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Security report for apa.at

APA – Austria Presse Agentur · Media · Austria

Partial score · DNS & email only

66/100

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

APA – Austria Presse Agentur is Austria's leading national news agency, owned by twelve Austrian daily newspapers and the ORF. The company provides comprehensive news distribution, media monitoring, PR tools, content creation, IT infrastructure, and AI-powered media solutions. The website reflects a mature digital presence with a professional design, clear navigation, and extensive content tailored to media professionals and corporate clients. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern frameworks like Vue.js and Vuetify, and incorporates consent management and analytics tools, ensuring GDPR compliance. Security posture is strong with HTTPS and consent mechanisms, though explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not publicly detailed. Overall, the site demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and compliance with European data protection standards.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
80/ 100 · Low
Checks completed
6of 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

2 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  2. GDPR outside view

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

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

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Keep watching apa.at

This scan found 12 issues across 5 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
0
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
80
Average
66

Not counted

  • Security headers: did not complete in this scan.
  • 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

APA holds a dominant market position as Austria's primary news agency, leveraging ownership by major media outlets and the national broadcaster. Its business model combines traditional news services with innovative IT and AI solutions, targeting media professionals, PR experts, and corporate clients. The company emphasizes quality and reliability, supported by certifications and quality initiatives. The partnership ecosystem includes whistleblowing and compliance platforms, enhancing corporate governance. Growth indicators include expansion into AI tools and digital communication solutions. The website's comprehensive service offerings and clear contact channels support strong client engagement and market reach.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, consent management via Usercentrics, and no visible exposure of sensitive data. External links are managed to open in new tabs, reducing clickjacking risks. However, the absence of a dedicated security policy page and incident response contact channels limits transparency. No security headers were detected in the HTML content, suggesting room for improvement. The use of third-party scripts like Google Tag Manager and Usercentrics is standard but requires ongoing monitoring for vulnerabilities. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be enhanced by publishing explicit policies and implementing additional HTTP security headers.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and commitments.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact information, such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  3. Implement HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Consider publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
APA – Austria Presse Agentur
Description
Die APA – Austria Presse Agentur ist die nationale Nachrichtenagentur und der wichtigste Informationsdienst des Landes. Sie befindet sich im Eigentum von zwölf österreichischen Tageszeitungen und des ORF. Außerdem bietet sie Services als Kommunikations- und Informationsagentur an.
Key services
News distribution, Media monitoring, PR tools, Content creation, IT infrastructure and hosting, AI tools for media
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Vue.js, Vuetify, Google Tag Manager, Usercentrics (consent management), Contact Form 7
Frameworks
Vuetify, WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Consent management implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • External links open in new tabs to prevent clickjacking

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Marketing tools
Usercentrics
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and no blocking mechanisms.
  2. Strong presence of GDPR-compliant privacy and cookie policies with consent management.
  3. Comprehensive contact information including emails, phone numbers, physical address, and contact forms.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and frameworks with good SEO and accessibility practices.
  5. No signs of suspicious or malicious content or domains.
  6. Social media presence on Facebook and LinkedIn with official company pages.
  7. No explicit security policy or incident response contact found on the site.
  8. Certifications and quality initiatives are mentioned but not detailed on the homepage.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS enhanced with Vue.js and Vuetify frameworks, indicating a modern and interactive frontend. It uses Usercentrics for GDPR-compliant consent management and Google Tag Manager for analytics integration. The site loads fonts and scripts efficiently with preload hints, supporting performance. Mobile optimization is good with responsive design elements. Accessibility is basic but present. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and Open Graph data. Hosting provider details are not explicitly found. Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization in loading times and accessibility enhancements. The technical stack is robust for a media agency but could benefit from further 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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