps. However, the absence of WHOIS registration data for the domain www.swiftref.com raises concerns about domain registration transparency, although the site content aligns with Swift's reputable brand. Security measures such as HTTPS and captcha challenges are in place, but explicit privacy and cookie policies are missing, indicating room for compliance improvements.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
50/ 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

4 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.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  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

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

Keep watching swiftref.com

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.

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

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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
85
Email security
65
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
Average
64

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

SwiftRef positions itself as a key player in the financial data services sector, leveraging Swift's global network and reputation. The business model includes offering free tools alongside subscription-based enhanced data services, targeting financial institutions and payment processors. The site references related domains under the Swift umbrella, indicating a cohesive ecosystem. The lack of direct contact information and privacy policies suggests a focus on service delivery over direct customer engagement on this platform. The market position is strong given Swift's dominance in financial messaging, but domain registration inconsistencies warrant further scrutiny.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS and includes a captcha challenge to mitigate automated abuse, reflecting basic security hygiene. However, the lack of visible security headers and absence of detailed security or incident response policies limit the security posture. No vulnerable libraries or exposed sensitive data were detected in the content. The site would benefit from implementing comprehensive security headers, explicit privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms, and clear incident response contacts to enhance trust and compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with user consent mechanisms to ensure GDPR compliance.
  2. Add explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection to strengthen security posture.
  3. Provide clear contact information including security incident response and data protection officer contacts.
  4. Verify and update WHOIS domain registration details to improve transparency and trustworthiness.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and SEO optimization to improve user experience and discoverability.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Swift
Description
SwiftRef provides a unique reference data service for BIC (Bank Identifier Code) search, offering free online access to BIC information. It supports payments processes by providing BIC data, with subscription products offering additional connectivity information.
Key services
BIC Search, IBAN Validation, SwiftRef subscription data services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, SVG, Web Components, CSS Variables, Custom Elements
Frameworks
Custom Web Components
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of HTTPS (implied by base href https://)
  • Captcha challenge for form submission

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website provides a free BIC search tool powered by SwiftRef
  2. No WHOIS data available for domain, raising questions about domain registration transparency
  3. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found on the page
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers visible on the page
  5. Use of captcha challenge to prevent automated abuse
  6. Professional and consistent branding with Swift logos and references
  7. No signs of WAF or content blocking detected
  8. No social media links or external tracking scripts detected
  9. Site uses modern web technologies including web components and SVG for interactive map
Technical notes

Notes

The website utilizes modern web technologies including custom web components, SVG graphics for interactive maps, and CSS variables for styling. The site is mobile responsive and demonstrates good navigation clarity. Performance is moderate with deferred JavaScript loading. No CMS or hosting provider details were detected. The absence of analytics or tracking scripts suggests minimal user tracking. Technical debt appears low, but improvements in accessibility and SEO are recommended to enhance overall digital maturity.
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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