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Security report for bmbf.de

Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt - BMFTR · Government · Germany

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

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt (BMFTR) is the official German federal ministry responsible for research, technology, and space affairs. The website serves as a comprehensive information portal targeting the general public, researchers, educational institutions, and government stakeholders. It provides extensive content on education, research initiatives, technological innovation, and space programs, positioning itself as a key government entity in these sectors. The site is professionally designed with consistent branding and clear navigation, supporting both German and English languages to cater to a broad audience. Technically, the website is built on the Government Site Builder CMS, a specialized platform for German federal administration websites. It employs modern web technologies including responsive CSS for mobile optimization, JSON-LD structured data for semantic clarity, and accessibility features such as ReadSpeaker for text-to-speech. Hosting is likely managed within the German academic network infrastructure, ensuring reliability and compliance with government standards. Performance is moderate with good SEO and accessibility practices. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS with strong SSL configuration and includes security headers. It implements a cookie consent mechanism compliant with GDPR, offering users control over statistical and external media cookies. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not published, representing areas for improvement. Overall, the website demonstrates a high level of professionalism, trustworthiness, and compliance with privacy regulations. It effectively supports the ministry's mission to disseminate information and engage with its audience. Strategic recommendations include publishing detailed security policies, establishing incident response contacts, and adding a vulnerability disclosure policy to enhance transparency and security posture.

Scanned

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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Keep watching bmbf.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
77
Security headers
80
Email security
70
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
71

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 bmbf.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
11
Employees
0
Customers
11
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
18%

2 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 bmbf.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

The BMFTR operates as a central government ministry in Germany, focusing on research, technology, and space. Its market position is authoritative and non-commercial, serving public and institutional stakeholders. The business model revolves around policy development, information dissemination, and support for research and innovation. Revenue streams are government-funded. The target customers include researchers, educational bodies, policymakers, and the general public. Growth indicators include extensive content offerings and multilingual support. The ministry maintains partnerships with other government entities and international research organizations, as reflected in linked domains and content. The website's comprehensive navigation and content depth indicate a mature digital presence aligned with government standards.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS, strong SSL, and security headers. Privacy compliance is robust, with GDPR-aligned cookie consent and anonymized analytics via Matomo. No critical vulnerabilities or sensitive data leaks were found in the content. However, the absence of explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure channels suggests gaps in transparency and readiness. The site uses third-party scripts like ReadSpeaker, which should be regularly audited. Overall, the security culture appears sound but could benefit from enhanced communication of security practices and incident handling procedures.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and standards.
  2. Establish and publicize incident response contact channels such as security@ or abuse@ emails.
  3. Implement and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries for vulnerabilities and update them promptly.
  5. Enhance transparency by providing more detailed information on data protection officers and compliance measures.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt - BMFTR
VAT number
DE 124 904 070
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt - BMFTR
Description
Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt - BMFTR
Key services
Information dissemination on education, research, technology, and space, Policy development and implementation, Support for research and innovation, Public communication and engagement
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Government Site Builder CMS, ReadSpeaker (text-to-speech), JSON-LD structured data, Responsive CSS stylesheets
Frameworks
Government Site Builder
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
excellent
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent banner with opt-in for statistics and external media
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of official government domain and DNS

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo (implied by cookie banner section)
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 an official German federal ministry site with comprehensive content on education, research, technology, and space.
  2. Content is well-structured with extensive navigation and multilingual support (German and English).
  3. Strong privacy and cookie consent mechanisms are implemented.
  4. No signs of advertising or commercial tracking beyond minimal anonymous statistics.
  5. No security or incident response contact information explicitly published.
  6. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  7. Technical implementation uses a government-specific CMS with accessibility and mobile optimization.
  8. WHOIS data is minimal but consistent with government domain norms.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Government Site Builder CMS, tailored for German federal administration, ensuring compliance and accessibility. It uses modern responsive CSS stylesheets for mobile optimization and includes accessibility tools like ReadSpeaker. Structured data in JSON-LD format improves SEO and semantic clarity. Hosting appears to be within the German academic network, providing stable and secure infrastructure. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization. The site includes comprehensive navigation with multi-level menus, supporting a large content base. Technical risks are minimal but include reliance on third-party scripts and the need for continuous security audits. Opportunities exist to modernize analytics and enhance performance further.
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. 70/100 +4Medium30 findingsView report
  2. 66/100Medium25 findingsView report
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