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Security report for utexas.edu

The University of Texas at Austin · Education · United States

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

76/100

Risk levelLow

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

The University of Texas at Austin operates a comprehensive and professionally designed website that serves as a central hub for academic programs, research initiatives, campus life, and community engagement. The site targets a broad audience including students, faculty, alumni, and visitors, positioning itself as a leading public university in Texas with a strong global presence. The business model focuses on education, research, and public service, supported by extensive digital resources and partnerships. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 10, leveraging modern web technologies and multiple analytics platforms such as Google Analytics, FullStory, and Microsoft Clarity. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices, contributing to a positive user experience. Security measures include HTTPS enforcement and privacy policies, although explicit security headers could be more visible. The security posture is solid with no evident vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear privacy and cookie policies and consent mechanisms. However, incident response contacts and vulnerability disclosure information are not prominently available, representing an area for improvement. Overall, the website reflects a high level of professionalism and trustworthiness consistent with a major educational institution. The absence of WHOIS data is attributed to edu domain registry policies rather than suspicious activity. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security header visibility, publishing incident response contacts, and formalizing vulnerability disclosure processes to further strengthen trust and security.

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. 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 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 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 utexas.edu

This scan found 19 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
85
Security headers
55
Email security
75
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
76

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 Texas at Austin holds a strong market position as the top public university in Texas and a top-40 global university. Its competitive advantages include a wide range of academic offerings, a large and active alumni network, and significant research funding. The business model is centered on public education and research, supported by partnerships with industry and community organizations. Revenue streams likely include tuition, government funding, research grants, and philanthropic contributions. The target customer segments encompass undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the broader community. Growth indicators include extensive research projects, patents, and active community engagement. The partnership ecosystem is broad, involving multiple colleges, research centers, and external organizations. Operationally, the university maintains a robust digital presence with consistent branding and comprehensive content.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and no visible exposure of sensitive information. Use of multiple analytics and tracking tools is balanced with privacy policies and consent mechanisms. Security headers are implied but not explicitly visible in the HTML, suggesting potential for improvement. No vulnerabilities or malware indicators were detected. The lack of publicly visible incident response contacts and vulnerability disclosure policies indicates a gap in transparency and readiness. Compliance with privacy regulations such as GDPR is supported by clear policies. Overall, the security culture appears strong but could benefit from enhanced communication of security practices and incident handling procedures.

Recommendations

  1. Publish explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance browser security.
  2. Make incident response contact information more visible and accessible to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Develop and publicize a formal vulnerability disclosure policy to encourage responsible reporting and remediation.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and analytics tools to mitigate potential security risks.
  5. Enhance user education on privacy and security practices through clear messaging and accessible resources.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The University of Texas at Austin
Description
The University of Texas at Austin is a leading public research university offering a wide range of academic programs, research initiatives, and community engagement opportunities. It serves students, faculty, staff, alumni, and visitors with comprehensive educational and campus life resources.
Key services
Undergraduate and Graduate Education, Research and Innovation, Campus Life and Student Services, Community and Industry Partnerships
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Microsoft IIS or Apache (not explicitly detected), AddToAny sharing, FullStory, Microsoft Clarity
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security and privacy policies
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with POST method
  • Use of modern analytics with consent

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, FullStory, Microsoft Clarity
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
FullStory, Microsoft Clarity
Marketing tools
AddToAny
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official website of The University of Texas at Austin
  2. Comprehensive academic and campus life information
  3. Strong presence of social media and external university resources
  4. Modern, responsive design with good accessibility features
  5. Use of multiple analytics and tracking tools with privacy considerations
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious content
  7. WHOIS data unavailable due to edu domain registry restrictions
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10, a modern and widely supported CMS, indicating a strong technical foundation. Integration with Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, FullStory, and Microsoft Clarity provides comprehensive analytics and user behavior tracking. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features, contributing to excellent user experience. Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization in loading times and script management. The presence of multiple external scripts requires ongoing security monitoring. No critical technical debt or outdated technologies were detected, suggesting good maintenance practices. Opportunities exist to improve security header implementation and streamline analytics for performance gains.
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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