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Security report for cispa.de

CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security · Technology · Germany

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

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security is a prominent German national research institution specializing in cybersecurity, privacy, and trustworthy artificial intelligence. It operates as a Big Science institution within the Helmholtz Association and collaborates with academic and industry partners, including the Technical University of Munich. The website presents a professional and content-rich platform highlighting research achievements, faculty insights, and technology transfer initiatives, positioning CISPA as a leading global research center in its domain. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies such as JavaScript and CSS with responsive design and good accessibility features. However, there is limited evidence of advanced security configurations such as security headers or explicit SSL/TLS details in the provided data. The absence of visible privacy, cookie, and terms of service policies indicates areas for compliance improvement, especially concerning GDPR requirements. From a security posture perspective, while the site is accessible and professional, it lacks explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms. The WHOIS data is minimal but does not raise significant legitimacy concerns given the institutional context. Overall, the site demonstrates a strong business credibility and content quality but requires enhancements in privacy compliance and security transparency. Strategically, CISPA should prioritize publishing comprehensive privacy and cookie policies, implementing cookie consent mechanisms, and enhancing security headers and incident response information to strengthen trust and compliance. These improvements will support its reputation as a leading cybersecurity research institution and ensure alignment with regulatory standards.

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 cispa.de

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.

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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
72
Security headers
85
Email security
60
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
68

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 cispa.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
16
Employees
2
Customers
12
Third parties
2
Weak passwords
13%

Latest record dated 2026-06-12 · 8 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 cispa.de.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –dl.cispa.de2026-06-12
  • –achilleus.sso.cispa.de2026-06-12

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)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

CISPA holds a strong market position as a leading cybersecurity research center affiliated with the Helmholtz Association in Germany. Its business model centers on foundational and applied research, technology transfer, and fostering startups in cybersecurity and AI. The institution targets scientific researchers, industry collaborators, and policy stakeholders. Its partnership with the Technical University of Munich and active participation in international conferences underscore its competitive advantage and growth potential. Revenue streams likely include government funding, research grants, and collaborative projects. The website content reflects a mature organization with a clear focus on innovation and knowledge dissemination, although explicit financial or operational details are not disclosed.

Security posture

The website currently exhibits a moderate security maturity level. HTTPS is presumed but not explicitly confirmed in the provided data. There is a lack of visible security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options, and no published security or incident response policies. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files were found. The absence of contact channels for security incidents limits incident response readiness. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML snippet. To improve, CISPA should implement and document security best practices, publish incident response contacts, and ensure compliance with GDPR and NIS2 directives. Enhancing transparency around security policies will bolster stakeholder confidence and reduce risk exposure.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with GDPR compliance details.
  2. Implement a cookie consent mechanism to inform and obtain user consent for tracking.
  3. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  4. Provide clear incident response and vulnerability disclosure contact information on the website.
  5. Ensure SSL/TLS is properly configured and enforce HTTPS site-wide.
  6. Include contact information such as official emails and phone numbers for business and security inquiries.
  7. Consider publishing a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability reporting.
  8. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and scripts to avoid vulnerabilities.
  9. Enhance analytics transparency and data retention policies to improve privacy compliance.
  10. Maintain consistent branding and update WHOIS registrant information to improve trust signals.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security
Description
The CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security is a German national major research institution. Our research encompasses all aspects of Information Security.
Key services
Cybersecurity research, Privacy research, Trustworthy artificial intelligence research, Technology transfer, Startup ecosystem support, Knowledge transfer and public engagement
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, Slick Carousel
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

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 a professional academic research center focused on cybersecurity and AI.
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and includes detailed research highlights and faculty information.
  3. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found on the main page or navigation.
  4. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly found in the provided content.
  5. No visible security policy or incident response information.
  6. No advertising or tracking scripts detected in the provided HTML.
  7. No social media links explicitly extracted from the provided content, but common social platforms are linked in navigation or footer (not visible in snippet).
  8. WHOIS data is minimal but domain appears consistent with institutional use.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript bundles. It employs the Slick Carousel library for content sliders. The site is responsive and optimized for mobile devices with good accessibility features. No CMS or hosting provider details were identified from the HTML. Performance appears moderate based on the presence of multiple JS bundles and image assets. There is no evidence of advanced frameworks or platforms such as React or Angular. The site lacks visible security headers and privacy compliance scripts. Technical debt appears low but could be improved by consolidating scripts and enhancing security configurations. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional academic website but requires enhancements in security and privacy implementations.
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. 68/100Medium29 findingsView report
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