Disclosure Readiness and Web Security Hygiene : A Measurement Study of the Swedish .se Domain

Sammanfattning

This thesis investigates the relationship between vulnerability disclosure readiness and observable web security hygiene within the Swedish .se domain. Disclosure readiness is measured through the presence and validity of security.txt, while web security hygiene is measured through externally observable indicators such as HTTP-to-HTTPS redirection, TLS Version Support, and selected HTTP security headers.The study uses a quantitative, observational measurement approach and analyzes 683,591 .se domains. The results show that modern TLS support and HTTP-to-HTTPS redirection are common, while HTTP security header adoption is more uneven. The study also finds that validated security.txt adoption is limited, with 7,462 domains having a standards-aligned file.Domains with validated security.txt show stronger observable hygiene across all measured indicators compared to domains without such a file. A statistical association analysis supports this relationship, although the overall association is modest and should not be interpreted as causal.