uct.ac.za

We performed a comprehensive analysis of uct.ac.za on 2026-06-28. The website returned an HTTP 200 status code with a server response time of 7776ms. The page is served over HTTP/2 protocol with Gzip compression enabled, achieving approximately 60.0% size reduction. The total page weight is 223 KB, and the site is served behind a CDN (Content Delivery Network). Warning: The website does not have a valid SSL certificate. Visitors may see security warnings in their browser, and data transmitted to and from this website is not encrypted. The security headers analysis reveals a score of 30/100 (below average). The following security headers are properly configured: X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options. However, the site is missing Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS), Referrer-Policy, and Permissions-Policy, which could expose the site and its users to cross-site scripting (XSS), clickjacking, and other web-based attacks. Our technology detection scan identified 7 technologies across 7 categories powering uct.ac.za. The detected stack includes Drupal, React, Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager, Cloudflare, jQuery, and Font Awesome. The UI is built with React. Based on our comprehensive analysis of domain age, SSL configuration, email authentication, security headers, and blacklist status, uct.ac.za receives an overall trust score of 70/100, classified as "Likely Safe".

After conducting a thorough safety and legitimacy analysis, uct.ac.za receives a trust score of 70/100, which places it in the "Likely Safe" category. This score is calculated by evaluating multiple factors including SSL certificate validity, domain registration history, email authentication protocols, security header configuration, and blacklist status across major threat intelligence databases. The analysis identified several positive trust signals: a valid HTTPS connection protecting data in transit, SPF (Sender Policy Framework) email authentication preventing email spoofing, DMARC email authentication with a reject policy — the strongest available setting, DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) providing cryptographic email verification, and DNSSEC providing authenticated DNS responses. Areas of concern include: the absence of a Content-Security-Policy header, which leaves the site more vulnerable to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, missing Referrer-Policy, potentially leaking URL information to third parties, and the domain's WHOIS information is hidden behind a privacy service, making it harder to verify the owner's identity. While these issues don't necessarily indicate malicious intent, they represent areas where the website's security posture could be improved. We checked uct.ac.za against 8 major blacklist databases including Google Safe Browsing, Phishtank, Urlhaus, Openphish, Dnsfilter, Spamhaus Dbl, Surbl, and Virustotal. The domain passed all 8 checks with a clean status, meaning it has not been flagged for phishing, malware distribution, spam, or other malicious activities by any of the tested threat intelligence providers.

Our technology detection engine scanned uct.ac.za and identified 7 distinct technologies across 7 categories. This analysis is performed by examining HTTP response headers, HTML source code patterns, JavaScript library fingerprints, CSS framework signatures, and DNS records. CMS: Drupal — manages the content and page structure for uct.ac.za. UI Library: React — handles the user interface rendering and component management for uct.ac.za. Analytics: Google Analytics 4 — tracks visitor behavior and provides traffic insights for uct.ac.za. Tag Manager: Google Tag Manager — manages marketing and analytics tags without code changes for uct.ac.za. CDN: Cloudflare — accelerates content delivery by caching assets at edge locations worldwide for uct.ac.za. JavaScript Library: jQuery — provides utility functions and DOM manipulation for uct.ac.za. Icon Set: Font Awesome — provides additional functionality for uct.ac.za. We also extracted the following tracking identifiers: Google Analytics 4 Measurement ID G-1DHRF99KRD and Google Tag Manager container GTM-NNKMRNZ. These IDs can be used to identify other websites operated by the same organization.

uct.ac.za resolves to the IPv4 address 137.158.159.192, but does not support IPv6. IPv6 adoption is increasingly important as IPv4 address space becomes exhausted, and some ISPs and regions are transitioning to IPv6-only connectivity. The domain has 1 A record(s) configured. The domain name system is managed by 4 name servers: dns3.uct.net.za, netman.uct.ac.za, rain.psg.com, and ucthpx.uct.ac.za. Having 4 name servers provides good redundancy — if one fails, the others can continue serving DNS queries. The choice of name servers often indicates the DNS hosting provider or CDN service being used. Email for uct.ac.za is handled by co.za with 2 MX records configured: za-smtp-inbound-1.mimecast.co.za and za-smtp-inbound-2.mimecast.co.za. Multiple MX records provide failover redundancy — if the primary mail server is unavailable, email will be routed to the next available server. SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is configured, which specifies which mail servers are authorized to send email on behalf of this domain. This helps prevent email spoofing and improves email deliverability. DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) is configured with a reject policy — the strongest setting, instructing receiving servers to reject unauthorized emails entirely. DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is configured, adding a cryptographic signature to outgoing emails that receiving servers can verify to confirm the email hasn't been tampered with in transit. DNSSEC is enabled for uct.ac.za, providing an additional layer of security by cryptographically signing DNS records. This prevents DNS cache poisoning and man-in-the-middle attacks that could redirect visitors to malicious websites. Our subdomain enumeration scan discovered 9 active subdomains for uct.ac.za: api.uct.ac.za, ftp.uct.ac.za, help.uct.ac.za, mail.uct.ac.za, shop.uct.ac.za, smtp.uct.ac.za, status.uct.ac.za, and webmail.uct.ac.za. Plus 1 additional subdomains. Active subdomains can reveal the organization's infrastructure, including development environments, API endpoints, and third-party service integrations.

The title tag for uct.ac.za is well-optimized at 30 characters: "Home | University of Cape Town". The length falls within the ideal range for Google search results, ensuring the full title is displayed without truncation. The meta description is 152 characters (well-optimized): "UCT is one of the leading higher education institutions on the African continent and has a tradition of academic excelle...". Google typically displays up to 155-160 characters of the meta description in search results. A compelling meta description with a clear call-to-action can significantly improve click-through rates from search results. The canonical url is correctly set to https://uct.ac.za/, preventing duplicate content issues, the page language is declared as en, and a favicon is configured. No Open Graph tags are configured. When someone shares a link to uct.ac.za on social media, the platform will have to guess the title, description, and image — often producing unattractive or inaccurate previews. Adding OG tags is essential for social media marketing.