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Security report for acib.at

acib GmbH · Technology · Austria

High risk. 8 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

42/100

Risk levelHigh

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

acib GmbH is an international research center specializing in industrial biotechnology, focusing on sustainable and advanced processes for the biotech, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries. The website targets industry professionals, scientists, and the public, offering information about research projects, events, and career opportunities. The company maintains a moderate digital presence with a WordPress-based website enhanced by Elementor and several embedded multimedia services. However, the absence of a valid SSL certificate and HTTPS significantly undermines the site's security posture. While privacy compliance is well addressed through a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism, the lack of explicit security policies and incident response information indicates room for improvement in security governance. Overall, the site is professional and trustworthy but requires urgent security enhancements to protect user data and improve 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

8 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 acib.at

This scan found 20 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

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

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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
15
Email security
50
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
0
Average
42

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 positions itself as a key player in industrial biotechnology research with a focus on sustainability and technological advancement. Its partnerships with academic institutions like TU Graz and use of whistleblower services indicate a commitment to compliance and ethical standards. The business model revolves around research and development services, targeting industry and scientific communities. The website content and navigation are well structured, supporting user engagement and information dissemination. Social media integration supports outreach and brand visibility. The lack of phone and physical address details online may limit direct contact options but aligns with a research-focused organization model.

Security posture

The security posture is weak due to the absence of HTTPS and valid SSL certificates, exposing users to potential data interception risks. No modern TLS protocols or security headers such as HSTS are implemented, further weakening transport security. The presence of Wordfence security plugin indicates some level of protection against attacks, but server-level security configurations are insufficient. No incident response or security policy documentation is publicly available, which could hinder timely response to security incidents. The cookie consent mechanism and privacy policy demonstrate good privacy practices, but overall security maturity is low.

Recommendations

  1. Install and maintain a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS across the entire website.
  2. Enable modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 or TLS 1.3) and configure security headers including HSTS.
  3. Publish a clear security policy and incident response plan accessible to users and partners.
  4. Enhance contact information transparency by adding phone numbers and physical address details if applicable.
  5. Regularly audit and update all plugins and server software to mitigate vulnerabilities.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS with Elementor page builder, using Apache web server hosted by world4you.at. It integrates multiple third-party multimedia services such as Spotify, Vimeo, YouTube, and Google Fonts. Performance metrics are missing, but the lack of caching headers and SSL may contribute to slower load times. Mobile optimization is good, and SEO practices are adequate with proper meta tags and alternate language links. Accessibility features are basic but present. The technical stack is modern but requires security hardening and performance optimization.
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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