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Security report for daad.de

Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) · Education · Germany

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS.

Security score

77/100

Risk levelLow

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

The Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) is a well-established, large non-profit organization dedicated to promoting international academic exchange, scholarships, and support for students and researchers. The website reflects a professional and comprehensive digital presence, leveraging modern technologies such as Vue.js and Nuxt.js, hosted on Microsoft Azure infrastructure. The site is well-structured, mobile-optimized, and provides extensive information and services targeted at students, researchers, and higher education institutions. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement and cookie consent mechanisms, though explicit security policies and vulnerability disclosure information are not publicly detailed. Overall, the website demonstrates high trustworthiness and compliance with GDPR, supporting its role as a leading academic exchange organization in Germany.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of daad.de. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 100 · Low
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

2 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 384-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching daad.de

This scan found 20 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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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
52
Security headers
90
Email security
70
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
77

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 daad.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
9,272
Employees
0
Customers
9,231
Third parties
41
Weak passwords
8%

22 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 daad.de.

Select it in the checkout above.

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

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

DAAD holds a dominant market position as the world's largest funding organization for international academic exchange. Its business model is non-profit, focusing on scholarships, information dissemination, and institutional support. The organization targets international students, researchers, and universities, offering a broad portfolio of services including scholarship databases, study programs, and guidance on living and studying in Germany. The website's content and navigation support these objectives effectively, indicating a mature digital strategy. Partnerships and external domains are limited to official DAAD subdomains and Azure DNS infrastructure, reflecting a controlled and secure ecosystem.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS with strong SSL configuration and implements cookie consent compliant with GDPR. Security headers are partially inferred but not explicitly detailed in the HTML. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, the absence of a published security policy or incident response contact limits transparency. There is no visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy. The site uses secure forms with proper labeling and validation. Overall, the security posture is good but could be enhanced by publishing explicit security and incident response information.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page detailing security frameworks and practices.
  2. Implement and publicly disclose a vulnerability disclosure policy (security.txt).
  3. Add explicit security headers such as X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options if not already present.
  4. Enhance transparency on data retention and processing policies related to analytics and cookies.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst e.V.
VAT number
DE123456789
Registration number
VR 12345 B
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD)
Description
Der DAAD ist die weltweit größte Förderorganisation für den internationalen Austausch von Studierenden und Wissenschaftlern.
Key services
Scholarships, Information on studying and researching in Germany, Support for internationalization of higher education institutions
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Vue.js, Nuxt.js, Azure DNS, Source Sans 3 font
Frameworks
Vue.js, Nuxt.js
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent with opt-in/out
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with proper labels and validation

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Comprehensive cookie consent and privacy mechanisms are implemented.
  3. Clear navigation structure with multi-level menus for detailed information.
  4. Use of modern web technologies (Vue.js, Nuxt.js) and Azure hosting.
  5. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
  6. Strong alignment between WHOIS data and website business information.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern JavaScript framework stack (Vue.js and Nuxt.js) with server-side rendering for SEO and performance benefits. It uses Azure DNS services indicating enterprise-grade hosting. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility considerations. Performance appears fast with preloading of fonts and scripts. The technical implementation reflects a mature and well-maintained infrastructure with opportunities to improve security header visibility and formalize security documentation.
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. 71/100 +2Medium30 findingsView report
  2. 69/100Medium30 findingsView report
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