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Security report for ddz.de

Deutsches Diabetes-Zentrum (DDZ) · Healthcare · Germany

High risk. 7 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

44/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The Deutsches Diabetes-Zentrum (DDZ) is a well-established interdisciplinary research institution affiliated with the Leibniz Association and Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, focusing on diabetes research that integrates molecular, clinical, and epidemiological approaches. The website serves as a comprehensive platform for disseminating research findings, clinical study participation, and public health information targeted at patients, researchers, and the general public. It maintains a strong market position as a reputable non-profit healthcare research center in Germany. Technically, the website is built on a modern WordPress CMS with a robust tech stack including Yoast SEO, WPBakery Page Builder, Matomo analytics, and Vue.js components. The site is hosted likely via GoDaddy infrastructure and demonstrates good mobile optimization and SEO practices, although some accessibility features could be improved. Performance is moderate with a professional design and clear navigation. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses privacy-conscious analytics with cookies disabled. However, it lacks visible security headers and a formal vulnerability disclosure or incident response policy. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is generally good with a comprehensive privacy policy, but the absence of a cookie consent mechanism is a minor gap. Overall, the DDZ website is a professional, trustworthy, and content-rich platform supporting its mission in diabetes research and public engagement. Strategic improvements in security headers, cookie consent, and incident response transparency would enhance its security posture and compliance further.

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

    • 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. 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 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';…

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

Keep watching ddz.de

This scan found 30 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
62
Security headers
25
Email security
70
DNS health
60
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
28
Average
44

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

DDZ operates as a non-profit research center specializing in diabetes, leveraging partnerships with academic and healthcare institutions. Its business model centers on research funding, clinical studies, and public health education. The organization targets patients, researchers, and healthcare professionals, positioning itself as a key player in diabetes research in Germany. The website reflects a mature digital presence with clear branding, trust signals, and a network of partner domains including universities and government bodies. Growth indicators include active clinical studies and community engagement initiatives. The absence of commercial advertising aligns with its non-profit status.

Security posture

The security maturity of the DDZ website is moderate to good. HTTPS is properly implemented, and the use of Matomo analytics with disabled cookies indicates privacy awareness. However, the lack of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and absence of a public vulnerability disclosure or incident response contact reduces the overall security maturity. No signs of vulnerabilities or data leaks were found. The site does not appear to collect sensitive data via forms on the homepage, reducing attack surface. Compliance with GDPR is supported by a comprehensive privacy policy but could be improved with cookie consent mechanisms and explicit incident response information.

Recommendations

  1. Implement standard security headers (CSP, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options) to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Add a cookie consent banner/mechanism to comply fully with GDPR cookie regulations.
  3. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to improve transparency and incident handling.
  4. Provide explicit incident response contact information, such as a security@ or abuse@ email address.
  5. Regularly audit and update all plugins and themes to mitigate risks from outdated components.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Deutsche Diabetes-Forschungsgesellschaft e.V.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Deutsches Diabetes-Zentrum (DDZ)
Description
Das Deutsche Diabetes-Zentrum (DDZ), Leibniz Zentrum für Diabetes-Forschung an der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf ist eine interdisziplinäre Forschungseinrichtung, die molekulare und zellbiologische Grundlagenforschung mit klinischen und epidemiologischen Forschungsansätzen vernetzt.
Key services
Diabetes research, Clinical studies, Public information portals, Patient and citizen involvement in research, Educational resources
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.2, Yoast SEO plugin, WPBakery Page Builder, jQuery 3.7.1, Bootstrap 3.3.6, Matomo Analytics, Vue.js 2.5.16, Axios 0.19.0, Slick Carousel
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
PHP-based CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Matomo analytics with disabled cookies
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional research center site focused on diabetes.
  2. Content is comprehensive and well-structured with multilingual support.
  3. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  4. Clear contact information and legal disclaimers present.
  5. No cookie consent banner detected despite GDPR relevance.
  6. Uses Matomo analytics with privacy-conscious settings (cookies disabled).
  7. No visible security headers detected in provided data.
  8. No forms with personal data collection visible on homepage; search form present.
  9. Social media presence limited to LinkedIn and Twitter (X.com).
  10. No advertising or affiliate marketing detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern WordPress CMS with popular plugins such as Yoast SEO and WPBakery Page Builder, ensuring ease of content management and SEO optimization. The tech stack includes jQuery, Bootstrap, Vue.js, and Axios, indicating a hybrid approach combining traditional and modern JavaScript frameworks. Hosting appears to be via GoDaddy, inferred from nameservers. Performance is moderate with good mobile responsiveness and SEO metadata including Open Graph and JSON-LD structured data. Accessibility is basic and could be enhanced. No critical technical debt or deprecated technologies were detected.
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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