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Security report for alanus-hochschule.de

Alanus Hochschule für Kunst und Gesellschaft · Education · Germany

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

62/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Alanus Hochschule für Kunst und Gesellschaft is a recognized private university located between Cologne and Bonn, Germany, specializing in arts, society, and related academic disciplines. The institution offers a variety of degree programs and continuing education courses, targeting students interested in creative and social fields. The website reflects a medium-sized educational institution with a consistent brand presence and multiple accreditations, enhancing its market credibility. Technically, the website is built on TYPO3 CMS with Bootstrap and jQuery frameworks, providing a responsive and user-friendly experience. The site includes modern web technologies and a cookie consent mechanism aligned with GDPR requirements. However, some security best practices such as HTTP security headers are not evident, and the SSL configuration details are not explicitly available. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates good privacy compliance and cookie management but lacks visible incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies. The WHOIS data query was unsuccessful due to querying a subdomain, limiting domain registration trust insights. Overall, the website is professional and trustworthy but could improve in security transparency and technical hardening. Strategic recommendations include implementing comprehensive security headers, publishing security and incident response policies, and correcting WHOIS queries to ensure domain registration transparency. These steps will enhance trust and security posture, supporting the institution's reputation and compliance obligations.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 100 · Low
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

5 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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"

    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

  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.

    • High

      Weak Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1

  3. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • High

      High-Risk Service Exposed: FTP

      Port 21 (FTP) is publicly accessible - FTP - Often unencrypted file transfer

      What to do: Consider restricting access to FTP or implementing strong authentication

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

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

Keep watching alanus-hochschule.de

This scan found 21 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
72
Security headers
30
Email security
80
DNS health
85
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
83
Average
62

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

Alanus Hochschule operates in the private higher education sector in Germany, focusing on arts and social sciences. Its competitive advantage lies in its accreditations, awards, and a broad portfolio of academic and continuing education programs. The institution targets students seeking specialized education in creative and societal fields, supported by counseling and financing services. The website's integration with social media and marketing tools indicates active engagement with prospective students. Growth indicators include international partnerships and recognized certifications. The business model is tuition and certificate-based education, with a strong emphasis on quality and accreditation.

Security posture

The website shows a moderate security maturity level with GDPR-compliant cookie consent and privacy policies. However, the absence of visible HTTP security headers and lack of published security or incident response policies indicate gaps in security transparency and best practices. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. The WHOIS data is incomplete due to querying a subdomain, which reduces domain registration trustworthiness. Overall, the security posture is adequate for an educational institution but can be improved by adopting additional security controls and publishing clear security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Implement HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  3. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  4. Ensure WHOIS queries target the root domain (alanus.edu) to obtain accurate registration data and improve trust.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries to mitigate risks from outdated or vulnerable components.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Alanus Hochschule für Kunst und Gesellschaft
Description
Die Alanus Hochschule für Kunst und Gesellschaft ist eine staatlich anerkannte private Hochschule zwischen Köln und Bonn.
Key services
Degree programs in arts, architecture, eurythmy, pedagogy, business, and therapy, Continuing education and certificate programs, Student services including counseling and financing advice
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Bootstrap 3, TYPO3 CMS, MixItUp, Cycle2, Font Awesome, Cookie Consent Manager
Frameworks
TYPO3 CMS, Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • Cookie consent with granular options
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of HTTPS implied by canonical URL

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google AdSense, Facebook Ads
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel
Marketing tools
Google Ads
Transparency
good

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content in German language.
  2. Uses TYPO3 CMS with Bootstrap and jQuery libraries.
  3. Includes cookie consent modal with granular options and GDPR compliance.
  4. No visible security headers in HTML source; SSL status unknown but HTTPS used in canonical URL.
  5. WHOIS data query was done on www.alanus.edu which is a subdomain, causing no WHOIS data to be found.
  6. Multiple accreditations and awards displayed as trust signals.
  7. Contact information is available via contact page and phone number in meta description.
  8. Social media presence on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn.
  9. No terms of service page clearly found.
  10. No explicit security or incident response policy pages found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses TYPO3 CMS, a robust open-source content management system, combined with Bootstrap 3 and jQuery for responsive design and interactivity. The presence of cookie consent scripts and lazy loading for YouTube videos indicates attention to performance and privacy. However, the site lacks explicit security headers and detailed SSL configuration information. The performance is moderate, with good mobile optimization and basic accessibility features. SEO is supported by meta tags and canonical URLs. Opportunities exist to modernize the tech stack and enhance security configurations to reduce technical risks.
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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