Pennsylvania research universities: security rankings

Security scores, grades, and the most common failures for 11 Pennsylvania research university websites, from ScanGov homepage scans.

  • Sites: 11
  • Last scan: 11/8/2026

R1 and R2 universities in Pennsylvania, public and private together.

B 83

Average security score of 10 fully scanned Pennsylvania research university sites

8th

of 17 states, ranked by average security score

10 of 11

Pennsylvania research university sites fully scanned. We couldn't fully scan 1, so they're listed without grades

B 85

Average security score of all 2,687 fully scanned education sites

How Pennsylvania security scores are distributed

Smoothed distribution of the 10 fully scanned Pennsylvania research university sites, score 0 to 100. Height shows how many sites score near each value.

Distribution of 10 scores. The data table lists counts by score range.

  • Pennsylvania average
  • All education average
View the data table
How Pennsylvania security scores are distributed
Score rangeSites
0 to 90
10 to 190
20 to 290
30 to 390
40 to 490
50 to 590
60 to 691
70 to 795
80 to 891
90 to 1003

Pennsylvania research universities by security grade, compared with all education sites

Share of fully scanned sites in each grade band. Pennsylvania research universities: 10 sites. All education: 2687 sites.

  1. PennsylvaniaA (90 to 100): 30% (3 sites)B to C (70 to 89): 60% (6 sites)D to F (below 70): 10% (1 sites)
  2. All education sitesA (90 to 100): 19% (505 sites)B to C (70 to 89): 79% (2,113 sites)D to F (below 70): 3% (69 sites)
  • A (90 to 100)
  • B to C (70 to 89)
  • D to F (below 70)
View the data table
Pennsylvania research universities by security grade, compared with all education sites
GroupA (90 to 100)B to C (70 to 89)D to F (below 70)
Pennsylvania30% (3)60% (6)10% (1)
All education sites19% (505)79% (2,113)3% (69)

Top 3 Pennsylvania research university sites by security score

#1 in Pennsylvania · U.S. education rank 1

Carnegie Mellon University

A 100 security

  • Accessibility A
  • Botability A
  • Security A
  • Usability F
  • Readability F

#1 in Pennsylvania · U.S. education rank 1

Temple University

A 100 security

  • Accessibility A
  • Botability A
  • Security A
  • Usability D
  • Readability A

#1 in Pennsylvania · U.S. education rank 1

Thomas Jefferson University

A 100 security

  • Accessibility A
  • Botability A
  • Security A
  • Usability F
  • Readability F

Most common security failures among Pennsylvania research university sites

Share of the 10 fully scanned Pennsylvania research university sites failing each check. A site can fail more than one check. Each check links to its standard and how to fix it.

  1. X-Content-Type-Options70% (7 of 10 sites)
  2. Errors in the console60% (6 of 10 sites)
  3. Security.txt10% (1 of 10 sites)
View the data table
Most common security failures among Pennsylvania research university sites
CheckShare failingSites failing
X-Content-Type-Options70%7
Errors in the console60%6
Security.txt10%1

What each check means

  • X-Content-Type-Options. The site tells browsers not to guess the type of files it serves. Browsers might run dangerous files by mistake.
  • Errors in the console. The page loads without JavaScript or network errors. Site may have hidden bugs that break features.
  • Security.txt. The site has a security.txt file so researchers know how to report issues. Security researchers cannot report problems to you.

Research universities in Pennsylvania by security score

Research universities in Pennsylvania ranked by security score
Rank Site Checks passed Grade
1 cmu.edu
Carnegie Mellon University U.S. rank 1
8 of 8 checks pass A
1 temple.edu
Temple University U.S. rank 1
8 of 8 checks pass A
1 jefferson.edu
Thomas Jefferson University U.S. rank 1
8 of 8 checks pass A
2 pitt.edu
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus U.S. rank 3
7 of 8 checks pass B
3 drexel.edu
Drexel University U.S. rank 6
6 of 8 checks pass C
3 www2.lehigh.edu
Lehigh University U.S. rank 6
6 of 8 checks pass C
3 psu.edu
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus U.S. rank 6
6 of 8 checks pass C
3 upenn.edu
University of Pennsylvania U.S. rank 6
6 of 8 checks pass C
3 wcupa.edu
West Chester University of Pennsylvania U.S. rank 6
6 of 8 checks pass C
4 duq.edu
Duquesne University U.S. rank 7
6 of 9 checks pass D
iup.edu
Indiana University of Pennsylvania-Main Campus
Not fully scanned, so not graded. We couldn't scan your site because it showed our bot a captcha or browser check instead of the page. Status 996 -

About this data

ScanGov scans the homepage of each college and university site on our higher education list. Scores come from the checks in the ScanGov standards. Sites were scanned between 10/25/2026 and 11/8/2026. Each site's report shows its own scan date. A site counts as fully scanned when its homepage loaded and sent us its page content. Averages, grade shares, failure rates, and ranks use fully scanned sites only. We could not fully scan 1 sites. They did not respond, blocked the scanner, or sent no page content. They appear in the table without grades, with their scan status, and are left out of every figure. Grades follow the ScanGov grade scale. Rank follows the ScanGov ranking method. The full dataset, with every county's raw results, is in the ScanGov data repository.

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