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Is uchicago.edu a Scam? Security Check Results - The University of Chicago Reviews

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Is uchicago.edu Safe? Security Analysis for The University of Chicago

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

EducationUnited Stateslarge
React (data-react-helmet tags)Bootstrap 5Hotjar (user behavior analytics)Google Tag ManagerAzure CDN (cdn-endpoint.azureedge.net)+1 more
Analyzed 9/7/2025Completed 9:10:33 AM
64
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

The University of Chicago website represents a leading global research university offering comprehensive educational programs, research initiatives, and community engagement. The site targets students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the broader public, providing clear navigation to admissions, academic departments, campus life, and global impact. The university maintains a strong market position as a prestigious educational institution with a large scale and extensive services. Technically, the website is built on a modern React framework with Sitecore CMS, leveraging Azure CDN for hosting and performance. It integrates analytics tools such as Hotjar and Google Tag Manager for user behavior tracking and marketing insights. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices, contributing to an excellent user experience. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and avoids exposing sensitive data. However, it lacks explicit security headers and a public vulnerability disclosure policy. Privacy compliance is supported by a comprehensive privacy policy and GDPR adherence, though a cookie consent mechanism is not evident. Contact information is available primarily through forms and linked pages rather than direct emails or phone numbers. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained, with minor areas for improvement in security headers and privacy consent mechanisms. The absence of WHOIS data is typical for .edu domains and does not detract from the site's legitimacy. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, publishing incident response contacts, and implementing cookie consent to strengthen compliance and user trust.

Detected Technologies

React (data-react-helmet tags)Bootstrap 5Hotjar (user behavior analytics)Google Tag ManagerAzure CDN (cdn-endpoint.azureedge.net)Typekit fonts

🧠AI Business Intelligence

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

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

The University of Chicago operates as a large educational institution focused on undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education, alongside world-class research and community impact. Its competitive advantages include a strong academic reputation, diverse program offerings, and global reach. Revenue streams likely include tuition, research grants, donations, and medical services via UChicago Medicine. The target customer segments encompass prospective and current students, faculty, researchers, alumni, and community partners. Growth indicators include active news, events, and outreach programs. The university maintains partnerships with various internal and external entities, reflected in multiple linked domains and social media channels. Operationally, the institution emphasizes intellectual freedom, diversity, and inclusion, aligning with its mission and market positioning.

Extracted Contact Information

Marketing Intelligence Data

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS and no visible exposure of sensitive data. The use of modern frameworks and asynchronous loading of analytics scripts reduces risk. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represents an area for enhancement. No vulnerabilities or malware indicators were detected in the content. Privacy compliance is supported by a detailed privacy policy and GDPR adherence, but the lack of a cookie consent mechanism and public incident response contacts limits transparency. The site would benefit from publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to improve security culture and incident readiness. Overall, the security posture is strong but could be improved with additional best practices and transparency.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

The University of Chicago

Description:

One of the world’s leading research universities, the University of Chicago inspires scholars to pursue field-defining research, while providing a transformative education for students.

Key Services:
Undergraduate and graduate educationResearch and scholarshipCommunity and global impact initiativesCampus resources and student lifeMedical services via UChicago Medicine
Content Quality:

excellent

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
React (data-react-helmet tags)Bootstrap 5Hotjar (user behavior analytics)Google Tag ManagerAzure CDN (cdn-endpoint.azureedge.net)Typekit fonts
Frameworks:
React
Platforms:
Azure CDN
Performance:

moderate

Mobile:

good

Accessibility:

good

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
85/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google Tag Manager and Hotjar with async loading

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
HotjarGoogle Analytics (via GTM)
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:good

Advertising & Marketing

Tracking Pixels:
Hotjar
Marketing Tools:
Hotjar
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 navigation.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

20/100
Score

Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

HIGH

Forces HTTPS connections

Missing X-Frame-Options header

HIGH

Prevents clickjacking attacks

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 Referrer-Policy header

LOW

Controls referrer information sent with requests

Missing Permissions-Policy header

MEDIUM

Controls browser features and APIs

👤GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.

GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment

58/100
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

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

17/100
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

📧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 ip4:128.135.176.0/23 ip4:205.208.106.0/24 ip4:167.89.0.0/17 ip4:198.37.144.0/20 ip4:67.231.145.199 ip4:148.163.143.251 ip4:40.79.65.134 include:_spf.google.com include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:s1.uchicago.edu ?all
DNS Lookups:3/10
Policy:?all
DKIM Selectors Found
Selector:google(1088-bit rsa)
Selector:k2(1416-bit rsa)
Selector:selector1(1296-bit rsa)
Selector:mail(1296-bit rsa)
Selector:s1(1440-bit rsa)
DMARC Details
Policy:none
Aggregate Reports:w7oy1be3@ag.us.dmarcian.com
Forensic Reports:dmarc_ruf@emaildefense.proofpoint.com

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

90/100
Score

Mixed Content Detected

MEDIUM

3 resources loaded over insecure HTTP

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 2 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Certificate Details

Subject:www.uchicago.edu
Issuer:DigiCert TLS RSA SHA256 2020 CA1
Valid Until:4/14/2026 (219 days)
SANs:www.uchicago.edu

OCSP Status

OCSP Stapling Disabled

📊DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment.

DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment

65/100
Score

DNSSEC Not Enabled

MEDIUM

DNSSEC is not configured for this domain

CAA Records Not Configured

LOW

Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) records not found

Weak SPF Policy

HIGH

SPF record has permissive policy allowing any server to send email

DMARC Policy Set to None

LOW

DMARC is configured but not enforcing any policy

Domain Registration Details

Expiry Risk
none(691 days)

DNS Records

A Records:3.215.148.80
Name Servers:
ucns1.uchicago.uiowa.eduDNS only
ucns1.uchicago.yale.eduDNS only
ucns3.uchicago.eduDNS only
ucns4.uchicago.eduDNS only
MX Records:
10: mxa-002fc702.gslb.pphosted.com
10: mxb-002fc702.gslb.pphosted.com
SOA:Serial: 14307926, TTL: 900s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:595ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 ip4:128.135.176.0/23 ip4:205.208.106.0/24 ip4:167.89.0.0/17 ip4:198.37.144.0/20 ip4:67.231.145.199 ip4:148.163.143.251 ip4:40.79.65.134 include:_spf.google.com include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:s1.uchicago.edu ?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 React-based front end integrated with Sitecore CMS, hosted on Microsoft Azure CDN infrastructure. It uses Bootstrap 5 for responsive design and Typekit for fonts, ensuring good mobile optimization and accessibility. Analytics and marketing tools include Hotjar and Google Tag Manager, loaded asynchronously to optimize performance. The site demonstrates good SEO practices with appropriate meta tags and Open Graph data. Performance is moderate, with potential for improvement through optimization of third-party scripts and caching strategies. The technical stack is modern and well-maintained, supporting a professional and user-friendly experience.
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