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Security report for 4wardenergy.at

4ward Energy Research GmbH · Energy · Austria

High risk. 9 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 2 other checks.

Security score

30/100

Risk levelHigh

0–100, higher is better. How it is calculated

4ward Energy Research GmbH is a specialized research institution focused on energy technologies and energy economics. The company offers a broad range of services including technology development, business model creation, concept and study preparation, simulations, and knowledge transfer. Their expertise spans project leadership and coordination, particularly within national and EU research funding frameworks. The website targets research projects, companies, and municipalities involved in the energy sector, positioning itself as a reliable partner with extensive experience and a strong network. Technically, the website is built on TYPO3 CMS with modern frontend libraries such as Bootstrap and jQuery, ensuring good mobile responsiveness and user experience. However, the site lacks HTTPS support, which is a critical security shortfall. Security headers are minimal but some best practices like X-Content-Type-Options are implemented. Privacy compliance is addressed with a cookie consent mechanism and a comprehensive privacy policy in German. Contact information is clearly presented with official company email, phone, and physical address. Overall, the website is professional and content-rich but requires urgent security improvements to protect user data and enhance trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
0/ 100 · Critical
Checks completed
7of 7

NIS2 Art. 21(2)

  1. (a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
  2. (b) Incident handling: One indicator
  3. (c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
  4. (d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
  5. (e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
  6. (f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
  7. (g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
  8. (h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
  9. (i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
  10. (j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside

This scan rated NIS2 with an earlier keyword method that is no longer shown; rescan for the per-article view. Risk management, continuity, supply chain, training, MFA, management oversight (Art. 20) and incident reporting (Art. 23) need internal evidence, and Guard cannot tell whether NIS2 applies to this organisation.

GDPR is indicative only, based on publicly visible signals: Articles 7, 12, 13 and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Not a certification or legal assessment.

Priority findings

9 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • Critical

      EU business without adequate privacy measures

      EU businesses are subject to strict GDPR requirements

      What to do: Implement comprehensive GDPR compliance including privacy policy, cookie consent, and data protection measures

    • Critical

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

  2. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

  3. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • High

      Missing X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching 4wardenergy.at

This scan found 19 issues across 6 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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Results by check

Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.

How this score is calculated

The security score runs 0–100, higher is better. It is the plain average of the security checks that completed in this scan, each counted equally. A check that could not run is left out: it counts neither as a pass nor as a fail.

Counted in this score

SSL/TLS
0
Security headers
25
Email security
50
DNS health
85
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
0
Average
30

Not counted

  • NIS2 outside view: Re-weights evidence from the TLS, email, DNS, network and hygiene checks, so counting it would count that evidence twice. Shown on its own.
  • OffSeq Observations: An AI reading of the site, useful context but not reproducible evidence. Shown on its own.

Findings that cap the score at 49

Each of these is serious on its own, so while any is present the site cannot rate better than high risk, however good the other checks are.

  • The certificate is not trusted by browsers
  • The website is not served over HTTPS
  • A database, remote desktop, file-sharing or Telnet service is reachable from the internet
  • The page loads a script from a compromised source
  • The domain registration has expired
  • SPF authorises every server to send mail as the domain

Partial scans

When the site blocks Guard or most checks cannot run, the score covers only the checks that ran (usually DNS and email), is capped at 75 and is shown as partial, without a risk level.

Risk levels

  • Critical0–25
  • High26–49
  • Medium50–75
  • Low76–100

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

The company operates in the energy sector, focusing on research and development of energy systems, business models, and technologies. Their business model revolves around research projects, consultancy, and dissemination of knowledge. The presence of a Gender Equality Plan and references to EU and national funding programs indicate a well-established research entity with compliance awareness. The target audience includes research partners, industry stakeholders, and public entities. The company leverages partnerships with software and design firms for website development, indicating a collaborative ecosystem. The lack of social media presence on the site suggests a focus on direct professional engagement rather than broad marketing. The company size appears small but specialized, with a consistent brand identity and trust signals such as official documentation and contact transparency.

Security posture

The current security posture is weak due to the absence of a valid SSL/TLS certificate, resulting in no HTTPS support. This exposes users to potential interception and undermines trust. Security headers are limited, with only X-Content-Type-Options and X-UA-Compatible present. No advanced headers like Content-Security-Policy or Referrer-Policy are implemented. The server runs an outdated PHP version (7.2.34), which may have unpatched vulnerabilities. No evidence of incident response or security policies is found on the site. Cookie consent is implemented, supporting privacy compliance. Overall, the site requires immediate remediation of SSL/TLS issues and enhancement of security headers to meet modern standards.

Recommendations

  1. Obtain and install a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS across the entire site.
  2. Enable HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) with includeSubDomains and preload options.
  3. Upgrade PHP to a supported and secure version to reduce vulnerability risks.
  4. Implement additional security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, Referrer-Policy, and X-Frame-Options.
  5. Publish a security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
4ward Energy Research GmbH
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on TYPO3 CMS with PHP 7.2.34 and served by Apache. Frontend technologies include Bootstrap 4.5.0, jQuery 3.5.1, Popper.js, FontAwesome, and cookieconsent for GDPR compliance. The site uses external CDNs for scripts and stylesheets, improving load times but relying on third-party services. DNS records indicate hosting likely with A1.net. Performance metrics are unavailable, but the site appears moderately optimized with responsive design and clear navigation. Accessibility is basic, with room for improvement. SEO is basic with proper meta tags and canonical links. The lack of HTTPS and outdated PHP version represent technical debt and security risks. No forms are present on the main page, reducing attack surface but also limiting user interaction. Overall, the technical infrastructure is functional but requires modernization and security hardening.
Standards and sources

Reference chips under each finding point to the standard, regulation or specification the finding relates to. They are taken from the official datasets below and mapped conservatively: a finding with no defensible link shows none. NIS2 and GDPR references mark where a finding is relevant evidence, not a compliance verdict. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 binds digital infrastructure and digital service providers; for other entities it is the most detailed public reading of the Article 21 measures. WCAG, EN 301 549, European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive references name the requirement an automated accessibility rule relates to; they are not a conformance verdict.

Retrieved 2026-10-25

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