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Security report for bzst.de

Bundeszentralamt für Steuern · Government · Germany

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

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (Federal Central Tax Office) operates as the official German federal government agency responsible for tax administration and related services. The website serves multiple target audiences including private individuals, businesses, and government authorities, providing comprehensive tax-related information, digital services, and regulatory guidance. It holds a strong market position as the authoritative tax authority in Germany. Technically, the website is built on the Government Site Builder CMS and hosted by ITZBund, the federal IT service provider. It employs Matomo analytics hosted internally to ensure privacy compliance. The site is well-structured, mobile-optimized, and accessible, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure suitable for a government entity. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses cookie consent mechanisms aligned with GDPR. While explicit security headers and vulnerability disclosure pages are not detected, no critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. The WHOIS data aligns consistently with the official government entity, reinforcing legitimacy. Overall, the website demonstrates a high level of professionalism, trustworthiness, and compliance, with minor recommendations to enhance security headers and publish incident response or vulnerability disclosure information.

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 bzst.de

This scan found 22 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
67
Security headers
80
Email security
70
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
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 Bundeszentralamt für Steuern is positioned as a key government institution in Germany's tax ecosystem, providing essential services such as tax identification, withholding tax management, and international tax cooperation. Its business model is non-commercial, focused on regulatory and administrative functions. The website's comprehensive content and digital services indicate a strong commitment to serving diverse stakeholders including individuals, companies, and other authorities. The partnership with ITZBund for hosting and analytics reflects integration within federal IT infrastructure. Growth indicators include ongoing updates to tax regulations and digital service enhancements. The absence of commercial advertising or affiliate programs aligns with its government mandate.

Security posture

The website exhibits a solid security posture with enforced HTTPS, privacy-conscious analytics, and a cookie consent mechanism. No signs of malware, phishing, or exposed credentials were detected. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options suggests room for improvement. The lack of a public security policy or incident response contact limits transparency in security incident handling. Overall, the site is secure for users but could benefit from enhanced security header implementation and formal vulnerability disclosure processes to align with best practices.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to strengthen browser security.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and user trust.
  3. Introduce a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Maintain and regularly update cookie consent and privacy mechanisms to ensure ongoing GDPR compliance.
  5. Enhance contact information availability, including direct phone numbers or emails for support and security incidents.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Bundeszentralamt für Steuern
Description
Homepage des deutschsprachigen Auftritts
Key services
Tax identification numbers, Abzugsteuern (withholding taxes), Kindergeld (child benefits), Kapitalerträge (capital gains), International tax cooperation, Digital services like ELStAM, Information and forms for taxpayers and businesses
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

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

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is official German federal tax authority site.
  2. Content is comprehensive and well-structured for multiple audiences.
  3. Strong privacy and cookie consent mechanisms in place.
  4. No signs of phishing or malware.
  5. No direct contact emails or phone numbers publicly listed; contact via forms.
  6. Use of Matomo analytics hosted internally for privacy.
  7. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page.
  8. No advertising or affiliate marketing present.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using the Government Site Builder CMS, a specialized platform for federal government sites, ensuring compliance with governmental standards. Hosting is provided by ITZBund, indicating a secure and reliable infrastructure. The use of Matomo analytics hosted internally demonstrates a privacy-first approach. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with a clear navigation structure and comprehensive metadata supporting SEO. Performance is moderate, likely due to the extensive content and government-grade infrastructure. No outdated or vulnerable libraries were detected. Opportunities exist to modernize security headers and enhance technical transparency.
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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