Security Review

Is ncsu.edu legit or a scam?

Our verdict:Safe· 97/100

Official NC State University website — a major public research university with 37 years of domain history and no security threats detected.

ncsu.eduScanned 1h ago
0
Trust score
SAFE
Heuristics 100·MT 95
View density

Analysis Summary

Threat Intelligence
0/92
All engines report clean
Domain Age
Registration date unknown
MT Intelligence
Safe
Low likelihood · 99% confidence
SAFE

No threats detected

All checks passed. This site appears legitimate — but always stay alert for phishing even on trusted domains.

Website Preview

Screenshot of ncsu.edu
LIVE RENDER
ncsu.edu

Automated page render — captured in a safe sandbox. What an ordinary visitor would see when loading the site. See full visual analysis →

Visual Screenshot Analysis

We capture a fresh screenshot of the live page and ask a vision model to look for scam visual patterns — fake trust badges, countdown timers, overlay pop-ups, and visual clones of legitimate brands.

2
/ 100
Low visual risk

Visual red flags detected in the screenshot

Screenshot depicts a fully-rendered, professionally designed university homepage consistent with NC State University's known branding and layout. No scam indicators are present.

Visual risk2/100

What our vision model saw

5 signals

Professional university website layout with consistent NC State branding (red/black/white color scheme, official wordmark, and mascot imagery).

Standard institutional navigation structure with expected sections: About, Admissions, Academics, Innovation, Community.

No urgency tactics, countdown timers, or pressure-based calls to action visible.

No suspicious forms, trust badge fabrications, or credential-harvesting elements present.

High-quality professional photography consistent with a legitimate university marketing site.

MT Intelligence

Advanced threat intelligence
MT Security Analyst
Low scam likelihoodengineMT · Guardiantrust95/100
MT AgentLive web researchVisual inspection
0%
Confidence
ncsu.edu is the official domain of North Carolina State University, a public land-grant research institution founded in 1887 and registered to the university since 1987. Our antivirus network flagged zero threats across 92 engines, the hosting IP has zero abuse reports, and SSL is valid and current. The page displays professional university branding, standard institutional navigation, and no credential-harvesting or urgency tactics. Business registration confirms active status with SACSCOC and AACSB accreditation. The university maintains its own scam-alert pages warning the campus community about phishing and fraud targeting NC State email addresses — a sign of legitimate institutional security awareness, not a red flag. No consumer complaints or negative reviews exist against the domain.
Full dossier
Analysis complete

Page Content

The homepage displays professional university branding with NC State's official wordmark, red/black/white color scheme, and mascot imagery. Navigation includes standard institutional sections: About, Admissions, Academics, Innovation, and Community. The page loads fully with high-quality photography and no urgency tactics, countdown timers, or pressure-based calls to action. No credential-harvesting forms or fabricated trust badges are present.

Infrastructure

Hosting IP 152.1.28.6 has an abuse score of 0/100 with zero abuse reports. SSL certificate is valid, issued by Internet2 · InCommon ECC Server CA 2, with 261 days to expiry. The domain redirects across two hops with no homoglyph or IDN indicators. External domains loaded are standard: Google Tag Manager, Google Fonts, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube — all expected for a major university site.

Domain History

ncsu.edu was registered on 16 April 1987 to North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC, and expires 31 July 2028. The domain has 37 years of continuous registration history. Business registration confirms the site is registered to a public land-grant research university founded by the North Carolina General Assembly on 7 March 1887.

Web Reputation

Our antivirus network detected zero threats across 92 engines. Browser blocklists are clean. The university maintains active scam-alert pages on its official OIT (Office of Information Technology) website warning the campus community about phishing, fake login pages, sextortion emails, and other fraud targeting NC State affiliates. No consumer complaints, scam reports, or negative reviews were found against ncsu.edu. The university holds accreditation from SACSCOC and AACSB for business programs.

Positive Signals
5
  • Domain registered since 1987 to North Carolina State University with 37 years of continuous history.
  • Zero threats detected across 92 antivirus engines; clean browser blocklists.
  • Valid SSL certificate issued by Internet2 · InCommon ECC Server CA 2.
  • Hosting IP has zero abuse reports and abuse score of 0/100.
  • Accredited by SACSCOC and AACSB; active business registration as public land-grant university.
AI Recommendation
This is a legitimate university website. You can safely visit ncsu.edu for official university information, admissions, and student services. Be aware that scammers may impersonate NC State in phishing emails or fake login pages — always verify URLs and use official university channels for sensitive transactions.
Next-gen fraud intelligence
Evidence-backedCross-checked

Web Research Findings

Our live research agent queries scam-report databases, consumer-review sites, news coverage, and general web search for ncsu.edu, then cross-checks business-registration records and look-alike domain patterns. Everything below is pulled from what it actually found.

Business registration
Active · United States
Site traces back to an actively registered business.
Clone check
Not a clone
No well-known site's layout or branding detected here.
Typosquat check
No look-alike match
The domain doesn't resemble any well-known brand's spelling.
Web mentions
4 scam reports · 4 positive
Key findings
7 headline facts from open-web research
  • Domain ncsu.edu created on 16-Apr-1987, registered to North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC; expires 31-Jul-2028
  • Official website of a major public research university founded in 1887 as a land-grant institution; part of the University of North Carolina system
  • University maintains multiple scam alert pages warning about phishing, fake login pages, sextortion emails, flattering faculty scams, and job offer fraud targeting the campus community
  • No consumer complaints, scam reports, or negative reviews found against the ncsu.edu domain or the university itself on major review sites
  • Accredited by SACSCOC (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges) and AACSB for business programs
  • Reddit discussions about ncsu.edu primarily relate to university services, emails, and phishing awareness rather than complaints about the domain
  • BBB profile exists but the university is not BBB-accredited (common for public universities)
Scam reports (4)
Direct quotes from public scam databases, forums, and news.
  • NC State OITopen

    "Scam Alert: Fake Log-in Page Phishes for NC State Credentials - Emails were sent with links to a fake Shibboleth log-in page aimed at stealing passwords"

  • NC State OITopen

    "Scam Alert: Do Not Send Money - Cybercriminals are targeting NC State email addresses with an email and PDF attachment that claims they have video"

  • NC State OITopen

    "Scam Alert: Flattering Emails to Faculty - Highly personalized emails are sent about the individual’s research to start a conversation and build trust that can later be exploited"

  • NC State International Servicesopen

    "Scam Information & Alerts - Scams can come in the form of phone calls or email and are unsolicited attempts to get personal information or money from you under false pretenses"

Business registration
Status: active · United States

Public land-grant research university founded by the North Carolina General Assembly on March 7, 1887; accredited by SACSCOC and AACSB (for business programs); domain registered to North Carolina State University since 1987

Research summary
Narrative write-up from our AI analyst, grounded on the facts above

NC State University's Office of Information Technology maintains active scam-alert pages documenting phishing campaigns, fake Shibboleth login pages, sextortion emails, and other fraud targeting the campus community. These alerts are published on the official university domain and reflect legitimate institutional security practices. Business registration confirms the site is a public land-grant research university founded in 1887, accredited by SACSCOC and AACSB. No consumer complaints, scam reports, or negative reviews were found against ncsu.edu on independent review sites or general web sources.

Antivirus Engines

Clean pass · verified
Clean across 92 engines

We cross-check every URL against our antivirus network of 92 malware and blacklist engines. None of them flagged this URL in the last scan.

0Malicious0Suspicious61Harmless92Engines
Clean
Kaspersky
Clean
Bitdefender
Clean
Microsoft
Not in pass
ESET-NOD32
Not in pass
Avira
Not in pass
Sophos
Clean
Fortinet
Clean
Google Safebrowsing
Clean
Emsisoft
Clean

No engine detections. The URL passed every antivirus and blacklist engine we queried in this scan. Stay vigilant — AV coverage is only one signal among many.

Security Scans

Blacklist Check
Not flagged on major threat lists

Checked against the major public blocklists used by browsers and security tools — no hits.

Contact Verification

We fetched the page and looked for real-world contact details. Legitimate businesses almost always publish an email on their own domain, a phone number, and a postal address. Scam shops usually don't.

What We Found
No clear contact details on the page
Emails on site's domainNone
Phone numbers919.515.2011
Postal addressNot listed
Linked social profiles9
Signal Summary
Contact details look reasonable
  • No contact email found anywhere on the page.
  • No postal address visible on the page.
  • Phone number listed (919.515.2011).
  • Links to 9 social profiles.

Domain & Encryption

Encryption Certificate
StatusValid
ProtocolTLSv1.3
IssuerInternet2 · InCommon ECC Server CA 2
ExpiresMar 5, 2027 (261d)
Self-signedNo
Hosting & Technology
HostingNorth Carolina State University
Server locationUS
Web serverApache
Platform / CMSWordPress
PopularityTop 100k worldwide

Redirect Chain

Hops
2
Cross-domain
Yes
Lookalike
No
Punycode
No
  • 1302http://ncsu.edu/
  • 2301https://ncsu.edu/
  • 3200https://www.ncsu.edu/cross-domain

Server Reputation

Abuse Intelligence
Confidence score0%
Reports on file0
ISPNorth Carolina State University
Usage typeUniversity/College/School

Still, stay alert

No major threat indicators — but a clean scan does not guarantee every page is safe, and phishing emails routinely spoof real domains.

  • Double-check the exact URL in your address bar

    Confirm you are actually on ncsu.edu and not a lookalike like n-csu.edu.com or an IDN homoglyph.

  • Use a password manager

    Password managers only auto-fill on the exact domain they were saved for — they refuse to fill lookalike domains, which is the single best phishing defence.

  • Discuss this site on the forum

    If you have first-hand experience with this site — good or bad — share it with the MalwareTips community.

    Open

Reputation Sources

How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.

Google Safe Browsing
Not listedCheck ↗
VirusTotal
Not listedCheck ↗
AbuseIPDB
Not listedCheck ↗

Referenced Domains

Outbound domains this page links to or loads resources from. Each links to its own security scan.

Safety FAQ

Common questions about this site, answered directly from the scan data above — so the answers always reflect the latest verdict on this page.

  • Our automated security review found no threat indicators on ncsu.edu. The site appears legitimate based on the signals we checked, but always stay alert for phishing emails that spoof real domains.
  • ncsu.edu passed our automated security checks with a trust score of 97/100. No antivirus engines or major blacklists flagged the site at the time of the last scan.
  • Yes. ncsu.edu presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by Internet2 · InCommon ECC Server CA 2, expiring in 261 days. Note that SSL only encrypts the connection — it does not guarantee that the site itself is trustworthy.
  • No. All 92 antivirus engines in our malware network report ncsu.edu as clean.
  • No. ncsu.edu is not currently listed on the major browser blocklist feeds that modern browsers use.
  • ncsu.edu resolves to an IP operated by North Carolina State University in US (usage type: University/College/School). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad, but unusual geography for a brand's claimed country is one of many signals we weigh.
  • Yes. ncsu.edu sits in the global top-100k on Cloudflare Radar, which means it has substantial real-world traffic. That does not automatically make it safe, but established brands almost always rank here and throwaway scam domains almost never do.
  • This is a permanent record of the scan run on June 16, 2026. The verdict and evidence above reflect that scan and do not change on their own. If circumstances around ncsu.edu have changed, MalwareTips staff can run a fresh scan, which re-runs every check from scratch and publishes an updated report.

Final Verdict

0
Trust / 100
Final Verdict·ncsu.edu
SAFE

NC State University's official website. A legitimate, long-established public research institution founded in 1887 with clean security scans, valid SSL, and active accreditation.

This is a legitimate university website. You can safely visit ncsu.edu for official university information, admissions, and student services. Be aware that scammers may impersonate NC State in phishing emails or fake login pages — always verify URLs and use official university channels for sensitive transactions.

AV engines
92
MT passes
2
Net signals
0
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This report is generated automatically by combining threat intelligence, domain signals, and an AI security analyst. It is informational, not legal advice. Always use your own judgement before sharing personal information or money online.