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Security report for awi.de

Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung · Government · Germany

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

61/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Alfred-Wegener-Institut (AWI) is a prominent German research institute specializing in polar and marine sciences. It operates under the Helmholtz Association and coordinates Germany's polar research efforts, providing research vessels like the Polarstern and stations such as Neumayer-Station III. The website serves a diverse audience including scientists, students, and the general public interested in climate, ocean, and polar research. It offers extensive scientific content, project information, and educational resources. Technically, the site is built on TYPO3 CMS, uses jQuery and OwlCarousel for UI components, and employs Piwik (Matomo) for analytics, reflecting a mature and privacy-conscious digital infrastructure. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and no exposed sensitive data, though it lacks some advanced security headers and explicit incident response information. Privacy compliance is partially met with a comprehensive privacy policy but lacks a visible cookie consent mechanism. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained, representing a large government-affiliated research entity with a strong market position in polar and marine sciences.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
33/ 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

6 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"

    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

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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
35
Email security
55
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
33
Average
61

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

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

AWI holds a leading position in German and international polar research, supported by government funding and Helmholtz affiliation. Its business model focuses on scientific research, infrastructure operation, and knowledge transfer. The institute maintains partnerships and provides critical research infrastructure, including ships and stations, enhancing its competitive advantage. The website reflects a strong commitment to transparency, education, and outreach, targeting researchers, policymakers, and the public. The presence of multiple research groups and projects indicates a broad and active research portfolio. The lack of commercial advertising and affiliate programs aligns with its non-profit government research status.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security baseline with enforced HTTPS and no visible sensitive data leaks. Use of deferred and async script loading improves security and performance. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options suggests room for improvement. No explicit incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided, which could hinder rapid response to security issues. The use of Piwik (Matomo) analytics indicates a privacy-aware approach to user tracking. Overall, the security posture is solid but could be enhanced by implementing additional HTTP security headers and publishing incident response contacts.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  2. Add a visible cookie consent mechanism to comply fully with GDPR and enhance user privacy transparency.
  3. Publish clear incident response and vulnerability disclosure information to improve security readiness and trust.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries to ensure no vulnerabilities are introduced.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and continue optimizing mobile responsiveness to maintain excellent user experience.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung
Description
Das Alfred-Wegener-Institut forscht in den Polarregionen und Ozeanen der mittleren und hohen Breiten. Als eines von 18 Forschungszentren der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft koordiniert es Deutschlands Polarforschung und stellt Schiffe wie den Forschungseisbrecher Polarstern und Stationen wie die Neumayer-Station-III für die internationale Wissenschaft zur Verfügung.
Key services
Polar and marine research, Operation of research vessels and stations, Scientific data provision, Education and outreach, Technology and knowledge transfer
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
TYPO3 CMS, jQuery 1.4.4, OwlCarousel2, Piwik (Matomo) Analytics
Frameworks
TYPO3 CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of deferred and async script loading

Analytics and tracking

Services
Piwik (Matomo)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Piwik (Matomo)
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a comprehensive portal for the Alfred-Wegener-Institut, a German polar and marine research institute.
  2. Content is extensive, well-structured, and primarily in German with English alternate versions.
  3. No signs of blocking or WAF challenges; full content is accessible.
  4. Use of TYPO3 CMS and standard web technologies.
  5. Presence of Piwik (Matomo) analytics indicates privacy-conscious tracking.
  6. No explicit privacy or cookie consent banner detected, which may be a GDPR compliance gap.
  7. Contact information and legal imprint are present and accessible.
  8. No visible security headers in HTML source; potential area for improvement.
  9. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response information found.
  10. No advertising or affiliate programs detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by TYPO3 CMS, a robust and widely used open-source content management system, indicating a stable and scalable platform. It uses legacy jQuery 1.4.4, which is quite old and may pose security or compatibility risks; updating this library is advisable. OwlCarousel2 is used for UI carousels, and Piwik (Matomo) provides privacy-focused analytics. The site includes meta tags for SEO and social media integration, including Twitter cards and RSS feeds. Performance is moderate, with deferred and async script loading improving load times. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with skip links and ARIA labels. There is no indication of hosting provider or CDN from the HTML content. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but could benefit from modernization of JavaScript libraries and enhanced security headers.
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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