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Security report for braincity.berlin

Brain City Berlin · Education · Germany

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

54/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Brain City Berlin is an information and networking platform dedicated to promoting Berlin as a leading science metropolis in Europe. The website provides comprehensive content about research developments, funding opportunities, events, and a vibrant ambassador program featuring prominent figures from Berlin's scientific community. The platform targets researchers, academics, students, and stakeholders interested in Berlin's science ecosystem. Technically, the site is built on TYPO3 CMS with modern JavaScript libraries and integrates consent management for GDPR compliance. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and consent mechanisms, though explicit security headers and policies are not evident. Overall, the site is professional, content-rich, and trustworthy, with good user experience and mobile optimization.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 100 · Medium
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. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  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
    • 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';…
  3. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • 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

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

Keep watching braincity.berlin

This scan found 25 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
85
Security headers
15
Email security
60
DNS health
70
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
53
Average
54

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 braincity.berlin, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for braincity.berlin right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

Brain City Berlin occupies a niche as a science marketing and networking portal for the Berlin region, leveraging partnerships with academic institutions and research centers. Its business model focuses on information dissemination and community building rather than direct commercial transactions. The presence of an ambassador program and social media channels enhances its outreach and credibility. The platform supports Berlin's positioning as a top European science hub, targeting international and local scientific audiences. Growth potential lies in expanding digital engagement and formalizing security and privacy policies to strengthen trust.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS and integration of a consent management platform, indicating GDPR awareness. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and lack of published security or incident response policies represent areas for improvement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analyzed content. The site would benefit from publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy and providing clear security contact channels to enhance incident response readiness and user trust.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish explicit security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Add a clearly accessible privacy policy page detailing data processing and GDPR compliance.
  3. Publish a security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  4. Introduce a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and conduct regular security audits to maintain high security standards.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Brain City Berlin
Description
Brain City Berlin is an online portal dedicated to the science metropolis Berlin, providing information about research developments, funding opportunities, events, networks between science and economy, and ambassadors.
Key services
Information dissemination about science and research in Berlin, Promotion of funding opportunities, Event announcements, Networking facilitation between science and economy, Ambassador program
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
TYPO3 CMS, JavaScript, Firebase (firebase-app.js, firebase-firestore.js), Slick Slider, Comply-App Consent Management
Frameworks
TYPO3 CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Consent management implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Marketing tools
Comply-App Consent Management
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content about Berlin's science ecosystem.
  2. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly found on the homepage or main HTML content.
  3. Strong focus on ambassador program and science stories.
  4. Consent management implemented via comply-app.com scripts.
  5. No explicit privacy policy or terms of service pages detected in the provided content.
  6. Use of TYPO3 CMS and modern JavaScript libraries.
  7. Social media presence on Instagram and LinkedIn confirmed.
  8. No signs of security or content blocking mechanisms.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by TYPO3 CMS, a robust open-source content management system, and uses modern JavaScript libraries including Firebase for potential backend services and Slick Slider for UI components. Consent management is handled by comply-app.com, indicating a focus on privacy compliance. The site loads with moderate performance and is mobile optimized with responsive design. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and Open Graph data. No major technical debt or deprecated technologies were detected. Opportunities exist to improve accessibility and implement advanced security headers to reduce risk.
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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