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Is dassh.edu.au a Scam? Security Check Results - Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities Reviews

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Is dassh.edu.au Safe? Security Analysis for Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities

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

EducationAustraliamedium
WordPressGoogle FontsVimeo embedGoogle Tag Manager
Analyzed 9/7/2025Completed 6:58:07 AM
62
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

The Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (DASSH) is a prominent non-profit membership organization representing over 250 academic leaders from universities across Australia and New Zealand. It serves as an advocacy and networking hub for the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities disciplines, supporting over 100,000 students and thousands of scholars. The organization provides key services including advocacy, research and policy submissions, professional development, and mentorship programs, positioning itself as a leading voice in the academic sector within Australasia. Technically, the website is built on WordPress and hosted via Microsoft Online infrastructure, utilizing modern web technologies such as Google Fonts and Vimeo for media embedding. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, SEO practices, and moderate performance. However, there is room for improvement in accessibility and security headers implementation. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and avoids exposing sensitive data, but lacks advanced security headers and a formal security or incident response policy. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism or GDPR-specific indicators. The WHOIS data aligns well with the website's educational purpose, enhancing trustworthiness. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and well-positioned within its sector, though enhancements in security policies and privacy compliance would strengthen its posture and user trust.

Detected Technologies

WordPressGoogle FontsVimeo embedGoogle Tag Manager

🧠AI Business Intelligence

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

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

DASSH occupies a strategic position as a key representative body for academic leadership in Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities across Australasia. Its business model as a non-profit membership organization focuses on advocacy, networking, and professional development rather than commercial revenue streams. The organization benefits from a broad partnership ecosystem including numerous universities and academic institutions, which is reflected in the member logos displayed. Growth indicators include active event hosting and policy engagement. The website content and structure support its mission effectively, targeting academic professionals and institutional leaders. Strategic observations suggest opportunities to enhance digital maturity through improved security and privacy practices, which would further solidify stakeholder confidence.

Extracted Contact Information

Marketing Intelligence Data

Email Addresses (1)

o*****@dassh.edu.au

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and no visible exposure of sensitive data. However, the absence of DNSSEC, security headers (such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options), and a published security or incident response policy indicates gaps in defense-in-depth and transparency. No vulnerability disclosures or security.txt files were found, limiting external reporting channels. Privacy compliance is basic, lacking cookie consent mechanisms and GDPR-specific disclosures. These gaps could impact user trust and regulatory compliance. The WHOIS domain status flags (serverRenewProhibited, serverTransferProhibited) provide some protection against unauthorized domain changes, which is positive. Overall, the security posture is adequate but would benefit from enhancements in policy publication, technical controls, and privacy mechanisms.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities

Description:

DASSH represents more than 250 Deans and Associate and Deputy Deans from nearly every university in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Members lead schools with over 100,000 students and several thousand scholars in Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities. The organization advocates for these disciplines, produces research and policy submissions, engages with government and colleagues, and hosts networking and professional development events.

Key Services:
AdvocacyResearch and policy submissionsNetworking eventsProfessional developmentMentorship program
Content Quality:

good

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
WordPressGoogle FontsVimeo embedGoogle Tag Manager
Platforms:
WordPress CMS
Performance:

moderate

Mobile:

good

Accessibility:

basic

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
75/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure forms with POST method

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Google Tag Manager
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:basic

Advertising & Marketing

Transparency Level:basic

Website Quality Assessment

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

Key Observations

1

Website is a professional educational membership organization site

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

30/100
Score

Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

HIGH

Forces HTTPS connections

Missing X-Frame-Options header

HIGH

Prevents clickjacking attacks

Missing Content-Security-Policy header

HIGH

Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

Weak X-XSS-Protection configuration

LOW

Current value: "1"

Weak Referrer-Policy configuration

LOW

Current value: "no-referrer-when-downgrade"

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
emailphone

🛡️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: transport, banking, digital

📧Email Security

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

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

80/100
Score

No DMARC reporting

LOW

DMARC aggregate reports not configured

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.protection.outlook.com -all
DNS Lookups:1/10
Policy:-all
DKIM Selectors Found
Selector:k2(1416-bit rsa)
Selector:selector1(1416-bit rsa)
DMARC Details
Policy:quarantine

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

72/100
Score

Weak Protocols Supported

HIGH

Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

OCSP Stapling Not Enabled

LOW

OCSP stapling improves performance and privacy

Certificate Transparency Not Implemented

LOW

Certificate is not logged in Certificate Transparency logs

SSL Certificate Expires Within 90 Days

MEDIUM

SSL certificate expires in 45 days

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 Disabled

📊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

Domain Delete Lock Not Enabled

LOW

Domain can be deleted without additional verification

Domain Registration Details

Protection Level
basicDNSSEC OFF

DNS Records

A Records:151.101.194.159
Name Servers:
ns1.bdm.microsoftonline.com
ns2.bdm.microsoftonline.com
ns3.bdm.microsoftonline.com
ns4.bdm.microsoftonline.com
MX Records:
0: dassh-edu-au.mail.protection.outlook.com
SOA:Serial: 1, TTL: 300s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:160ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.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 built on a modern WordPress CMS platform, leveraging Google Fonts and Vimeo for enhanced user experience. Hosting is provided through Microsoft Online infrastructure, as indicated by the nameservers. The site uses Google Tag Manager for analytics and tracking, reflecting a moderate level of digital maturity. Performance is moderate with good mobile responsiveness and SEO optimization. Accessibility features are basic and could be improved. The site uses valid HTML and CSS with no major errors detected. Technical risks include lack of DNSSEC and missing security headers, which could expose the site to certain attack vectors. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but has room for security and privacy enhancements.
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