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Security report for ucalgary.ca

University of Calgary · Education · Canada

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

Security score

74/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The University of Calgary website represents a large, well-established Canadian educational institution focused on providing undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs. The site emphasizes its entrepreneurial spirit and research excellence, targeting prospective and current students, alumni, faculty, and staff. The digital infrastructure is built on Drupal 10, integrating modern analytics and marketing tools, and is optimized for mobile and accessibility. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and domain transfer protections, though some security headers and explicit policies could be enhanced. Privacy and cookie policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, reflecting a mature privacy stance. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and well-positioned to serve its academic community.

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

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.

    • 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

  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.

    • 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 ucalgary.ca

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

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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
70
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
74

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 of Calgary holds a strong market position as a top Canadian research university with a broad program offering and a clear entrepreneurial focus. Its business model centers on education and research services, supported by a large student body and extensive faculty. The website's integration with multiple faculty and service domains indicates a broad partnership ecosystem within the university. The presence of alumni and donor engagement sections suggests active fundraising and community involvement. The domain age and registration details align with the institution's history, reinforcing credibility.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security posture with enforced HTTPS, clientTransferProhibited domain status, and cookie consent mechanisms. However, the absence of DNSSEC and explicit security headers like CSP and X-Frame-Options are areas for improvement. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is publicly available, which could enhance transparency and readiness. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. Overall, the site follows many best practices but could benefit from formalized security policies and enhanced DNS security.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS integrity and security.
  2. Implement and verify security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  4. Consider adding a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to ensure compliance with privacy and security standards.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
University of Calgary
Description
The University of Calgary is a top research university in Alberta, Canada, offering over 250 undergraduate programs, 225 graduate credentials, and professional and continuing education courses. It positions itself as Canada's entrepreneurial university, focusing on innovation, research, and community impact.
Key services
Undergraduate degree programs, Graduate degree programs, Professional and continuing education, Research and scholarship, Student services and support
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Google Tag Manager, YouTube iframe API, jQuery, LiveWhale events system, Useberry (user testing)
Frameworks
Drupal
Platforms
YouTube
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status
  • Cookie consent banner implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager), LinkedIn Insight, Useberry
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google DoubleClick, Twitter Ads
Tracking pixels
LinkedIn Insight Tag, Useberry
Marketing tools
Useberry
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally maintained university site with comprehensive content.
  2. Strong presence of privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms.
  3. Use of modern web technologies and CMS (Drupal 10).
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  5. Good integration of social media and external academic resources.
  6. No exposed sensitive data or security misconfigurations detected.
  7. No security.txt or explicit security policy found, which could be improved.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses Drupal 10 CMS, a modern and widely supported platform, ensuring good maintainability and security updates. Integration with Google Tag Manager, YouTube API, and LiveWhale event system indicates a mature digital marketing and content management approach. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with good SEO metadata and Open Graph tags. Performance is moderate, likely due to rich media content and multiple external scripts. The domain is registered with a reputable Canadian registrar and has a long history, supporting trustworthiness. Technical risks are minimal but include the lack of DNSSEC and some missing security headers.
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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