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Security report for vd.ch

État de Vaud · Government · Switzerland

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The website www.vd.ch is the official portal of the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, serving as the authoritative source for government information, administrative services, and public communication. It targets residents, businesses, and local authorities within the canton, providing comprehensive e-government services and up-to-date news on cantonal activities. The site is well-branded, professionally designed, and offers clear navigation and accessibility features. Technically, the site is built on TYPO3 CMS with Bootstrap framework, integrating modern analytics tools such as Matomo, Google Tag Manager, and Mouseflow for user behavior insights. The infrastructure supports secure HTTPS connections and includes cookie consent mechanisms, reflecting a mature digital presence. Mobile optimization and SEO practices are well implemented, ensuring good user experience across devices. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS, employs security headers, and avoids exposing sensitive data. However, explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not publicly available, representing areas for improvement. The domain registration aligns with the official government entity, confirming legitimacy and trustworthiness. Overall, the website demonstrates a strong security posture and high business credibility, with minor gaps in transparency around security policies. It is a safe, professional, and reliable resource for its intended audience.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
50/ 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. 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';…

  2. 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

      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

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube

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

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

Keep watching vd.ch

This scan found 22 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
67
Security headers
35
Email security
70
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
Average
68

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 official website positions itself as a central hub for government services and information, leveraging its authoritative status to serve a broad audience including individuals, enterprises, and municipalities. Its business model is public service-oriented, focusing on digital transformation and citizen engagement through online administrative procedures. The site benefits from strong partnerships with regional and national government platforms, enhancing its ecosystem. Growth indicators include continuous content updates, integration of secure portals, and adoption of modern web technologies. The platform's competitive advantage lies in its comprehensive service offerings and official status, ensuring user trust and high engagement.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, use of security headers, and secure login portals. The presence of cookie consent banners aligns with privacy regulations. However, the absence of published security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure programs indicates potential gaps in transparency and readiness for security incidents. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analyzed content. The use of third-party analytics and tracking scripts is balanced with privacy compliance measures. Overall, the site maintains a secure environment appropriate for a government portal but could enhance its security culture by publishing formal policies and contact points.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response plan accessible on the website.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  3. Provide clear contact information for security incidents, such as a security@ or abuse@ email address.
  4. Regularly review and audit third-party scripts and analytics tools to minimize potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance transparency around data retention policies and user privacy to strengthen GDPR compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
État de Vaud
Description
Informations officielles, présentation de l'institution (pouvoirs législatif, exécutif et judiciaire), informations thématiques et de l'administration cantonale vaudoise.
Key services
Online administrative procedures for individuals, businesses, communes, Information on legislation, public services, and cantonal authorities, Access to secure portals for citizens and employees, News and updates on cantonal government activities
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
TYPO3 CMS, Bootstrap, Matomo Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Mouseflow
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure login portals
  • Cookie consent banner
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo, Mouseflow
Marketing tools
Mouseflow
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official government website for the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland.
  2. Comprehensive content covering government services, news, and administrative procedures.
  3. Strong branding and consistent design.
  4. Good use of modern web technologies and analytics.
  5. Secure with HTTPS and cookie consent mechanisms.
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  7. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  8. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website leverages TYPO3 CMS and Bootstrap framework, indicating a robust and scalable content management infrastructure. Integration of Matomo and Google Tag Manager provides comprehensive analytics capabilities. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with proper meta tags and SEO-friendly structure. Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization in asset delivery and script loading. No critical technical debt or deprecated technologies were observed. Opportunities exist to improve hosting transparency and implement advanced performance enhancements such as CDN usage and caching strategies.
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. 68/100Medium5 findings · partial scanView report
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