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Security report for allianz-der-wissenschaftsorganisationen.de

Allianz der Wissenschaftsorganisationen · Government · Germany

High risk. 9 critical or high findings in Email security, Network security and 3 other checks.

Security score

44/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The Allianz der Wissenschaftsorganisationen is a prominent alliance of leading German scientific organizations dedicated to promoting science, research, and innovation. The website serves as a professional platform to communicate scientific policy positions, initiatives, and collaborative efforts among its members. It targets scientific institutions, policymakers, researchers, and the general public interested in science policy. The alliance holds a strong market position as a key representative body in the German scientific landscape. Technically, the website is built on a modern WordPress CMS with a robust tech stack including Yoast SEO, WPML for multilingual support, and Borlabs Cookie for privacy compliance. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, SEO practices, and moderate performance. Analytics are handled via Matomo Tag Manager, reflecting a privacy-conscious approach. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and implements cookie consent mechanisms. While no critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected, there is room for improvement in security headers and formal security policies. The WHOIS data aligns well with the website's identity, indicating a legitimate and consistent domain registration. Overall, the website presents a trustworthy, professional, and well-maintained digital presence for a non-profit scientific alliance. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, publishing explicit security policies, and continuing to maintain compliance with privacy regulations.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 100 · Medium
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. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  2. Network security

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

    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: MySQL

      Port 3306 (MySQL) is publicly accessible - MySQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to MySQL using firewall or VPN

      • 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
    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: PostgreSQL

      Port 5432 (PostgreSQL) is publicly accessible - PostgreSQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to PostgreSQL using firewall or VPN

      • 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

  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 allianz-der-wissenschaftsorganisationen.de

This scan found 31 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.

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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
62
Security headers
15
Email security
60
DNS health
60
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
68
Average
44

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 · found on this site
  • 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 Allianz der Wissenschaftsorganisationen operates as a non-profit consortium representing major German scientific organizations. Its competitive advantage lies in its unified voice for science policy and its strong partnerships with leading research institutions. The business model focuses on advocacy, coordination, and dissemination of scientific policy positions rather than commercial revenue streams. Target customers include government bodies, research organizations, and the scientific community. Growth indicators include active initiatives and policy statements. The partnership ecosystem is robust, involving top-tier German science organizations. Operationally, the alliance maintains a professional and credible online presence supporting its mission.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, cookie consent, and no visible sensitive data leaks. The use of Borlabs Cookie and Matomo Tag Manager indicates attention to privacy and data protection. However, the absence of explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options suggests potential areas for hardening. No incident response or security policy pages were found, which could be improved to enhance transparency and readiness. Overall, the site is secure for its purpose but would benefit from formalized security documentation and header implementation.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  3. Regularly update WordPress core and plugins to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to meet higher compliance standards.
  5. Maintain transparency on data retention and processing in privacy documentation.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Allianz der Wissenschaftsorganisationen
Description
Die Allianz der Wissenschaftsorganisationen ist ein Zusammenschluss führender deutscher Wissenschaftsorganisationen, die sich für die Förderung von Wissenschaft, Forschung und Innovation einsetzen. Sie unterstützt offene Wissenschaft, transparente Forschungsprozesse und vertritt gemeinsame Positionen zu wissenschaftspolitischen Themen.
Key services
Wissenschaftspolitische Stellungnahmen, Initiativen zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Forschung, Koordination und Vertretung der Mitgliedsorganisationen
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.2, Yoast SEO plugin, jQuery 3.7.1, Slick Carousel, Borlabs Cookie Consent, WPML (multilingual plugin), SearchWP Live Ajax Search, Videojs HTML5 Player
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
PHP-based CMS, Apache or similar (not explicitly stated)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data found in HTML
  • Use of security plugins (Borlabs Cookie)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo Tag Manager
Marketing tools
Yoast SEO, SearchWP Live Ajax Search
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 no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is in German and targeted at scientific and governmental audiences.
  3. Strong presence of major German scientific organizations as partners.
  4. Comprehensive cookie consent and privacy policy implemented.
  5. No terms of service page detected.
  6. Contact information includes official emails and phone numbers with organizational context.
  7. Use of modern WordPress plugins and SEO tools.
  8. No signs of security vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data in HTML.
  9. No advertising networks detected; only Matomo analytics used.
  10. Good mobile optimization and SEO practices observed.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by WordPress 6.8.2 with a suite of modern plugins for SEO, multilingual support, cookie management, and search functionality. The front-end uses jQuery and Slick Carousel for interactive elements. The site is well-structured with proper meta tags and JSON-LD structured data for SEO. Performance is moderate with room for optimization. Mobile responsiveness is good, and the site uses HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate. Hosting details are not explicit but DNS points to DFN name servers, indicating a reputable hosting environment. Technical risks are low but monitoring plugin updates and security patches is essential.
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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