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Security report for unis.no

UNIS · Education · Norway

High risk. 8 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

37/100

Risk levelHigh

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

UNIS (The University Centre in Svalbard) is a specialized educational and research institution focused on Arctic studies, offering courses and research opportunities in biology, geology, geophysics, technology, and safety. It serves students and researchers interested in polar science and provides comprehensive student support and facilities. The website is professionally designed, content-rich, and well-structured, targeting students and academic researchers. Technically, it is built on WordPress with modern plugins and hosted on Hostinger with LiteSpeed server technology. However, the site lacks a valid SSL certificate and HTTPS support, which is a critical security vulnerability. Security headers are well implemented, but the absence of HTTPS significantly lowers the security posture. Privacy compliance is moderate with a privacy policy present but no visible cookie consent mechanism. Business credibility is strong with clear contact information, organizational transparency, and social media presence. Overall, the site is trustworthy but requires urgent security improvements to protect user data and enhance 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

8 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

    • 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

  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. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: MySQL

      Port 3306 (MySQL) is publicly accessible - MySQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to MySQL using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

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

Keep watching unis.no

This scan found 15 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.

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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
85
Email security
50
DNS health
85
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
0
Average
37

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 · found on this site
  • 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

UNIS holds a niche market position as the premier Arctic university center in Norway, leveraging its unique geographic location and specialized research focus. Its business model revolves around education and research services, supported by partnerships with various Norwegian research centers and excellence programs. The institution targets academic students and researchers globally interested in Arctic science. The website reflects a mature organization with consistent branding and high-quality content. The presence of multiple affiliated partner domains indicates a strong collaborative ecosystem. The institution's growth is supported by active research projects and student engagement initiatives like UNISprout. Revenue streams likely include government funding, research grants, and tuition fees. The digital presence is modern but could benefit from enhanced security and privacy features to align with best practices.

Security posture

The current security posture of the UNIS website is moderate but with critical gaps. While security headers such as X-Frame-Options, X-XSS-Protection, and Content-Security-Policy are implemented, the lack of a valid SSL certificate and disabled TLS protocols expose the site to significant risks including data interception and man-in-the-middle attacks. The absence of HTTPS also impacts user trust and compliance with data protection regulations. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies are evident, and no dedicated security contact channels are provided. The site does not implement cookie consent mechanisms, which may affect GDPR compliance. Overall, the security maturity is low to moderate, requiring immediate remediation of SSL/TLS issues and enhancement of privacy controls to reduce risk and improve compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Install and maintain a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS across the entire site.
  2. Enable modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 or 1.3) and disable deprecated versions to secure data in transit.
  3. Implement a comprehensive cookie consent mechanism to comply with GDPR and enhance user privacy.
  4. Publish a clear security policy and incident response plan with dedicated contact channels (e.g., security@unis.no).
  5. Enable OCSP stapling and session resumption to improve SSL performance and security.
  6. Regularly audit and update all plugins and libraries to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  7. Enhance HSTS policy with includeSubDomains and preload directives for stronger HTTPS enforcement.
  8. Consider publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
The University Centre in Svalbard
Registration number
985 204 454
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern WordPress CMS platform using PHP 8.2 and served via a LiteSpeed web server hosted by Hostinger. It employs advanced plugins such as Advanced Custom Fields Pro and Search Filter Pro, and uses jQuery and Font Awesome for UI enhancements. The site includes structured data (JSON-LD) for SEO and social media integration, and uses Matomo and Google Analytics for visitor tracking. Performance is moderate with caching enabled (LiteSpeed Cache hit). The site is mobile optimized and accessible with good SEO practices. However, the lack of HTTPS and invalid SSL certificate represent significant technical debt and security risk. Addressing these issues will improve both security and user trust. The DNS setup is stable with no DNSSEC or CAA records, which could be improved for enhanced DNS security.
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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