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Security report for ard.de

ARD · Media · Germany

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

ARD is a major German public broadcasting organization providing a wide range of media services including video streaming, news, sports, podcasts, and children's programming. It holds a leading market position in Germany's public media sector, supported by a network of regional broadcasters. The website reflects a mature digital presence with excellent content quality and strong branding consistency. Technically, the site uses modern web technologies such as React and is hosted on professional infrastructure with Brandshelter nameservers. Mobile optimization and accessibility are well implemented, contributing to a positive user experience. Security posture is good with HTTPS enforced, but lacks explicit security headers and incident response information. Privacy compliance is indicated by the presence of a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service, though a cookie consent mechanism is not evident. Overall, the site is trustworthy and professionally maintained, serving a general audience with safe content.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of ard.de. View the latest report

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. 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

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This scan found 24 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
72
Security headers
70
Email security
75
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
68

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 ard.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
7,730
Employees
0
Customers
7,690
Third parties
40
Weak passwords
7%

37 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for ard.de.

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Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

ARD operates as a public broadcaster funded by broadcasting fees, targeting a broad German-speaking audience with diverse media offerings. Its business model emphasizes public service media with no direct advertising detected on the site. The organization benefits from a strong partnership ecosystem comprising regional broadcasters and related media entities. The website's extensive linking to partner domains and branded content reinforces its authoritative market position. Growth indicators include digital streaming services and podcast platforms. The absence of direct contact emails or phone numbers on the main site suggests centralized contact management, typical for large public institutions.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security foundation with HTTPS enabled and no visible exposure of sensitive data. However, the lack of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represents an area for improvement. No explicit security or incident response policies are published, which could enhance transparency and readiness. The absence of a cookie consent mechanism may pose compliance risks under GDPR. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be strengthened by adopting additional best practices and publishing relevant policies.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and preparedness.
  3. Introduce a cookie consent banner or mechanism to ensure full GDPR compliance and user awareness.
  4. Provide direct contact information for security incidents, such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to avoid vulnerabilities and ensure secure libraries.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
ARD
Description
ARD is a German public broadcasting organization offering a variety of media services including video streaming, news, sports, podcasts, and children's programming.
Key services
ARD Mediathek (video and livestreams), Tagesschau (news), Sportschau (sports content), ARD Audiothek (podcasts and radio), KiKA (children's programming)
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, CSS, JSON-LD structured data
Frameworks
React
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No visible exposed sensitive data
  • Use of modern JavaScript bundling

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is rich, professionally presented, and targeted at a broad German-speaking audience.
  3. Strong branding and multiple official partner domains linked.
  4. No explicit security policy or incident response pages found.
  5. No visible cookie consent mechanism despite GDPR compliance indications.
  6. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in the HTML content.
  7. Use of modern web technologies and mobile optimization is excellent.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using modern front-end technologies, likely React, with JavaScript and CSS assets properly bundled and deferred for performance. Hosting is managed via Brandshelter, indicating professional DNS and domain management. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features. SEO is supported by comprehensive meta tags, Open Graph data, and JSON-LD structured data describing the organization and its brands. Performance is moderate, with loading indicators present for dynamic content. No CMS is explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or headless CMS solution. Technical risks are minimal but could be mitigated by adding security headers and improving privacy mechanisms.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 68/100 −5Medium33 findingsView report
  2. 73/100Medium26 findingsView report
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