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Security report for berliner-zeitung.de

Berliner Zeitung · Media · Germany

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

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Berliner Zeitung is a well-established German news media organization founded in 1945, focusing on independent news and analysis from Berlin, Brandenburg, Germany, and the world. The website serves a general audience with news, commentary, and cultural content, positioning itself as a key regional media player. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies including Next.js, React, and Cloudflare for hosting and security, along with Chartbeat for analytics and Imgix for image optimization. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization and SEO practices but lacks explicit privacy and cookie policies in the analyzed content. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and Cloudflare protection, though additional security headers and incident response information are absent. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and safe for general audiences, with room for improvement in privacy compliance and security transparency.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
45/ 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 SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-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

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Keep watching berliner-zeitung.de

This scan found 21 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
75
Email security
70
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
45
Average
70

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 berliner-zeitung.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
388
Employees
0
Customers
329
Third parties
59
Weak passwords
18%

13 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 berliner-zeitung.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

Berliner Zeitung operates in the media sector, delivering news and analysis primarily targeting residents of Berlin and surrounding regions. Its business model is based on news publishing, likely supported by advertising and subscriptions. The company has a strong brand presence with consistent branding and social media engagement. The domain age and WHOIS data confirm a long-standing presence, enhancing credibility. The website integrates third-party services for analytics and content delivery but does not expose sensitive business or contact information in the analyzed content. There is no evidence of affiliate or partner domains beyond social media and content delivery networks.

Security posture

The website benefits from HTTPS encryption and Cloudflare's DNS and security services, providing a robust baseline security posture. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options reduces defense-in-depth. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files were found, limiting transparency for security researchers. The site uses JavaScript-based analytics (Chartbeat), which implies moderate user tracking. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided content. Incident response and security policy information are not publicly visible, which could hinder rapid response to security incidents.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies to enhance GDPR compliance and user trust.
  2. Add standard security headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options) to strengthen security posture.
  3. Publish a security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  4. Consider adding a security.txt file and vulnerability disclosure program to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and conduct audits to improve inclusivity and compliance with standards.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Berliner Zeitung
Description
Berliner Zeitung - Nachrichten aus Berlin, Berliner Bezirken und Brandenburg sowie aus Deutschland und der Welt. Berichte, Kommentare und Analysen zu Politik, Kultur, Sport.
Key services
news reporting, commentary, analysis
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Next.js, Cloudflare, Chartbeat, Imgix
Frameworks
Next.js
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cloudflare DNS and protection

Analytics and tracking

Services
Chartbeat
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Chartbeat
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional news media outlet with a long history.
  2. Uses modern web technologies and CDN for performance and security.
  3. Lacks explicit privacy, cookie, and terms of service pages in the provided content.
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in the HTML snippet.
  5. Social media presence is confirmed via JSON-LD and meta tags.
  6. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure found.
  7. Content is safe and suitable for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern React and Next.js framework, leveraging Cloudflare for DNS and CDN services, which supports performance and security. Image assets are optimized via Imgix, and analytics are handled by Chartbeat. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and uses preloading and preconnect hints for performance. However, no CMS was explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary solution. The site lacks some advanced SEO and accessibility features but maintains good meta tags and structured data for search engines. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in loading speed and accessibility compliance.
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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