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Is berkeley.edu a Scam? Security Check Results - University of California, Berkeley Reviews

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Is berkeley.edu Safe? Security Analysis for University of California, Berkeley

Check if berkeley.edu is a scam or legitimate. Free security scan and reviews.

EducationUnited Statesenterprise
WordPressYoast SEO pluginGoogle Tag ManagerjQueryFontAwesome+1 more
Analyzed 9/5/2025Completed 9:26:37 PM
58
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

The University of California, Berkeley website serves as the official digital presence of a leading public research university in the United States. It offers comprehensive information about academic programs, research initiatives, campus life, admissions, and financial aid. The site targets prospective and current students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the general public, emphasizing its position as a top-ranked institution with a rich history and global impact. The business model centers on education, research, and community engagement within the public university sector. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern plugins such as Yoast SEO and integrates Google Tag Manager for analytics. It employs responsive design, accessibility features, and SEO best practices, ensuring a high-quality user experience across devices. The site uses HTTPS with strong SSL configuration, although some security headers are not explicitly detected. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates good practices including secure forms and encrypted connections. However, it lacks explicit incident response contacts and a vulnerability disclosure policy, which are recommended for enhanced transparency and security posture. Privacy compliance is indicated by the presence of a comprehensive privacy policy, though a cookie consent mechanism is not clearly implemented. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained, reflecting the stature of UC Berkeley. The absence of WHOIS data for the queried subdomain does not detract from the legitimacy, given the authoritative content and branding. Strategic recommendations include improving security headers, publishing security policies, and enhancing cookie consent to align with best practices and regulatory requirements.

Detected Technologies

WordPressYoast SEO pluginGoogle Tag ManagerjQueryFontAwesomeYouTube iframe API

🧠AI Business Intelligence

Technology stack, business insights, and market analysis powered by AI.

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

UC Berkeley holds a dominant market position as the #1 public research university in the U.S., with a broad portfolio of over 300 degree programs and extensive research activities. Its competitive advantage lies in its academic excellence, Nobel laureates on faculty, and a strong global reputation. Revenue streams primarily come from tuition, research grants, donations, and public funding. The target customer segments include undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and academic collaborators worldwide. The university maintains a robust partnership ecosystem with affiliated research units, extension programs, and community initiatives. Operationally, the institution leverages digital platforms to engage stakeholders and disseminate knowledge effectively.

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and no visible exposure of sensitive data. Use of secure forms and modern JavaScript libraries reduces risk. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security represents an area for improvement. There is no publicly available incident response or vulnerability disclosure information, which could hinder timely reporting and mitigation of security issues. GDPR compliance is partially addressed via a privacy policy, but cookie consent mechanisms are lacking. Overall, the security culture appears sound but could benefit from enhanced transparency and policy publication.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to harden the site against common web attacks.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

University of California, Berkeley

Description:

UC Berkeley pushes the boundaries of knowledge, challenges convention and expands opportunity to create the leaders of tomorrow.

Key Services:
Undergraduate and graduate degree programsResearch programs and publicationsCampus life and student servicesAdmissions and financial aidPublic events and community engagement
Content Quality:

excellent

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
WordPressYoast SEO pluginGoogle Tag ManagerjQueryFontAwesomeYouTube iframe API
Frameworks:
WordPress
Platforms:
Web
Performance:

moderate

Mobile:

excellent

Accessibility:

good

SEO:

excellent

Security Assessment

Security Score:
85/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure forms with proper labels

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager)
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:basic

Advertising & Marketing

Transparency Level:basic

Website Quality Assessment

Design Quality:excellent
User Experience:excellent
Content Relevance:excellent
Navigation Clarity:excellent
Professionalism:excellent
Trustworthiness:high

Key Observations

1

Website is fully accessible with rich content and multimedia.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

35/100
Score

Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

HIGH

Forces HTTPS connections

Missing X-Content-Type-Options header

MEDIUM

Prevents MIME type sniffing

Missing Content-Security-Policy header

HIGH

Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

Missing X-XSS-Protection header

MEDIUM

Legacy XSS protection (deprecated but still recommended)

Missing Permissions-Policy header

MEDIUM

Controls browser features and APIs

Sensitive data may be cached

LOW

Cache-Control header should include "no-store" for sensitive pages

👤GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.

GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment

53/100
Score

No Cookie Policy found

HIGH

GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

No Cookie Consent Banner found

HIGH

GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

No Data Protection Officer mentioned

LOW

Large organizations may need to designate a DPO under GDPR

Privacy policy may not be GDPR compliant

MEDIUM

Privacy policy lacks explicit GDPR compliance elements

GDPR Compliance Analysis

Privacy Policy85% confidence
Cookie Policy0% confidence
Contact Information Found90% confidence
phone

🛡️NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive compliance assessment.

NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive

2/100
Score

No information security framework found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity and information security measures

No vulnerability disclosure policy

MEDIUM

NIS2 encourages coordinated vulnerability disclosure

No security policy documentation found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity governance and risk management

No incident response procedures found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented incident response and business continuity plans

No business continuity planning found

MEDIUM

NIS2 emphasizes operational resilience and business continuity

No security contact information

HIGH

NIS2 requires clear incident reporting channels

No vulnerability reporting mechanism

MEDIUM

Clear vulnerability reporting supports coordinated disclosure

No NIS2 reference found

LOW

Consider explicitly mentioning NIS2 compliance efforts

Critical sector without clear security compliance

HIGH

Detected sectors: energy, transport, banking, health, digital

📧Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation and email security assessment.

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

60/100
Score

Complex SPF record

LOW

Too many include statements can cause lookup limits

Weak DKIM Key

HIGH

DKIM selector 'google' uses 240-bit key

Weak DKIM Key

HIGH

DKIM selector 'mail' uses 880-bit key

No BIMI Record

LOW

BIMI displays brand logos in email clients

No MTA-STS Policy

MEDIUM

MTA-STS enforces TLS for email delivery

No TLS-RPT Record

LOW

TLS-RPT provides reporting for email TLS issues

SPF
Sender Policy Framework
DKIM
DomainKeys Identified Mail
DMARC
Domain-based Message Authentication
MX Records
Mail Exchange Records
BIMI
Brand Indicators
MTA-STS
Mail Transfer Agent Security
TLS-RPT
TLS Reporting
DNSSEC
DNS Security
SPF Details
Record:
v=spf1 include:_spf.berkeley.edu include:_spf2.berkeley.edu include:_spf.google.com include:_spf.qualtrics.com include:servers.mcsv.net include:spf.mailjet.com a:c.spf.service-now.com ~all
DNS Lookups:7/10
Policy:~all
DKIM Selectors Found
Selector:google(240-bit rsa)
Selector:k1(1296-bit rsa)
Selector:k2(1416-bit rsa)
Selector:mail(880-bit rsa)
DMARC Details
Policy:reject
Aggregate Reports:dmarcrpt@berkeley.edu
Forensic Reports:dmarcrpt@berkeley.edu

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

47/100
Score

Weak Protocols Supported

HIGH

Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

Certificate Transparency Not Implemented

LOW

Certificate is not logged in Certificate Transparency logs

SSL Certificate Expires Within 90 Days

MEDIUM

SSL certificate expires in 78 days

Weak SSL Key Length

HIGH

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

Mixed Content Detected

MEDIUM

6 resources loaded over insecure HTTP

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 3 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Protocol Support

TLSv1.3TLSv1.2TLSv1.1

OCSP Status

OCSP Stapling Enabled

📊DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment.

DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment

85/100
Score

DNSSEC Not Enabled

MEDIUM

DNSSEC is not configured for this domain

CAA Records Not Configured

LOW

Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) records not found

Domain Registration Details

Expiry Risk
none(692 days)

DNS Records

A Records:141.193.213.20, 141.193.213.21
Name Servers:
adns1.berkeley.eduDNS only
adns2.berkeley.eduDNS only
adns3.berkeley.eduDNS only
MX Records:
1: aspmx.l.google.com
5: alt1.aspmx.l.google.com
5: alt2.aspmx.l.google.com
10: alt3.aspmx.l.google.com
10: alt4.aspmx.l.google.com
SOA:Serial: 2066940833, TTL: 300s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:219ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 include:_spf.berkeley.edu include:_spf2.berkeley.edu include:_spf.google.com include:_spf.qualtrics.com include:servers.mcsv.net include:spf.mailjet.com a:c.spf.service-now.com ~all

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis.

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis

100/100
Score

Good Network Security Posture

LOW

No unnecessary services detected on common risky ports

🔧Technical Analysis

Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.

Technical Analysis

Comprehensive security assessment findings

Additional Findings

The website is powered by WordPress CMS with Yoast SEO plugin, leveraging modern web technologies such as jQuery, FontAwesome, and Google Tag Manager for analytics and marketing. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility considerations. Performance is moderate, with multimedia content such as videos integrated efficiently. The technical infrastructure appears well-maintained with no broken links or errors detected. Opportunities exist to improve security headers and cookie consent implementation. Hosting details are not explicitly identified but likely managed by a reputable provider given the institution's profile.
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