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Security report for daserste.de

DasErste.de ARD · Media · Germany

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

60/100

Risk levelMedium

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

DasErste.de is the official website of Das Erste, the primary public television channel of ARD, Germany's consortium of public broadcasters. The site offers live streaming, video on demand, and comprehensive information on politics, culture, entertainment, films, and series, targeting the general German-speaking public. It holds a leading market position as a trusted public media outlet with a strong brand presence and consistent content quality. Technically, the site employs modern JavaScript libraries including jQuery and Piano Analytics for user tracking, with responsive design ensuring excellent mobile optimization. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and standard security headers present, though explicit security and incident response policies are not published. Privacy compliance is robust, with clear privacy and cookie policies and GDPR adherence. Overall, the website demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and digital maturity.

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

7 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

  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';…

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Keep watching daserste.de

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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
70
Security headers
15
Email security
85
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
60

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 daserste.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
308
Employees
0
Customers
249
Third parties
59
Weak passwords
22%

15 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 daserste.de.

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

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Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

DasErste.de operates within the media sector as a public broadcasting platform under ARD. Its business model focuses on providing free-to-access content funded by public broadcasting fees. The site serves a broad audience interested in news, culture, and entertainment. The partnership ecosystem includes regional ARD broadcasters and the ARD Mediathek streaming platform. The site’s content and services indicate a mature, enterprise-level operation with a strong emphasis on brand consistency and trust. Revenue streams are primarily public funding rather than commercial advertising. The platform’s strategic positioning as a leading German public broadcaster is reinforced by its comprehensive content offerings and digital presence.

Security posture

The website exhibits a solid security posture with HTTPS enabled and standard security headers implemented. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. Forms are present but no direct email addresses or phone numbers are exposed, reducing attack surface. However, the absence of a publicly available security policy or incident response contact limits transparency in security governance. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files were found, which could be improved to enhance security culture and responsiveness. Overall, the site follows good security practices appropriate for a public media entity but could benefit from more explicit security documentation.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and user guidance.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact channels such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  3. Implement and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Enhance transparency on data retention and privacy practices beyond the existing privacy policy.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and analytics tools to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
DasErste.de ARD
Description
Das Erste Programm online mit Videos, Informationen und Service zu Politik, Kultur, Unterhaltung, Filmen und Serien.
Key services
Live TV streaming, Video on demand, News and information, Cultural and entertainment programming
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Piano Analytics, MediaMatcher, ARD Player
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure cookies and scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
Piano Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Piano Analytics
Marketing tools
Piano Analytics
Transparency
good

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. Content is professional, well-structured, and targeted at German-speaking public.
  3. Strong use of HTTPS and security best practices.
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in the main HTML; contact is via contact form.
  5. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  6. Use of Piano Analytics for user tracking with consent opt-in set to false by default.
  7. Comprehensive metadata and Open Graph tags for SEO and social media.
  8. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern tech stack including jQuery and Piano Analytics, with dynamic CSS loading for responsive design. The hosting is managed via maxonline.de nameservers, indicating a professional hosting environment. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. SEO is well supported through comprehensive meta tags and Open Graph data. No CMS was explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary platform. The site uses multiple JavaScript modules for UI interactions and analytics. Technical risks are minimal, but continuous monitoring of third-party scripts is advised to prevent supply chain vulnerabilities.
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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