Skip to main content

Security report for uzh.ch

Universität Zürich · Education · Switzerland

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Universität Zürich is a leading European research university offering the broadest range of academic programs in Switzerland. The website serves as a comprehensive portal for prospective and current students, staff, and researchers, providing detailed information on study programs, application processes, and university services. The site is well-structured with extensive navigation and professional branding consistent with a major educational institution. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies including jQuery, SVG icons, and Matomo analytics, indicating a mature digital infrastructure. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and privacy-respecting analytics, though explicit privacy and cookie policies are not clearly presented. Overall, the site is trustworthy and professional, serving a large academic audience with high-quality content and user experience.

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

5 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 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';…

  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

  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 uzh.ch

This scan found 23 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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. See sample alerts.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
62
Security headers
40
Email security
78
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
69

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 Universität Zürich operates as a public university in the education sector, targeting students, academic staff, and researchers. It holds a strong market position as one of Europe's top research universities with a wide portfolio of bachelor, master, doctoral, and continuing education programs. The business model is focused on education and research services funded primarily through public and academic channels. The website reflects a well-established institution with consistent branding and a broad partnership ecosystem including student and staff portals and news services. Growth indicators include extensive program offerings and innovation initiatives. The university maintains a strong reputation and trust signals through official branding and comprehensive academic content.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security foundation with HTTPS enabled and use of Matomo analytics, which respects user privacy better than many alternatives. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and lack of published security policies or incident response contacts indicate room for improvement. There is no visible vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file, which are best practices for transparency and security readiness. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be enhanced by formalizing policies and improving header configurations.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a clear and comprehensive privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism to improve GDPR compliance.
  2. Implement and configure security headers like Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Create and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to enhance transparency and security posture.
  4. Provide explicit incident response contact information such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and scripts to ensure no vulnerabilities are introduced.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Universität Zürich
Description
Die Universität Zürich gehört zu den besten Forschungsuniversitäten Europas und bietet das breiteste Angebot an Studienfächern in der Schweiz.
Key services
Studienprogramme Bachelor, Studienprogramme Master, Doktoratsprogramme, Weiterbildung, Forschung und Innovation, Student Services
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 3.7.1, jQuery Migrate 3.5.2, Matomo Analytics, SVG icons, CSS3, JavaScript ES Modules
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of Matomo for privacy-respecting analytics
  • No visible exposed sensitive data
  • No vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a comprehensive academic portal for Universität Zürich
  2. Content is in German with options for English
  3. No explicit privacy or cookie policies found on the main page
  4. Extensive navigation with detailed academic program listings
  5. Use of privacy-respecting analytics (Matomo)
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious content
  7. No visible contact emails or phone numbers on the main page, contact form available
  8. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a custom university content management system (UZH WCMS) with modern front-end technologies including jQuery 3.7.1, SVG icons, and ES modules for JavaScript. Matomo analytics is used for tracking, indicating a preference for privacy-conscious tools. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design and good accessibility features. Performance is moderate, with potential for improvement by optimizing resource loading and caching. The extensive navigation structure supports a large volume of academic content, though some technical debt may exist in legacy jQuery usage. Overall, the technical infrastructure is robust and suitable for a large educational institution but could benefit from modernization and enhanced security configurations.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 56/100 −11Medium28 findingsView report
  2. 67/100 +18Medium32 findingsView report
  3. 49/100High26 findingsView report
Reviews of this site

Share your experience with uzh.ch. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review uzh.ch.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.