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Security report for aqas.de

AQAS e.V. · Education · Germany

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and Security headers.

Security score

75/100

Risk levelMedium

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

AQAS e.V. is a German accreditation agency specializing in quality assurance for higher education institutions through program and system accreditation. The organization holds recognized certifications from European and international accreditation bodies, positioning it as a reputable entity in the education sector. The website presents clear service offerings including accreditation procedures, consulting, workshops, and international accreditation services, targeting academic institutions and stakeholders. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern plugins and a professional theme, offering good mobile optimization and SEO practices. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enabled and some obfuscation of emails, but lacks explicit security headers and cookie consent mechanisms. No forms or direct contact details are visible on the homepage, suggesting contact information is provided on dedicated pages. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and compliant with GDPR, though improvements in security policies and transparency are recommended.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
28/ 100 · High
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

4 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

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

    • 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

  2. 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 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 aqas.de

This scan found 18 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
90
Security headers
75
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
75

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention aqas.de, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for aqas.de right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

AQAS operates in the education sector as a non-profit accreditation agency, serving universities and academic programs primarily in Germany with international outreach. Its business model revolves around accreditation services, consulting, and workshops, supported by memberships in key European and global quality assurance networks. The presence of partner logos and external links to recognized accreditation bodies strengthens its market position and trustworthiness. The website content is well-structured and professionally presented, indicating a mature digital presence. However, the absence of visible contact details and privacy banners on the homepage may limit immediate user engagement. The agency's partnerships and certifications suggest a stable ecosystem and potential for growth within the higher education quality assurance market.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS, ensuring encrypted communication, and uses a mail obfuscation plugin to protect email addresses from scraping. However, no security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options were detected, which could enhance protection against common web attacks. There is no visible incident response or security policy information, nor a vulnerability disclosure mechanism, which are important for transparency and trust. The lack of a cookie consent mechanism may pose compliance risks under EU regulations. No vulnerable libraries or exposed sensitive data were identified in the provided content. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could be improved by implementing recommended headers, policies, and user consent mechanisms.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Add a visible cookie consent banner to comply with GDPR and ePrivacy Directive requirements.
  3. Publish explicit security and incident response policies on the website to enhance transparency.
  4. Establish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  5. Include clear contact information on the homepage or accessible pages to improve user trust and engagement.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
AQAS e.V.
Description
Agentur zur Qualitätssicherung an Hochschulen mit Sitz in Köln
Key services
Programmakkreditierung (Program Accreditation), Systemakkreditierung (System Accreditation), Zertifizierung, Beratung, Workshops (Certification, Consulting, Workshops), International Accreditation & Services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.3, jQuery 3.7.1, UberMenu plugin, MailObfuscator plugin, HTML5 Details Polyfill, Avada Theme
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Use of MailObfuscator to protect email addresses

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
poor

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 primarily in German with some English sections for international services.
  3. No visible contact emails or phone numbers on the homepage; contact info likely on other pages.
  4. No forms detected on the homepage; no data collection fields present.
  5. No explicit privacy or cookie banners found on the homepage.
  6. Website uses HTTPS and modern WordPress plugins and theme.
  7. No analytics or tracking scripts detected in the provided HTML.
  8. Partner logos and external links correspond to recognized accreditation bodies.
  9. No advertising or marketing scripts detected.
  10. No social media links found in the provided content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress 6.8.3 using the Avada theme and several plugins including UberMenu and MailObfuscator. It uses jQuery 3.7.1 and polyfills for HTML5 details elements, indicating attention to compatibility. The hosting provider is not explicitly identified but name servers suggest GoDaddy. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and basic accessibility features. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and Open Graph data. No analytics or tracking scripts were detected, indicating minimal user tracking. The site structure is clear with responsive design and consistent branding. Opportunities exist to enhance accessibility and security features to reduce technical debt and improve user experience.
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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