Skip to main content

Is columbia.edu a Scam? Security Check Results - Columbia University in the City of New York

columbia.edu Security Report Summary

columbia.edu received a security score of 66 out of 100 in Guard's comprehensive security analysis, classified as "Moderate Risk". This report covers Columbia University in the City of New York's website security posture. Columbia University in the City of New York operates in the Education industry in United States.

Columbia University is a prestigious Ivy League educational institution with a rich history and a broad range of academic and research services. The website reflects a mature digital presence built on Drupal 8 and AngularJS, integrating modern web technologies and analytics tools with privacy considerations such as IP anonymization. The security posture is solid with HTTPS and some security best practices, though additional headers and explicit privacy policies would enhance compliance and trust. The absence of WHOIS data is unusual but likely related to .edu domain registry policies; however, it warrants verification. Overall, the site is professional, content-rich, and trustworthy, serving a diverse audience including students, faculty, alumni, and the public.

The security scan identified 27 findings across security headers, SSL/TLS, DNS health, email security, GDPR compliance, and NIS2 compliance analysis modules.

Technologies detected: Drupal 8, AngularJS, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, YouTube Widget API, Typekit Fonts.

About this security scan

Guard performs automated security assessments of websites by analyzing SSL/TLS certificates, HTTP security headers, DNS configuration, email authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), GDPR compliance indicators, NIS2 directive compliance, network exposure, and AI-powered business intelligence. Each report provides domain-specific findings, risk scores, and actionable recommendations.

columbia.edu favicon

Is columbia.edu Safe? Security Analysis for Columbia University in the City of New York

https://columbia.edu

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

EducationUnited Statesenterprise
Drupal 8AngularJSGoogle AnalyticsGoogle Tag ManagerYouTube Widget API+1 more
Analyzed 10/9/2025Completed 4:35:50 PM5mo ago
66
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

Above Education avg (55)

10,000+

Domains scanned

500+

Security teams trust us

EveryPay

Secure checkout

Instant

Reports delivered

Professional PDF & Marketing Data

Get the professional PDF report for columbia.edu

Export this security analysis as a professional PDF document, receive it via email, and access marketing intelligence data including contact emails and phone numbers. One-time purchase for lifetime access.

PDF Report & Export

PDF download, email delivery, unlock code

39.90 €one-time • Incl. 21% VAT

Marketing Intelligence

Contact emails, phone numbers & warm leads

49.90 €one-time • Incl. 21% VAT

Plan Comparison

FeaturePDF ReportMarketing+
Full security analysis
Professional PDF export
Email delivery
Lifetime access + unlock code
Contact emails & phones
Marketing outreach data

Already purchased?

Order summary

Domaincolumbia.edu
Access tierFull report or marketing add-on

Digital reports are delivered immediately after payment. By continuing you acknowledge the withdrawal waiver described in our Returns & Refunds policy.

VisaMastercardApple PayGoogle Pay

Secure payments processed via EveryPay. Prices in EUR; Incl. 21% VAT.

SEQ SIA

Lastadijas 12 k-3, Riga, Latvia, LV-1050

Reg. No. 40203410806 • VAT LV40203410806

Support: guard@offseq.com+371 2256 5353

AI Summary

Columbia University is a prestigious Ivy League educational institution with a rich history and a broad range of academic and research services. The website reflects a mature digital presence built on Drupal 8 and AngularJS, integrating modern web technologies and analytics tools with privacy considerations such as IP anonymization. The security posture is solid with HTTPS and some security best practices, though additional headers and explicit privacy policies would enhance compliance and trust. The absence of WHOIS data is unusual but likely related to .edu domain registry policies; however, it warrants verification. Overall, the site is professional, content-rich, and trustworthy, serving a diverse audience including students, faculty, alumni, and the public.

Detected Technologies

Drupal 8AngularJSGoogle AnalyticsGoogle Tag ManagerYouTube Widget APITypekit Fonts

10 urgent findings need attention

10 high

  • + 2 more findings in the full report below
Continuous monitoring

Keep columbia.edu under constant watch

Guard tracks your live infrastructure daily: certificate expiry, DNS & mail authentication drift, uptime changes, subdomain inventory, and unexpected tracker or content shifts. A full timeline captures every diff so you can prove remediation and spot regressions instantly.

Security drift alerts

Risk score drops, new high-severity issues, and header hardening gaps

Compliance watch

GDPR / NIS2 posture changes with governance evidence snapshots

Infrastructure surface

Unexpected open services, SSL expiry, DNS & email authentication changes

Content & tracker intelligence

Marketing tech shifts, analytics drift, and AI recommendation updates

25 €
per month · billed securely via EveryPay
Less than 1 € / day — cheaper than a single incident response hour

Cancel anytime. Alerts sent to the contacts you choose. Unlock the full report to view historical timelines and alerts.

Purchase to access the monitoring timeline, JSON diffs, alert history, and PDF export for columbia.edu.

Security Headers

4 findings

55/100

GDPR Compliance

2 findings

65/100

NIS2 Compliance

7 findings

25/100

Email Security

4 findings

75/100

🧠AI Business Intelligence

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

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

Columbia University operates as a non-profit educational entity focused on higher education, research, and community engagement. It holds a leading market position in the education sector with a global reputation. The website supports multiple user groups with services ranging from admissions to campus life and research news. The institution leverages partnerships and affiliates to extend its reach and advocacy efforts. The digital ecosystem includes official social media channels and partner domains, indicating a well-integrated online presence.

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website employs HTTPS with good SSL configuration and uses Google Analytics with IP anonymization to protect user privacy. However, the site lacks several recommended security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options, which could mitigate risks like clickjacking and cross-site scripting. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. Incident response information is partially available via a cyber incident page. Privacy and cookie policies are not explicitly found, which may pose compliance risks under GDPR and other regulations.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Implement comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with clear user consent mechanisms.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

Columbia University in the City of New York

Description:

Columbia University prepares the next generation of thinkers, scientists, artists, and leaders through an education grounded in intellectual rigor, open inquiry, and a commitment to the public good. It is a prestigious higher education institution with a history of over 270 years.

Key Services:
AdmissionsAcademicsResearchCampus LifeNews and MediaCommunity Engagement
Content Quality:

excellent

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
Drupal 8AngularJSGoogle AnalyticsGoogle Tag ManagerYouTube Widget APITypekit Fonts
Frameworks:
DrupalAngularJS
Performance:

moderate

Mobile:

good

Accessibility:

good

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
85/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Google Analytics IP anonymization
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure external scripts

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Google AnalyticsGoogle 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.

Get this report delivered to your inbox

Receive a summary of the columbia.edu security findings by email. Quick and easy to share with decision makers.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

55/100
Score

Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

HIGH

Forces HTTPS connections

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)

Weak Referrer-Policy configuration

LOW

Current value: "same-origin"

👤GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.

GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment

65/100
Score

No Privacy Policy found

HIGH

GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

Third-party services without privacy policy

HIGH

Detected services: Google Analytics, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube

GDPR Compliance Analysis

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

🛡️NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive compliance assessment.

NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive

25/100
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 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

Need this report as a PDF?

Download the complete columbia.edu security analysis as a professional PDF. Share it with your team, clients, or stakeholders.

📧Email Security

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

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

75/100
Score

DMARC not enforcing

MEDIUM

DMARC policy is set to "none"

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 ip4:128.59.72.0/24 ip4:207.10.139.0/24 ip4:148.163.139.74 ip4:148.163.135.74 include:_spf.google.com include:spf-00364e02.pphosted.com include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:cust-spf.exacttarget.com ~all
DNS Lookups:4/10
Policy:~all
DKIM Selectors Found
Selector:s1(1440-bit rsa)
DMARC Details
Policy:none
Aggregate Reports:dmarc_rua@emaildefense.proofpoint.com
Forensic Reports:dmarc_ruf@emaildefense.proofpoint.com

🏆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 36 days

Weak SSL Key Length

HIGH

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

Mixed Content Detected

MEDIUM

45 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

80/100
Score

DNSSEC Not Enabled

MEDIUM

DNSSEC is not configured for this domain

CAA Records Not Configured

LOW

Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) records not found

DMARC Policy Set to None

LOW

DMARC is configured but not enforcing any policy

Domain Registration Details

Expiry Risk
none(488 days)

DNS Records

A Records:162.159.138.64, 162.159.128.65
Name Servers:
auth1.dns.cogentco.comDNS only
auth2.dns.cogentco.comDNS only
auth4.dns.cogentco.comDNS only
auth5.dns.cogentco.comDNS only
ext-ns1.columbia.eduDNS only
ns1.lse.ac.ukDNS only
MX Records:
10: mxa-00364e01.gslb.pphosted.com
10: mxb-00364e01.gslb.pphosted.com
SOA:Serial: 90033, TTL: 300s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:34ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 ip4:128.59.72.0/24 ip4:207.10.139.0/24 ip4:148.163.139.74 ip4:148.163.135.74 include:_spf.google.com include:spf-00364e02.pphosted.com include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:cust-spf.exacttarget.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

How does columbia.edu compare?

See how columbia.edu stacks up against similar websites in the same industry.

🔧Technical Analysis

Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.

Technical Analysis

Comprehensive security assessment findings

Additional Findings

The website is built on Drupal 8 CMS with AngularJS for dynamic content rendering. It uses Typekit for fonts and integrates Google Analytics and Tag Manager for user tracking and analytics. The site is mobile optimized and accessible with good SEO practices including canonical links and meta tags. Performance is moderate, with asynchronous loading of scripts and responsive images. The technical infrastructure is modern but could benefit from updated security headers and enhanced privacy controls.
Professional PDF & Marketing Data

Download the columbia.edu report as PDF

Get the complete analysis in a shareable PDF format, delivered instantly to your email with lifetime access.

PDF Report & Export

PDF download, email delivery, unlock code

39.90 €one-time • Incl. 21% VAT

Marketing Intelligence

Contact emails, phone numbers & warm leads

49.90 €one-time • Incl. 21% VAT

Plan Comparison

FeaturePDF ReportMarketing+
Full security analysis
Professional PDF export
Email delivery
Lifetime access + unlock code
Contact emails & phones
Marketing outreach data

Already purchased?

Order summary

Domaincolumbia.edu
Access tierFull report or marketing add-on

Digital reports are delivered immediately after payment. By continuing you acknowledge the withdrawal waiver described in our Returns & Refunds policy.

VisaMastercardApple PayGoogle Pay

Secure payments processed via EveryPay. Prices in EUR; Incl. 21% VAT.

SEQ SIA

Lastadijas 12 k-3, Riga, Latvia, LV-1050

Reg. No. 40203410806 • VAT LV40203410806

Support: guard@offseq.com+371 2256 5353

Scan your own website

Liked the columbia.edu report? Run the same comprehensive security analysis on your domain — free, instant, and no sign-up required.

Or browse our directory of >10,000 scanned websites.

⭐ Verified Community Reviews

What others say about columbia.edu

Share your experience to help others make informed decisions. We verify every review by email and publish it once our moderation team approves it.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

out of 5

0 reviews published

Loading reviews…

How did we do?

Your feedback directly shapes our roadmap. Rate the quality of this report, leave an optional comment, and let us know if you want our security specialists to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.

Analyze Another Website