Is ucla.edu legit?

93
/ 100
Trusted
Industry: Education

ucla.edu is a highly trustworthy educational institution website. Its long history, strong security, and comprehensive infrastructure indicate a well-maintained and legitimate online presence, making it very safe to interact with.

Education average: 81/100 · based on 35 sites

Checked: April 18, 2026 at 8:29 AM UTC · Refresh

Is ucla.edu a scam? Here's what we found.

Security 95/100

The website employs strong security measures with a valid SSL certificate using modern TLS 1.2, and Google Web Risk confirms no threats. While the certificate is from Amazon, it's a reputable issuer, and the lack of Certificate Transparency details is due to an inability to check, not necessarily a flaw.

Identity 98/100

This domain clearly belongs to UCLA, a well-known educational institution, with explicit WHOIS information for administrative and technical contacts. The domain has been active since 1985, demonstrating exceptional longevity and established presence.

Reputation 95/100

ucla.edu boasts an excellent reputation, evidenced by its high Tranco rank, lack of DNS blacklist entries, and a domain age spanning decades. This is precisely what you'd expect from a major university.

Transparency 95/100

The site is highly transparent, providing clear contact information, linking to multiple social media platforms, and maintaining a professional branding presence. This openness aligns perfectly with a public university's need to be accessible.

Compliance 95/100

ucla.edu has robust compliance, featuring both a privacy policy and terms of service, which are crucial for any organization handling user data, especially an educational institution. The .edu domain itself implies adherence to specific educational standards.

Infrastructure 90/100

The site benefits from a solid infrastructure, including proper DNS resolution, good email authentication (SPF and DMARC), and a well-maintained sitemap. The primary infrastructure concern is the slightly dated server software, though this is often managed by large organizations with ongoing patching.

Signals Detected

[+]
Tranco Rank: Rank #1307

This is a well-known, high-traffic website

[?]
Structured Data: None found

No structured data markup found

[?]
Trustpilot: No Trustpilot profile

This business has no Trustpilot presence — not unusual for smaller or newer companies

[?]
Certificate Transparency: Unable to check

crt.sh returned status 429

[+]
robots.txt: Present

robots.txt has 3 directives and references a sitemap

[+]
Branding: Complete

Site has custom branding and social media metadata

[+]
Sitemap: 145 pages

Site maintains a proper sitemap with 145 indexed pages

[+]
Clickjacking Protection: Present

X-Frame-Options: sameorigin

[?]
Server: Apache/2.4.66 () PHP/7.2.34

Web server: Apache/2.4.66 () PHP/7.2.34

[+]
Google Web Risk: Clean

No threats detected by Google Web Risk

[+]
DNS Blacklists: Clean

Not found on any DNS blacklists

[+]
SSL Certificate: Valid

Valid certificate, expires in 151 days

[?]
Certificate Issuer: Amazon

Certificate issued by Amazon

[+]
TLS Version: TLS 1.2

Connection uses TLS 1.2

[+]
DNS Resolution: 2 IP(s)

Resolves to: 15.197.181.170, 3.33.167.235

[+]
Email (MX Records): 1 record(s)

Mail servers: smtp.google.com.

[+]
SPF Record: Present

Domain has SPF email authentication configured

[+]
DMARC Record: Present

Domain has DMARC email authentication configured

[?]
Name Servers: 4 server(s)

DNS providers: ns4.dns.ucla.edu., ns1.dns.ucla.edu., ns3.dns.ucla.edu., ns2.dns.ucla.edu.

[+]
Website Status: Online

Website is live and responding

[+]
Contact Info: Found

Website appears to have contact information

[+]
Legal Pages: Privacy & Terms found

Website has both privacy policy and terms of service pages

[+]
Social Media Presence: 5 platforms

Website links to multiple social media platforms

[?]
Web Archive: Unable to check

Could not query Wayback Machine

[?]
Page Load Time: 1496ms

Average page load time

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As a prominent educational institution, ucla.edu operates as the official online gateway for the University of California, Los Angeles. When assessing the trustworthiness of an academic website like this, several factors are particularly important. Unlike an e-commerce site where transaction security might be paramount, or a tech startup with a short history, a major university's site should exude stability, authority, and comprehensive information. UCLA.edu fulfills these expectations admirably. Its domain has been active since 1985, a truly remarkable lifespan that far predates the modern internet. This long history is a foundational indicator of legitimacy, signaling deep institutional roots and continuous online presence—something you'd rarely see with a fraudulent site. Furthermore, the explicit WHOIS information, detailing official university contacts, reinforces its authenticity. You can easily identify who owns and manages the domain, which is a critical sign of transparency. For an educational portal, comprehensive and accessible information is key. UCLA.edu provides clear contact details, integrates with social media, and includes essential legal pages like a privacy policy and terms of use. These elements are standard practice for any reputable educational body. The website also employs strong technical safeguards, including robust email authentication and clickjacking protection, reflecting a commitment to protecting its users and its brand online. While the server software appears slightly older, it’s common for large, complex organizations to manage their update cycles carefully, and the overall security posture remains very strong. In short, ucla.edu easily meets and often exceeds what's expected from a genuine university website.