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Security report for ar.ch

Kantonale Verwaltung Appenzell Ausserrhoden · Government · Switzerland

Partial score · DNS & email only

62/100

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

The website ar.ch is the official online portal for the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland, providing comprehensive information and services related to the cantonal government. It serves citizens, businesses, and other stakeholders with access to government departments, news, legal resources, and public services. The site is well-structured, professionally designed, and consistent with government branding, reflecting a medium-sized government entity's digital presence. Technically, the site is built on TYPO3 CMS, leveraging modern web technologies including Matomo for analytics and Google reCAPTCHA for form security. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices, although performance is moderate. Security is robust with HTTPS enforced and appropriate security headers, but lacks some advanced security disclosures and cookie consent mechanisms. From a security perspective, the site shows a mature posture with no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. However, it could improve privacy compliance by implementing explicit cookie consent and publishing detailed security policies and incident response contacts. The WHOIS data aligns well with the official government identity, supporting the site's legitimacy. Overall, the site is a trustworthy, professional government portal with solid technical and security foundations but would benefit from enhanced privacy and security transparency to fully comply with modern regulations and best practices.

Scanned

3 of 7 checks could not complete. The site may be unreachable or blocking automated scans, so the results below cover only what could be checked. Try a rescan later.

NIS2 and GDPR posture

NIS2 outside view
Not assessed
GDPR outside view
Not assessed

Both readouts depend on the site's pages, which could not be loaded in this scan.

Priority findings

3 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.

    • 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
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 384-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

  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.

    • 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

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Keep watching ar.ch

This scan found 12 issues across 4 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
42
Email security
95
DNS health
90
Network security
20
Average
62

Not counted

  • Security headers: did not complete in this scan.
  • GDPR outside view: 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

The canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden operates this official government website to provide transparent access to its administrative functions and public services. The site positions itself as a key information hub for residents and businesses within the canton, offering detailed navigation through government departments, legal frameworks, and community services. The business model is public sector service delivery, funded by government budgets, with no commercial revenue streams. The presence of multiple social media channels and news updates indicates active engagement with the public. The site’s partnership ecosystem includes links to official Swiss geoportals and statistical resources, reinforcing its role as a government information provider. Growth indicators include ongoing updates and digital modernization efforts via TYPO3 CMS. Strategic observations highlight the importance of maintaining trust and compliance in a government context.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a strong security posture with HTTPS enforced and multiple security headers implemented, including HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and Content-Security-Policy. The use of Google reCAPTCHA protects forms from automated abuse, and Matomo analytics is self-hosted, reducing third-party data exposure. No sensitive data or credentials are exposed in the HTML content. However, the absence of a published security policy, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms represents gaps in transparency and readiness. GDPR compliance is partially addressed but lacks explicit cookie consent and detailed privacy statements. Overall, the site is secure but could enhance its security culture and compliance by publishing relevant policies and contact points.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a visible and compliant cookie consent banner to meet GDPR requirements.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and frameworks.
  3. Provide clear incident response contact information, including security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  4. Create and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to ensure no vulnerabilities are introduced.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Kantonale Verwaltung Appenzell Ausserrhoden
Description
Offizielle Website des Kantons Appenzell Ausserrhoden, bietet Informationen und Services der kantonalen Verwaltung.
Key services
Information on government departments, News and media releases, Public services for private individuals and businesses, Access to legal and administrative resources
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
TYPO3 CMS, Matomo Analytics, Google reCAPTCHA, jQuery
Frameworks
TYPO3 CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of reCAPTCHA for forms
  • Matomo analytics self-hosted
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is an official cantonal government portal for Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland
  2. Content is comprehensive with clear navigation and multiple service areas
  3. Use of TYPO3 CMS and modern web technologies
  4. Presence of official contact details and social media channels
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious content
  6. Lacks explicit cookie consent mechanism and detailed security policy pages
  7. Good SSL and security header implementation
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by TYPO3 CMS, a mature and widely used open-source content management system, indicating a stable and scalable infrastructure. The inclusion of Matomo analytics suggests a preference for privacy-conscious data collection. Google reCAPTCHA integration enhances form security. The site uses modern CSS and JavaScript assets, with preloading for performance optimization. Accessibility features such as ARIA roles and visually hidden headings are present, improving usability. The site is mobile responsive and SEO optimized with proper meta tags and canonical URLs. Performance is moderate, likely due to the complexity and size of the site content. Hosting details are not explicitly identified but the domain uses HTTPS with strong SSL configuration. Overall, the technical implementation is solid with opportunities for further performance tuning and enhanced privacy controls.
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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