# BeaverCheck Audit Report — https://sc.edu
**Date:** April 21, 2026
**URL:** https://sc.edu
**Overall Grade:** C (71/100)
**Report:** https://beavercheck.com/results/a74bc645-5a29-4349-a1e4-cdebd4f7030f
## Top Findings
1. **[CRITICAL]** Content-Security-Policy header is missing — Security > Security Headers
2. **[CRITICAL]** HSTS header is missing — Security > Security Headers
3. **[CRITICAL]** No Content-Security-Policy header found — Security > Content Security Policy
4. **[CRITICAL]** Page weighs 6.0 MB (4.0 MB transferred) — Performance > Page Weight Budget
5. **[CRITICAL]** 1 image(s) missing alt attribute — Accessibility > Alt Text Quality
---
## Lighthouse Scores
| Category | Score |
|----------|-------|
| Performance | 52 |
| Accessibility | 96 |
| Best Practices | 81 |
| SEO | 92 |
---
## Security
### Security Headers (F — 0/100)
*0 of 10 headers properly configured*
- **[CRITICAL]** HSTS header is missing — Strict-Transport-Security forces browsers to use HTTPS, preventing downgrade attacks. Add the header with a max-age of at least 1 year.
- **[WARNING]** X-Content-Type-Options header is missing — This header prevents MIME-type sniffing, which can lead to XSS attacks. Set it to 'nosniff'.
- **[WARNING]** X-Frame-Options header is missing — This header prevents clickjacking by controlling who can embed your page in a frame. Set it to DENY or SAMEORIGIN.
- **[WARNING]** Referrer-Policy header is missing — Controls how much referrer information is sent with requests. Set to 'strict-origin-when-cross-origin' or stricter.
- **[WARNING]** Permissions-Policy header is missing — Controls which browser features (camera, microphone, geolocation) are allowed. Set it to restrict unused features.
- **[CRITICAL]** Content-Security-Policy header is missing — CSP is the most important header for preventing XSS attacks. See the CSP section for detailed analysis.
- **[WARNING]** Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy header is missing — COOP isolates your browsing context, preventing cross-origin side-channel attacks. Set to 'same-origin'.
- **[WARNING]** Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy header is missing — COEP prevents loading cross-origin resources without explicit permission. Required for SharedArrayBuffer and high-resolution timers.
- **[WARNING]** X-Powered-By header reveals technology stack — This header discloses server technology (e.g. Express, PHP), helping attackers target known vulnerabilities. Remove it.
- **[WARNING]** Server header reveals version information — The Server header discloses the software version, aiding attackers in targeting known vulnerabilities. Remove the version number.
### Content Security Policy (F — 0/100)
*No enforcing CSP policy found*
- **[CRITICAL]** No Content-Security-Policy header found — CSP is the most effective defense against XSS attacks. Add a Content-Security-Policy header to restrict resource loading.
### TLS & Certificates (A+ — 100/100)
*TLS 1.3, 7 checks passed*
- **[PASS]** TLS 1.3 is used
- **[PASS]** Strong cipher suite is used
- **[INFO]** HTTP/2 is not negotiated — HTTP/2 provides multiplexing and header compression for better performance.
- **[PASS]** Certificate is valid (expires in 349 days)
- **[PASS]** Certificate chain has 3 certificates
- **[PASS]** Certificate uses modern signature algorithm
- **[PASS]** Certificate covers 29 domain(s)
- **[PASS]** Certificate is issued by a trusted CA
### Cookie Security (A+ — 100/100)
*No cookies set — no cookie security risks*
- **[PASS]** No cookies set — no cookie security risks
---
## Advanced Security
### Subresource Integrity (D — 40/100)
*1 of 13 external resources have SRI*
- **[WARNING]** External script from cbe.capturehighered.net lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from scripts.clarity.ms lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from www.clarity.ms lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from siteimproveanalytics.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from www.googletagmanager.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from cbe.capturehighered.net lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from connect.facebook.net lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from connect.facebook.net lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from connect.facebook.net lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from apply.sc.edu lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from www.googletagmanager.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from assets.sc.edu lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[PASS]** script from instant.page has SRI protection
### JS Library Vulnerabilities (A+ — 100/100)
*No known vulnerabilities*
- **[PASS]** No known JavaScript library vulnerabilities detected
### Information Leakage (A+ — 100/100)
*No exposures*
- **[PASS]** security.txt is present — good practice
- **[PASS]** No sensitive files exposed
### Email Security (D — 50/100)
*DMARC: none*
- **[WARNING]** DMARC policy is none — monitoring only — This only monitors, it doesn't block spoofed emails. Change to p=quarantine or p=reject.
### Permissions-Policy (D — 40/100)
*No header set*
- **[WARNING]** No Permissions-Policy header — Consider adding a Permissions-Policy header to restrict browser feature access from embedded content.
### CORS Configuration (C — 60/100)
*Origin: **
- **[INFO]** Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * — unrestricted — Any website can read this resource's response. Appropriate for public APIs but not for user-specific content.
- **[INFO]** Origin reflection not testable with a single request — Some servers reflect the request Origin header. This requires manual testing with a crafted Origin header.
---
## Performance
### Page Weight Budget (F — 0/100)
*4.0 MB transferred, 53 requests*
- **[CRITICAL]** Page weighs 6.0 MB (4.0 MB transferred)
- **[WARNING]** Images are 2.8 MB — compress or use modern formats — Convert images to WebP/AVIF and resize to display dimensions to reduce transfer size.
- **[WARNING]** JavaScript is 739 KB — consider code splitting or lazy loading — Large JavaScript bundles delay interactivity. Split code by route or defer non-critical scripts.
- **[INFO]** Fonts are 450 KB — consider subsetting or using system fonts — Subset fonts to include only used characters, or switch to system font stacks.
- **[INFO]** 53 HTTP requests
- **[INFO]** Estimated 0.84 g CO2 per page load
### Third-Party Impact (A+ — 100/100)
*19% third-party, 0 ms blocking*
- **[INFO]** Third-party code accounts for 19% of page weight (761.0 KiB of 4.0 MiB)
- **[PASS]** Third-party blocking time is low (0 ms)
### Text Compression (A+ — 100/100)
*All text resources are compressed*
- **[PASS]** All text resources are compressed
### Image Optimization (C — 60/100)
*19 images, 0 KB saveable*
- **[WARNING]** https://sc.edu/uofsc/images/large_post_images/uofs... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.
- **[WARNING]** https://sc.edu/uofsc/images/large_post_images/uofs... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.
- **[WARNING]** https://sc.edu/uofsc/images/large_post_images/2026... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.
### JS Execution Cost (D — 40/100)
*2128ms total JS execution*
- **[WARNING]** https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-L3YT...: 401ms CPU time
- **[WARNING]** https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=GTM-NJ7...: 359ms CPU time
- **[WARNING]** Unattributable: 324ms CPU time
- **[INFO]** https://sc.edu/: 196ms CPU time
- **[INFO]** https://scripts.clarity.ms/0.8.59/clarity.js: 181ms CPU time
- **[WARNING]** Third-party scripts: 1744ms (82% of total)
### Font Loading (A+ — 100/100)
*6 fonts (450 KB)*
- **[INFO]** 6 font(s) use font-display: swap (FOUT risk but functional)
### JS Bundles (C — 60/100)
*19 scripts, 242 KB unused*
- **[WARNING]** https://siteimproveanalytics.com/js/siteanalyze_66...: 78 KB unused (73%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[WARNING]** https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-L3YT...: 69 KB unused (41%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[WARNING]** https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=GTM-NJ7...: 61 KB unused (33%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[WARNING]** https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js: 34 KB unused (35%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[INFO]** Total unused JavaScript: 242 KB
### Resource Caching (A+ — 100/100)
*All resources properly cached*
- **[PASS]** No caching issues found
### Critical Rendering Path (A+ — 100/100)
*No render-blocking resources*
- **[PASS]** No render-blocking resources detected
### Resource Hints (A+ — 100/100)
*10 hints, 0 missing preconnects*
- **[PASS]** Page uses 10 resource hint(s)
### Page Weight Inventory (C — 55/100)
*53 resources · 4.0 MB · 242 KB savings available*
- **[WARNING]** Page weight 3.0 MB over 1MB target
- **[INFO]** ~242 KB of savings available
- **[INFO]** 28 third-party resources (19% of weight)
- **[INFO]** 3 resources over 200KB
### Render-Blocking Resources (A+ — 100/100)
*No render-blocking resources detected*
- **[PASS]** No render-blocking resources detected in
### Third-Party Resources (A+ — 100/100)
*No third-party resources detected*
---
## Content Quality
### Links (D — 68/100)
*200 links checked, 193 healthy, 6 broken*
- **[CRITICAL]** 193 of 200 links are healthy
- **[WARNING]** Broken link: https://assets.sc.edu — Found in . Returns HTTP 415.
- **[WARNING]** Broken link: https://www.googletagmanager.com — Found in . Returns HTTP 404.
- **[WARNING]** Broken link: https://sc.edu/ — Found in . Get "https://sc.edu/": context deadline exceeded
- **[CRITICAL]** Broken link: https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/education_at_a_glan... — Found in . Get "https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/education_at_a_glance/index.php": context deadline exceeded
- **[CRITICAL]** Broken link: https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/medicine_greenville... — Found in . Get "https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/medicine_greenville_at_a_glance/index.php": context deadline exceeded
- **[INFO]** Long redirect chain: https://outlook.com/email.sc.edu (3 hops)
- **[CRITICAL]** Broken link: https://spend.admin.sc.edu/ — Found in . Get "https://spend.admin.sc.edu/": tls: failed to verify certificate: x509: certificate signed by unknown authority
### Mixed Content (A+ — 100/100)
*No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS.*
- **[PASS]** No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS
### Open Graph (B — 85/100)
*Open Graph tags are partially configured — some improvements recommended.*
- **[CRITICAL]** og:image is not reachable — The og:image URL could not be fetched. Social platforms won't be able to display it.
- **[INFO]** Missing og:type — The og:type tag helps social platforms categorize the content.
### Structured Data (C — 40/100)
*No structured data (JSON-LD) found.*
- **[INFO]** No structured data (JSON-LD) found — Adding structured data helps search engines understand your content and can enable rich results.
---
## Infrastructure
### DNS Records (A+ — 95/100)
*1 A records, 37 ms lookup*
- **[PASS]** Resolves to 1 IPv4 address(es)
- **[INFO]** Single A record — no DNS redundancy — Multiple A records provide failover if one server goes down.
- **[INFO]** No IPv6 (AAAA) records
- **[PASS]** 5 nameserver(s) configured
- **[PASS]** 1 mail exchanger(s) configured
- **[INFO]** CAA records not checked — CAA record lookup requires a specialized DNS resolver. This check will be available in a future update.
- **[PASS]** SPF record present in TXT
- **[PASS]** DNS resolution time: 37 ms
### Redirect Chain (A+ — 100/100)
*No redirects — direct access*
- **[PASS]** No redirects — direct access
### IPv6 Readiness (C — 60/100)
*No IPv6 support*
- **[INFO]** No IPv6 (AAAA) records found — IPv6 support is increasingly important for global accessibility. About 40% of internet users have IPv6 connectivity.
### Crawlability (B — 75/100)
*robots.txt present, sitemap with 19969 URLs*
- **[PASS]** robots.txt is present
- **[PASS]** sitemap.xml is present
- **[WARNING]** sitemap.xml contains invalid XML — Search engines may not be able to parse the sitemap. Fix XML validation errors.
- **[PASS]** sitemap.xml contains 19969 entries
- **[INFO]** robots.txt does not reference a sitemap — Add a 'Sitemap:' directive to robots.txt so search engines can discover your sitemap.
### URL Variants (C — 65/100)
*www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS*
- **[CRITICAL]** Both www and non-www versions serve content
- **[WARNING]** HTTP→HTTPS redirect uses 302 instead of 301
### Domain Intelligence (A+ — 100/100)
*sc.edu — 31 years, 6 months old, hosted on SC-AS - University of South Carolina, US*
- **[PASS]** Domain registered until Jul 31, 2027 (1 years, 3 months remaining)
- **[PASS]** Hosting: SC-AS - University of South Carolina, US
---
## Compliance
### WCAG Compliance (A+ — 100/100)
*No testable criteria*
### Cookie Consent & Privacy (B — 80/100)
*No consent signals detected*
- **[WARNING]** No privacy policy link detected — A privacy policy page is recommended for transparency and may be legally required.
- **[INFO]** No terms of service link detected
- **[INFO]** No cookie consent banner detected
- **[INFO]** This is an automated check, not legal advice — BeaverCheck detects technical indicators of consent management. This does not constitute a legal compliance assessment. Consult a privacy professional for GDPR/CCPA compliance.
### Language & i18n (A — 90/100)
*Lang attribute present*
- **[PASS]** attribute is present
- **[PASS]** value is valid
- **[INFO]** No Content-Language HTTP header
- **[INFO]** Language signals are inconsistent — The attribute and Content-Language header should agree.
### Readability & Typography (A+ — 100/100)
*Font sizes and tap targets checked*
### Viewport Configuration (A+ — 100/100)
*Viewport properly configured*
- **[PASS]** Viewport meta tag is present
- **[PASS]** width=device-width is set
- **[PASS]** User zooming is allowed
### Third-Party Trackers (F — 30/100)
*9 trackers detected*
- **[INFO]** 9 third-party trackers detected — Found 7 analytics, 1 advertising, 0 marketing, 1 tag manager trackers.
- **[WARNING]** 1 advertising/retargeting trackers detected — Advertising trackers collect user data for ad targeting. Under GDPR, these typically require explicit consent.
- **[WARNING]** Trackers detected but no cookie policy found — This page loads 9 trackers but no cookie policy was detected. GDPR requires disclosure when using tracking cookies.
- **[WARNING]** Trackers detected but no privacy policy found — Most data protection regulations require a privacy policy when collecting user data via trackers.
- **[WARNING]** Session replay tool detected: Microsoft Clarity — Session replay tools record user interactions. These require clear disclosure and often explicit consent under GDPR.
### Cookie & Tracker Inventory (A+ — 100/100)
*0 cookies · 9 trackers · 0 pre-consent*
- **[INFO]** 9 third-party tracker(s) detected on page
---
## Legal
### Legal Page Ecosystem (F — 35/100)
*1 of 7 expected legal pages detected*
- **[PASS]** Privacy Policy detected — Found at https://www.sc.edu/about/notices/privacy/, linked from footer.
- **[WARNING]** Terms of Service not detected — No link matching common Terms of Service URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Terms of Service, especially those collecting user data.
- **[INFO]** Cookie Policy not detected — No link matching common Cookie Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Cookie Policy, especially those collecting user data.
- **[INFO]** Accessibility Statement not detected — No link matching common Accessibility Statement URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Accessibility Statement, especially those collecting user data.
- **[INFO]** DMCA / Copyright Notice not detected — No link matching common DMCA / Copyright Notice URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a DMCA / Copyright Notice, especially those collecting user data.
- **[INFO]** Refund / Returns Policy not detected — No link matching common Refund / Returns Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Refund / Returns Policy, especially those collecting user data.
- **[INFO]** Acceptable Use Policy not detected — No link matching common Acceptable Use Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Acceptable Use Policy, especially those collecting user data.
### Copyright Notice (C — 55/100)
*No copyright notice detected*
- **[INFO]** No copyright notice detected — No copyright notice detected in the page content. While not legally required in most jurisdictions (copyright exists automatically), a notice is standard practice and signals site ownership.
### Regulatory Indicators
*1 regulatory indicator(s) detected*
- **[INFO]** This is a technical scan, not a legal assessment — BeaverCheck detects technical indicators that may suggest regulatory relevance. This is not a compliance audit and should not be relied upon for legal decisions. Consult qualified legal counsel for compliance assessments.
- **[INFO]** GDPR indicators detected (moderate confidence) — Indicators suggesting GDPR may be relevant: Privacy policy page found. EU General Data Protection Regulation — governs collection and processing of personal data of EU residents.
### Third-Party Data Sharing
*3 third-party service(s) detected*
- **[INFO]** Data inventory for transparency purposes — This inventory identifies third-party services that receive data from your site visitors. Under regulations like GDPR (Article 30), maintaining records of data processing activities is commonly considered a best practice. This automated scan provides a starting point — it may not capture all data flows.
- **[INFO]** 3 third-party services across 3 categories — 3 third-party services detected across 3 categories: Analytics (1), Tag Management (1), Advertising (1). Each of these services receives some user data from your site visitors.
- **[INFO]** Google Analytics (Analytics) — Detected via script URL. Typically collects: Page views, User behavior, Demographics, Device info, IP address. Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy. Data Processing Agreement available.
- **[INFO]** Google Tag Manager (Tag Management) — Detected via script URL. Typically collects: Orchestrates other tracking scripts, Page views. Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy. Data Processing Agreement available.
- **[INFO]** Facebook Pixel (Advertising) — Detected via script URL. Typically collects: Page views, Conversions, User behavior, Ad targeting. Privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy. Data Processing Agreement available.
### Compliance Badges (C — 55/100)
*0 compliance badge(s) detected*
- **[INFO]** No compliance badges detected — No recognized compliance certification badges or seals were found. This is common — many sites do not display compliance badges.
---
## Availability
### CDN & Delivery (D — 50/100)
*No CDN detected*
- **[WARNING]** No CDN detected — A CDN can significantly improve load times for users around the world by caching content at edge nodes closer to them.
### HTTP Caching (F — 30/100)
*No cache headers*
- **[WARNING]** No Cache-Control header found — Browsers will use heuristic caching, which can be unpredictable. Set explicit cache headers.
### Transport Security (B — 75/100)
*HTTP/3, HSTS, and TLS version analysis*
- **[INFO]** HTTP/3 (QUIC) not advertised — HTTP/3 eliminates head-of-line blocking. If your CDN supports it, consider enabling it.
- **[WARNING]** Missing Strict-Transport-Security header — HSTS tells browsers to only use HTTPS, preventing SSL stripping attacks.
- **[PASS]** TLS 1.3 in use (fastest handshake, 1-RTT)
---
## Accessibility
### Landmark Structure (A — 90/100)
*6 landmarks*
- **[PASS]** landmark present
- **[PASS]** 3