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Security report for bs.ch

Kanton Basel-Stadt · Government · Switzerland

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

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Kanton Basel-Stadt operates an official government website serving as the primary digital portal for residents, businesses, and visitors of the Basel-Stadt canton in Switzerland. The site provides comprehensive access to government topics, administrative services, and public information, positioning itself as an authoritative source for regional governance. The business model is focused on public service delivery and information dissemination. Technically, the website leverages modern web technologies including Nuxt.js and Tailwind CSS, ensuring a responsive and performant user experience across devices. The site demonstrates good accessibility and SEO practices, with structured data and Open Graph metadata enhancing content discoverability. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses modern frameworks, but lacks explicit security headers and published security policies. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analyzed content. Privacy compliance is limited due to the absence of visible privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the website is professionally designed, trustworthy, and well-positioned as a government portal. Strategic improvements in privacy disclosures, security headers, and incident response information would enhance its security posture and compliance.

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

5 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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';…

  2. 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

    • 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

  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

      SSL Certificate Expires Soon

      SSL certificate expires in 14 days

      What to do: Renew SSL certificate before expiration

      • NIS2 21(2)(h)
      • IR 2024/2690 9.2(c): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 9.2(c): Cryptography
      • NIST SC-17: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-17: Public Key Infrastructure Certificates

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

Keep watching bs.ch

This scan found 23 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

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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
25
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
69

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

The website serves as the official digital presence of the Basel-Stadt canton government, targeting local residents, businesses, and public officials. It holds a strong market position as the authoritative source for regional administrative information and services. The business model is non-commercial, focused on governance and public service. Key services include information dissemination, administrative forms, and public announcements. The site reflects a large government entity with consistent branding and high content quality. No commercial revenue streams or partnerships were identified in the provided data.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS and use of modern web frameworks. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options reduces its defense-in-depth. No vulnerability disclosures or incident response contacts are published, which limits transparency and readiness for security incidents. Privacy compliance is weak due to missing privacy and cookie policies. No signs of exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were found. Overall, the security posture is good but can be improved by adopting best practices in headers, policies, and incident response.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy to improve GDPR compliance.
  2. Add security headers including Content Security Policy, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Provide clear contact information for security incidents and establish a vulnerability disclosure program.
  4. Ensure all forms include anti-CSRF tokens and input validation to prevent injection attacks.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to avoid introducing vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Kanton Basel-Stadt
Description
Offizieller Auftritt des Kantons Basel-Stadt bzw. der Stadt Basel. Zugang zu allen Themen der Behörden, der Verwaltung und des Standorts.
Key services
Information on government topics, Access to administrative services, Public announcements, Search functionality for government resources
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Nuxt.js, Tailwind CSS, SVG icons, Modern JavaScript modules
Frameworks
Vue.js (via Nuxt.js)
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of modern JavaScript frameworks
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

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 government portal for Basel-Stadt canton.
  2. Content is comprehensive and well-structured for public use.
  3. No privacy or cookie policies were found on the homepage HTML.
  4. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers were found in the provided HTML snippet.
  5. Modern web technologies and responsive design are used.
  6. No advertising or tracking scripts detected in the provided content.
  7. No security incident or vulnerability disclosure information found.
  8. No security headers explicitly detected in the HTML content.
  9. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern JavaScript framework (Nuxt.js) with Tailwind CSS for styling, enabling a responsive and performant user experience. The use of SVG icons and module preloading indicates optimization efforts. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with semantic HTML and ARIA roles. No CMS was explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary solution. Performance is likely fast given the technology stack and resource preloading. Technical risks include lack of explicit security headers and missing privacy compliance features.
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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