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Security report for caracol-verlag.ch

Caracol Verlag · Media · Switzerland

High risk. 7 critical or high findings in Network security, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

49/100

Risk levelHigh

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

Caracol Verlag is a Swiss-based small publishing house specializing in literary works by authors and poets, focusing on quality content and cultural engagement. The website presents a professional and content-rich platform showcasing their book programs, authors, and events, targeting literary audiences primarily in the German-speaking region. The business model centers on publishing, author promotion, and event organization within the literary media sector. Technically, the website uses modern frontend technologies including Bootstrap and Preact, with a moderate performance profile and good mobile optimization. The site is well-structured with clear navigation and SEO-friendly metadata, though it lacks explicit CMS identification and some advanced accessibility features. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS with integrity checks on scripts but lacks visible security headers and a cookie consent mechanism, which are recommended for enhanced security and GDPR compliance. No vulnerabilities or suspicious patterns were detected. The WHOIS data aligns well with the business profile, indicating a trustworthy domain registration. Overall, the website is professional and trustworthy with minor improvements recommended in security headers and privacy compliance to further strengthen its posture and user trust.

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

7 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: MySQL

      Port 3306 (MySQL) is publicly accessible - MySQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to MySQL using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

  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 caracol-verlag.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

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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
95
Security headers
15
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
53
Average
52
After the cap
49

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 · found on this site
  • 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

Caracol Verlag occupies a niche position in the Swiss literary publishing market, focusing on contemporary literature and poetry. Its competitive advantage lies in curated literary content and cultural event integration. The business model is traditional publishing supplemented by event-driven community engagement. Revenue streams likely include book sales, event participation, and distribution partnerships. The target customers are literary readers, authors, and cultural consumers in Switzerland and German-speaking Europe. The company shows stable operations with a consistent brand presence and no evident partnerships or subsidiaries disclosed on the website.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and script integrity attributes present. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options reduces its defense-in-depth posture. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies are published, which limits transparency and readiness. The lack of a cookie consent mechanism is a GDPR compliance gap. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a small publishing business but could be improved with standard best practices and compliance measures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Add a cookie consent banner/mechanism to comply with GDPR and improve user privacy transparency.
  3. Publish a security policy and incident response contact information to improve trust and readiness.
  4. Consider adding a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and provide explicit contact emails and phone numbers to improve user experience and business credibility.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Caracol Verlag der Autorinnen & Autoren
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Caracol Verlag
Description
Caracol Verlag is a publishing house focused on authors and their literary works, offering books, events, and literary programs primarily in German and Swiss German contexts.
Key services
Book publishing, Author promotion, Event organization, Literary series distribution
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Bootstrap, Preact, HTM
Frameworks
Bootstrap, Preact
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Integrity attributes on scripts

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and content-rich with a clear literary focus.
  2. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity detected.
  3. Lacks explicit cookie consent mechanism despite GDPR-relevant privacy policy.
  4. No visible security headers detected; opportunity for security hardening.
  5. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed in HTML content; contact likely via contact form.
  6. No social media links found in the HTML content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern frontend stack with Bootstrap for responsive design and Preact for UI components, indicating a contemporary approach to web development. The presence of script integrity attributes suggests attention to security in resource loading. The site is mobile-optimized with good navigation clarity and SEO metadata including Open Graph tags. No CMS is explicitly detected, implying a custom or static site architecture. Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization in loading speed. Accessibility is basic and could be improved. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the business needs effectively but has room for modernization and enhanced security hardening.
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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