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Security report for unibo.it

ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - Università di Bologna · Education · Italy

High risk. 9 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

46/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The Università di Bologna (University of Bologna) is a historic and prestigious public university based in Italy, recognized as the oldest university in the Western world. The website serves as a comprehensive portal offering extensive academic programs, research information, student services, and community engagement resources. It targets students, researchers, academic staff, and the general public, positioning itself as a leading institution in higher education. The business model focuses on education, research, and societal contribution, with a large organizational size and a strong market position in the education sector. Technically, the website is built on the Plone CMS platform, served by an Nginx server on Ubuntu, and utilizes modern web technologies including jQuery, Leaflet.js for maps, Splide.js for carousels, and Font Awesome for icons. Analytics are handled primarily via Matomo and Contentsquare, indicating a moderate level of user tracking with privacy compliance measures in place. The site is well-structured, mobile-optimized, accessible, and SEO-friendly, providing an excellent user experience. From a security perspective, the site lacks a valid SSL certificate and does not support HTTPS, which is a critical vulnerability. Other security headers like X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options are present, but the absence of HTTPS and modern TLS protocols significantly lowers the security posture. No WAF or content blocking mechanisms are detected, and no immediate vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data are found. Overall, the site is highly credible and professional, with strong business legitimacy and comprehensive content. However, the lack of proper SSL/TLS configuration poses a significant risk that should be addressed promptly to protect user data and maintain trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
0/ 100 · Critical
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

9 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

      EU business without adequate privacy measures

      EU businesses are subject to strict GDPR requirements

      What to do: Implement comprehensive GDPR compliance including privacy policy, cookie consent, and data protection measures

    • 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 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
    • 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
40
Email security
50
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
0
Average
46

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 Bologna operates as a large public educational institution with a rich history dating back to 1088. It offers a wide range of academic programs including undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and continuing education courses. The university maintains strong ties with industry and society, providing services such as job placement, international mobility, and research dissemination. Its digital presence is robust, with multiple online services and a well-maintained website that supports its educational mission. The university leverages partnerships with various academic and research entities, enhancing its competitive advantage and market reach. The presence of multiple official social media channels and apps indicates a strategic approach to engagement and communication with its diverse audience.

Security posture

The current security posture of the website is moderate to low due to the absence of a valid SSL certificate and lack of HTTPS support, which is a critical issue for any modern website, especially one handling personal and academic data. While some security headers are implemented, the lack of TLS protocols, HSTS, OCSP stapling, and session resumption mechanisms indicates room for significant improvement. No evidence of malware, phishing, or other critical vulnerabilities was found. Privacy policies and cookie consent mechanisms are in place, supporting GDPR compliance. The site would benefit from immediate remediation of SSL/TLS issues and enhancement of security best practices to safeguard user data and maintain institutional trust.

Recommendations

  1. Obtain and deploy a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS across the entire site.
  2. Enable modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 and 1.3) and disable outdated protocols.
  3. Implement HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) with includeSubDomains and preload directives.
  4. Enable OCSP stapling to improve certificate validation performance and security.
  5. Review and enhance security headers and ensure secure handling of all forms and inputs.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - Università di Bologna
Technical notes

Notes

The website is hosted on an Nginx server running on Ubuntu and uses the Plone CMS platform, which is known for its security and flexibility in content management. The front-end leverages jQuery, Leaflet.js for interactive maps, Splide.js for carousel components, and Font Awesome for iconography. Analytics are implemented using Matomo and Contentsquare, indicating a focus on user behavior analysis while maintaining privacy standards. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices evident in meta tags and structured content. However, the lack of a valid SSL certificate and HTTPS support is a significant technical debt that impacts security and user trust. Performance metrics were not available, but the use of modern libraries and CDN-hosted resources suggests a generally modern infrastructure.
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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