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Security report for york.ac.uk

University of York · Education · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

74/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The University of York is a prestigious UK academic institution, part of the Russell Group, offering outstanding teaching and research services. The website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive content targeting prospective and current students, researchers, and academic staff. The site is well-branded and professionally maintained, emphasizing its academic reputation and community engagement. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies and multiple analytics and marketing tools to optimize user experience and engagement. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement, security headers, and no visible vulnerabilities. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear policies and consent mechanisms. Overall, the domain and website present a trustworthy and credible academic entity.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
85/ 100 · Low
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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

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

    • 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

  2. 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
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching york.ac.uk

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.

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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
47
Security headers
55
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
85
Average
74

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 york.ac.uk, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
18,359
Employees
84
Customers
15,520
Third parties
2,755
Weak passwords
10%

Latest record dated 2026-06-17 · 123 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for york.ac.uk.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –york.ac.uk2026-06-17
  • –www.york.ac.uk2026-06-09
  • –store.york.ac.uk2026-06-08
  • –idm.york.ac.uk2026-06-06
  • –jobs.york.ac.uk2026-06-06

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)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 University of York operates in the education sector, focusing on higher education and research. It holds a strong market position as a Russell Group member, indicating research excellence. The business model is public education provision, targeting students domestically and internationally. The website supports recruitment, information dissemination, and community engagement. The presence of multiple tracking and marketing tools suggests active digital marketing and user behavior analysis. The university maintains a consistent brand and trust signals, including ISO 27001 certification and official domain usage.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security posture with HTTPS, multiple security headers, and no exposed sensitive data. The use of reputable third-party analytics and marketing scripts is balanced with privacy compliance efforts. However, the absence of a dedicated security policy and incident response contact reduces transparency. No vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file was found, indicating room for improvement in security communication and incident handling readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and commitments.
  2. Establish and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program to encourage responsible reporting.
  3. Provide clear incident response contact information, such as a security@ or abuse@ email.
  4. Regularly review and audit third-party scripts to minimize potential security risks.
  5. Enhance transparency on data protection measures and compliance with evolving regulations.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
University of York
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
University of York
Description
Outstanding teaching and research in a beautiful and historic city. York is a member of the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive UK universities.
Key services
Higher education courses, Research programs, Student life and campus facilities
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Google Tag Manager, Visual Website Optimizer (VWO), Crazy Egg, TikTok Pixel, Amazon Ads Pixel, Reddit Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Facebook Pixel, Google Analytics (gtag.js), jQuery
Frameworks
DPLv2 (University of York's design system/theme)
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security headers
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure cookie usage implied by scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, Visual Website Optimizer, TikTok Analytics, Facebook Analytics, LinkedIn Analytics
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Amazon Ads, Reddit Ads
Tracking pixels
Crazy Egg, TikTok Pixel, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Visual Website Optimizer
Marketing tools
Visual Website Optimizer
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally maintained university site with comprehensive academic content.
  2. Strong use of analytics and marketing tools for user engagement and optimization.
  3. Good privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms in place.
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity detected.
  5. WHOIS data is not publicly available, typical for .uk domains managed by Nominet with privacy protections.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern tech stack including Google Tag Manager, Visual Website Optimizer, Crazy Egg, and multiple social media pixels for analytics and marketing. The design system (DPLv2) ensures consistent theming and branding. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. The site uses standard web fonts and preloads assets for performance. No CMS was explicitly detected, but the structure suggests a custom or university-specific platform. Hosting details are not disclosed. Overall, the technical implementation supports a professional and user-friendly experience with opportunities to optimize performance further.
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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