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Security report for washington.edu

University of Washington · Education · United States

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

61/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The University of Washington website serves as the official digital presence of a major public research university in the United States. It offers comprehensive information about academic programs, research initiatives, campus news, and community engagement. The site targets students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the general public, providing resources and updates relevant to these groups. The university holds a strong market position as a leading educational institution with a broad range of services including continuing education and online learning. Technically, the website is built on WordPress and leverages a modern technology stack including jQuery, Backbone.js, and multiple analytics and marketing tools such as Google Tag Manager, Microsoft Clarity, and Facebook Pixel. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices, although some security headers could be improved. Performance is moderate, with a well-structured and professional design that supports a positive user experience. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses reputable third-party scripts for analytics and marketing. However, it lacks some recommended security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is partially addressed with a comprehensive privacy policy, but the absence of a cookie consent mechanism is a gap. WHOIS data is unavailable due to .edu domain restrictions, but the site’s branding and content strongly indicate legitimacy. Overall, the University of Washington website is a high-quality, trustworthy platform that effectively supports its educational mission. Strategic improvements in security headers and privacy consent mechanisms would enhance its security posture and compliance. The site’s extensive use of analytics and marketing tools suggests a mature digital strategy, balanced with a professional and user-friendly design.

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

7 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 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 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 washington.edu

This scan found 26 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
15
Email security
60
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
61

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 Washington is positioned as a top-tier public research university with a diverse portfolio of academic and research programs. Its business model centers on education, research funding, and community services. The website reflects a strong brand with consistent messaging and multiple service portals for students and staff. Revenue streams likely include tuition, grants, donations, and continuing education programs. The target customer segments include prospective and current students, faculty, researchers, alumni, and partners. Growth indicators include recent news about research achievements and new fellowship programs. The university maintains a broad partnership ecosystem with affiliated campuses, medical centers, and community organizations, supporting its expansive operational footprint.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS and use of secure, reputable third-party services. Security best practices such as no exposed sensitive data and secure form handling are observed. However, the absence of some security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represents an area for improvement. The lack of a cookie consent mechanism may pose compliance risks under GDPR and similar regulations. No signs of malware, phishing, or other critical security issues were found. Incident response and security policy information are not publicly detailed on the site, which could be enhanced to improve transparency and readiness. Overall, the site is secure but could benefit from enhanced header policies and privacy controls.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a Content-Security-Policy header to mitigate cross-site scripting and related attacks.
  2. Add X-Content-Type-Options and X-Frame-Options headers to improve browser security.
  3. Deploy a cookie consent banner to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  4. Publish clear security policy and incident response information to enhance transparency.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts for privacy and security impact to reduce risk.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
University of Washington
Description
University of Washington is a public research university providing higher education, research, and community engagement.
Key services
Higher education, Research programs, Community outreach, Student services, Online education
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, jQuery, Backbone.js, Google Tag Manager, Microsoft Clarity, Crazy Egg, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Siteimprove Analytics, Ensighten
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security and analytics scripts from reputable sources

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via GTM), Crazy Egg, Microsoft Clarity, Siteimprove Analytics, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Facebook Pixel
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
DoubleClick
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Crazy Egg, Microsoft Clarity, LinkedIn Insight Tag
Marketing tools
Ensighten
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official University of Washington homepage with extensive content and resources.
  2. No WHOIS data available due to .edu domain restrictions.
  3. Uses multiple reputable analytics and marketing tools.
  4. No explicit privacy or cookie consent banner detected, though privacy policy is comprehensive.
  5. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed on homepage HTML.
  6. Strong branding and professional design.
  7. No security blocking or WAF challenge detected.
  8. No adult or questionable content present.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress with a modern JavaScript stack including jQuery and Backbone.js, indicating a well-maintained and extensible platform. It integrates multiple analytics and marketing tools such as Google Tag Manager, Microsoft Clarity, Crazy Egg, and Facebook Pixel, reflecting a sophisticated approach to user behavior analysis and marketing. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with good SEO metadata and Open Graph tags for social sharing. Performance is moderate, likely influenced by the number of third-party scripts. There is no explicit hosting provider identified, but the site uses HTTPS with strong SSL configuration. Technical debt appears low, but improvements in security headers and privacy mechanisms are recommended to reduce risk and enhance compliance.
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. 60/100Medium35 findingsView report
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