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Security report for vaud.ch

VAUD · Government · Switzerland

High risk. 6 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

43/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The website www.vaud.ch serves as the official digital presence for the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, focusing on promoting the region's quality of life, local products, tourism, economy, and cultural events. It targets residents, local producers, tourists, and ambassadors, providing comprehensive information and services related to living, visiting, and investing in Vaud. The site is well-positioned as a government and regional promotional platform with strong branding and trust indicators. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern integrations such as Google Tag Manager, Matomo analytics, Facebook Pixel, and multilingual support via WPML. It employs best practices like HTTPS, cookie consent management, and lazy loading for performance. The design is professional, mobile-optimized, and accessible, though accessibility could be further enhanced. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS and consent management but lacks explicit security headers and published security policies or incident response contacts. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is strong with clear privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the site demonstrates a mature digital infrastructure with good security posture and privacy compliance, supporting its role as an official government and promotional platform. Strategic improvements could focus on enhancing security headers, publishing security policies, and improving accessibility to further strengthen trust and compliance.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of vaud.ch. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
65/ 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

6 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  2. 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';…

  3. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • 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

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google APIs

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

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

Keep watching vaud.ch

This scan found 21 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

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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
30
Email security
60
DNS health
80
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
65
Average
43

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 Canton of Vaud's website reflects a strategic focus on regional promotion encompassing tourism, local products, economic development, and community engagement. The business model is centered on information dissemination, event promotion, and certification labels that enhance local product visibility. The site supports multiple audience segments including residents, producers, visitors, and ambassadors, indicating a broad stakeholder engagement. Partnerships with regional tourism and innovation entities are evident, enhancing the ecosystem. The content and digital presence suggest a well-funded, large-scale government operation with a strong emphasis on innovation and sustainability. Growth indicators include active event promotion and recent news highlighting economic and tourism development.

Security posture

The website exhibits a solid security foundation with enforced HTTPS, use of cookie consent management, and no visible exposure of sensitive data. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options represents an area for improvement. No published security or incident response policies were found, which could impact incident handling readiness. The use of third-party analytics and tracking pixels is managed with consent, aligning with privacy regulations. Overall, the security posture is good but could be enhanced by formalizing security policies and implementing additional HTTP security headers.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Enhance website accessibility features to meet higher compliance standards and improve user experience for all visitors.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking pixels to ensure they do not introduce vulnerabilities or privacy risks.
  5. Consider establishing a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Vaud Promotion
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
VAUD
Description
Le Canton de Vaud est un territoire hors norme qui réunit qualité de vie, terroir, culture, sport et économie. Le site promeut la région, ses produits locaux, le tourisme, la vie locale, l'économie et les événements.
Key services
Information on living in Vaud, Tourism promotion, Economic development, Event listings, Product certification labels
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.1, Google Tag Manager, Matomo Analytics, Facebook Pixel, WPML (multilingual plugin), jQuery, Bootstrap Grid, Lazy Load plugin, Lordicon animations
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of consent management (Cookiebot)
  • Secure forms with AJAX and nonce tokens

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo, Google Analytics (via GTM), Facebook Pixel
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Matomo
Marketing tools
Cookiebot, Facebook Conversion Pixel
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official regional government website for Canton de Vaud, Switzerland.
  2. Multilingual support with French, English, and German versions.
  3. Comprehensive content covering living, terroir, tourism, economy, and events.
  4. Strong branding and consistent use of official labels and logos.
  5. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  6. Good privacy and cookie policy presence with consent management.
  7. No critical security issues or vulnerabilities detected in the HTML content.
  8. Contact information is clearly provided with phone, email, and physical address.
  9. No terms of service page explicitly found.
  10. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by WordPress 6.8.1 with a modern tech stack including Google Tag Manager, Matomo analytics, Facebook Pixel, WPML for multilingual support, and lazy loading for images and videos. The site uses Bootstrap grid for responsive layout and Lordicon for animated icons. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and SEO practices including meta tags and structured data (JSON-LD). Accessibility is basic and could be improved. The site uses asynchronous loading for scripts and employs cookie consent management via Cookiebot. No major technical debt or outdated libraries were detected in the HTML content.
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. 53/100Medium33 findingsView report
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