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Security report for washubears.com

Washington University in St. Louis · Education · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

72/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Washington University in St. Louis operates an official athletics website providing comprehensive information about its NCAA Division III sports teams, schedules, rosters, news, and athletics department resources. The site targets students, athletes, alumni, and sports fans, serving as a central hub for university sports engagement. The business model is focused on supporting university athletics and community involvement, positioning itself as a trusted source for sports information within the education sector. Technically, the website leverages a modern JavaScript stack including jQuery, RequireJS, Knockout.js, and integrates with Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for tracking. It is hosted on Cloudfront CDN with DNS managed by Rackspace. The site is mobile optimized, accessible, and uses the Sidearm Sports CMS platform, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure suitable for its audience and purpose. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and employs standard domain protections but lacks DNSSEC and some advanced security headers like Content Security Policy. No WAF or blocking mechanisms were detected, and no critical vulnerabilities were found in the visible content. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no explicit cookie consent mechanism despite active tracking scripts. Overall, the website demonstrates a solid security posture and business credibility with room for improvement in privacy compliance and DNS security. Strategic recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, implementing a cookie consent banner, adding security headers, and publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy to enhance trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
70/ 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. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  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 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 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

  4. 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 washubears.com

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

€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

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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
62
Security headers
65
Email security
60
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
70
Average
72

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention washubears.com, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for washubears.com right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

The website serves as the official digital presence for Washington University in St. Louis athletics, a large educational institution with a strong NCAA Division III sports program. It provides detailed sports information, recruiting forms, and athletics department resources, indicating a comprehensive service offering to its community. The site benefits from partnerships with Sidearm Sports and uses Emory PrestoSports for championship information, showing integration with specialized sports content providers. The business model is non-commercial, focusing on community engagement and information dissemination rather than direct revenue generation. Growth indicators include active content updates and integration of modern analytics and marketing tools.

Security posture

The security maturity level is moderate to good, with HTTPS enforced and domain status protections enabled. However, the absence of DNSSEC and Content Security Policy headers represents gaps that could be exploited in DNS spoofing or cross-site scripting attacks. The lack of a cookie consent mechanism is a compliance gap under GDPR and similar regulations. No incident response or security policy pages were found, indicating limited transparency in security governance. The site does not expose sensitive data or use vulnerable libraries, which reduces immediate risk. Overall, the security posture is adequate for an informational university site but could be enhanced with additional controls and policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS integrity and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement a visible cookie consent banner to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  3. Add Content Security Policy and other security headers to mitigate XSS and clickjacking risks.
  4. Publish a security policy and vulnerability disclosure page to improve transparency and incident response readiness.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize privacy risks and improve user trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Washington University in St. Louis
Description
The official athletics website for the Washington University in St. Louis, providing information on sports teams, schedules, rosters, news, and athletics department resources.
Key services
Sports schedules, Team rosters, News and archives, Athletics department information, Recruiting information
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, jQuery, RequireJS, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Sidearm Sports platform, Knockout.js, Slick Carousel, LazySizes
Frameworks
Sidearm Sports CMS
Platforms
Cloudfront CDN, Rackspace DNS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Use of Google Tag Manager with consent mechanisms
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, comScore, Scorecard Research
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ad Manager (DFP)
Tracking pixels
comScore, Scorecard Research
Marketing tools
ID5
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official university athletics website with comprehensive sports coverage
  2. Uses modern JavaScript libraries and Google Analytics for tracking
  3. No visible security challenges or WAF blocks
  4. Lacks explicit cookie consent mechanism despite tracking scripts
  5. DNSSEC not enabled, which is a minor security gap
  6. Good accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA labels
  7. No visible contact emails or phone numbers on homepage; contact form and staff directory available
  8. Privacy policy hosted on a related domain (sidearmsports.com) with good confidence
  9. No terms of service or security policy pages detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a robust technical infrastructure based on the Sidearm Sports CMS platform, integrating multiple JavaScript libraries such as jQuery, RequireJS, and Knockout.js for dynamic content rendering. It leverages Cloudfront CDN for content delivery and Rackspace for DNS management. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features like skip links and ARIA labels. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and Open Graph data. However, the site lacks some modern security headers and DNSSEC, which are technical risks. The use of multiple analytics and tracking services without explicit consent mechanisms indicates a need for better privacy engineering.
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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