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Security report for unb.ca

University of New Brunswick · Education · Canada

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a well-established Canadian educational institution with a rich history dating back to 1785. The website serves as a comprehensive portal for prospective and current students, faculty, staff, alumni, and partners, offering detailed information on academic programs, admissions, student life, research, and athletics. UNB positions itself as a leading university on Canada's East Coast with a broad range of study options and strong community engagement. The site reflects a mature business model focused on education, research, and community partnerships.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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. 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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • 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 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. 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 unb.ca

This scan found 25 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
67
Security headers
30
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
68

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

UNB operates in the education sector with a large institutional size and a diverse target audience including international students and industry partners. The university leverages digital channels for recruitment, engagement, and fundraising, as evidenced by integrated donation platforms and extensive social media presence. The website's structure supports multiple user segments with dedicated navigation and resources. The institution's longevity and domain age reinforce its market credibility. Partnerships with cloud services and donation platforms indicate a modern operational ecosystem.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS and several security best practices such as clientTransferProhibited domain status and asynchronous loading of tracking scripts. However, there are gaps including the absence of DNSSEC, lack of explicit security policies or incident response contacts, and no published vulnerability disclosure program. The presence of multiple third-party tracking pixels increases the attack surface and privacy considerations. Overall, the security posture is good but could be enhanced by implementing DNSSEC, CSP headers, and publishing security-related policies to improve transparency and incident readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to strengthen DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to mitigate cross-site scripting and related attacks.
  3. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  4. Establish and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Regularly review and audit third-party scripts and tracking pixels to minimize privacy risks and potential vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
University of New Brunswick
Description
Leading discovery and innovation since 1785. Choose from 100+ study options at the University of New Brunswick's two campuses. Discover your potential at UNB.
Key services
Undergraduate programs, Graduate programs, Continuing education and online learning, Research and innovation partnerships, Student life and support services, Athletics and recreation
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Bootstrap, Matomo Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, TikTok Pixel, Amazon Ads Pixel, Swiftype Search, Pixie (AppNexus), Snapchat Pixel, Clarity (Microsoft)
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled site
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status to prevent unauthorized transfers
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security and tracking scripts with async loading

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo, Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Facebook Pixel, TikTok Analytics, LinkedIn Insight
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Amazon Ads, AppNexus
Tracking pixels
TikTok Pixel, Facebook Pixel, Snapchat Pixel, Microsoft Clarity, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Google Analytics (via GTM and DoubleClick), Matomo Analytics
Marketing tools
Swiftype Search
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-established university site with comprehensive academic and student resources
  2. Strong use of modern web technologies and analytics tools
  3. Good mobile and accessibility support
  4. Extensive use of third-party tracking and advertising pixels
  5. No visible security policy or incident response information published
  6. No DNSSEC enabled on domain
  7. Privacy and cookie policies are present and include consent mechanisms
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern tech stack including Bootstrap for responsive design, jQuery for scripting, and multiple analytics and marketing tools such as Matomo, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and TikTok Pixel. The site is mobile optimized with good accessibility features and SEO metadata. Performance is moderate with asynchronous script loading to improve speed. No CMS is explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary platform. Hosting provider details are not explicit. The site uses Google Tag Manager for centralized tag management. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but could benefit from enhanced security headers and DNS security improvements.
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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