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Security report for bafg.de

Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG) · Government · Germany

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG) is a German federal government scientific institute specializing in hydrology, water body usage, water quality, ecology, and water protection. The website serves as an authoritative platform providing comprehensive information about the institute's organizational structure, research activities, advisory roles, and public information services. It targets government agencies, researchers, environmental professionals, and the interested public. The site is built on the Government Site Builder CMS, reflecting official government standards and practices. The content is well-structured, professionally presented, and accessible, with clear navigation and mobile optimization. Technically, the website employs standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript, with no detected use of third-party advertising or tracking services. The site enforces HTTPS and includes a cookie consent mechanism, demonstrating good privacy compliance aligned with GDPR. However, explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not found, which could be improved to enhance transparency and security posture. From a security perspective, the site shows a solid baseline with HTTPS and no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. The WHOIS data and DNS configuration align with German government infrastructure, supporting the legitimacy and trustworthiness of the domain. No WAF or blocking mechanisms interfere with content access, allowing full analysis. Overall, the website presents a trustworthy, professional, and comprehensive digital presence for a federal scientific institution. Strategic recommendations include publishing explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure information to further strengthen security and compliance transparency.

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

5 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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1

  3. 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

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching bafg.de

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.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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Full report

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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
77
Security headers
55
Email security
60
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
33
Average
65

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

BfG holds a strong market position as a federal scientific institute providing essential research and advisory services in water management and environmental protection. Its business model is government-funded research and policy support, targeting public sector stakeholders and scientific communities. The website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive content and structured navigation, supporting its role as an authoritative information source. The absence of commercial advertising and tracking aligns with its government mandate. The organization benefits from a stable partnership ecosystem within federal agencies and international collaborations, as indicated by linked international data centers and research networks. Growth indicators include active research projects and public engagement through publications and events. The website's detailed organizational and research information supports transparency and stakeholder engagement, reinforcing its credibility and influence in environmental governance.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security posture with mandatory HTTPS encryption and a cookie consent banner, indicating awareness of privacy and security best practices. No security headers were explicitly detected in the provided HTML snippet, suggesting room for improvement by adding headers like Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security. There is no visible exposure of sensitive data or vulnerable libraries. However, the absence of a published security policy, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms limits transparency and incident readiness. No signs of malware, phishing, or WAF blocking were found. The WHOIS data is consistent and trustworthy, supporting domain legitimacy. To enhance security maturity, the organization should consider publishing a dedicated security policy, incident response procedures, and a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability reporting and improve stakeholder trust.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and standards.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact information, including security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  3. Implement and configure security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  4. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Continue maintaining GDPR compliance and enhance transparency around data protection officer contact details.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG)
Description
Die Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG) ist das wissenschaftliche Institut des Bundes auf den Gebieten der Hydrologie, der Gewässernutzung, der Gewässerbeschaffenheit, der Ökologie und des Gewässerschutzes.
Key services
Scientific research in hydrology and ecology, Policy advice and operational management support, Data portals and environmental monitoring services, Public information and education
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS, JavaScript
Frameworks
Government Site Builder
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent banner implemented
  • No visible exposed sensitive data

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a German federal government scientific institute site.
  2. Content is comprehensive and well-structured.
  3. No signs of blocking or WAF interference.
  4. No visible contact emails or phone numbers on homepage HTML snippet.
  5. Privacy and cookie policies are present and GDPR compliant.
  6. No explicit security policy or incident response contacts found.
  7. No advertising or tracking scripts detected.
  8. Uses Government Site Builder CMS, indicating official government usage.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using the Government Site Builder CMS, a specialized platform for German federal government sites, ensuring compliance with government standards. The technology stack includes modern HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript with responsive design for mobile devices. The site uses canonical links, meta viewport tags, and structured data (JSON-LD) for SEO and accessibility. Performance is moderate, with no heavy third-party scripts or advertising detected, contributing to faster load times. Accessibility features such as ARIA labels and skip navigation links are implemented, enhancing usability for assistive technologies. The site is hosted on infrastructure consistent with German government DNS servers, supporting reliability and security. Opportunities exist to modernize security headers and enhance incident response capabilities to reduce technical risks.
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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