Skip to main content

Security report for de.digital

Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie · Government · Germany

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

72/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The website www.de.digital is an official digital platform operated by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie). It serves as a comprehensive resource for digitalization initiatives, economic digital indices, startup competitions, and digital summit events in Germany. The platform targets German businesses, startups, government stakeholders, and the general public interested in digital transformation and innovation. It positions itself as an authoritative government portal promoting digital economy and innovation. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies including JWPlayer for video content, eTracker for analytics with cookie consent mechanisms, and slick-carousel for UI elements. The site is mobile optimized, accessible, and uses HTTPS for secure communications. However, explicit security headers are not detected in the provided content, and no CMS or hosting provider information is evident. Performance is moderate with good SEO and accessibility features. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates good practices such as HTTPS enforcement and user consent for video tracking. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found in the HTML content. The WHOIS data is privacy protected or unavailable, which is common for government domains, and does not raise suspicion. Contact information includes a data protection officer email, but no phone numbers or physical addresses were found. No explicit privacy policy or terms of service pages were detected in the provided content, which could be improved. Overall, the site is a trustworthy, professional government resource with a solid digital presence. Strategic recommendations include publishing explicit privacy and security policies, adding security headers, and implementing a vulnerability disclosure mechanism to enhance transparency and security posture.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
80/ 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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • 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

  3. 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

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

Keep watching de.digital

This scan found 22 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

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
67
Security headers
45
Email security
70
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
80
Average
72

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

The platform is a key digitalization initiative by the German government, providing data, reports, and support for digital transformation in the economy. It leverages government authority to promote innovation and digital competitiveness. The business model is informational and supportive, focusing on public sector digital policy and startup ecosystem development. The site links to the official ministry homepage and partners with government entities. Growth indicators include active competitions and digital summit events. The target audience is broad, including businesses, startups, and policy makers. The platform's market position is strong as an official government digitalization hub.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enabled and user consent mechanisms for tracking and video services. The absence of explicit security headers and vulnerability disclosure policies are areas for improvement. No exposed credentials or sensitive data were found. The use of third-party analytics (eTracker) respects user privacy with cookie blocking and Do Not Track compliance. Incident response contacts or security policies are not explicitly published, which could be enhanced to improve readiness and transparency. Overall, the security posture is good but could benefit from formalized policies and headers.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy page clearly accessible from the homepage.
  2. Implement and publish a security policy and vulnerability disclosure program (e.g., security.txt).
  3. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, X-Frame-Options.
  4. Enhance contact information with phone numbers and physical addresses for better user trust.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and update to latest secure versions to avoid vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie
Description
Official German government digitalization platform providing information on digital economy, digital initiatives, competitions, and digital summit events.
Key services
Digitalisierungsindex reports, Startup competitions, Digital summit information, Glossary and media library
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jwplayer, etracker, slick-carousel
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Consent mechanism for video player
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
etracker
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
etracker
Marketing tools
etracker
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official German government digital platform
  2. Content is in German with English version available
  3. Uses JWPlayer for video content with explicit consent
  4. Includes eTracker analytics with cookie consent
  5. No WHOIS public data available, likely privacy protected
  6. No explicit privacy policy page found in provided HTML snippet
  7. Contact email for data protection officer present
  8. No visible phone numbers or physical addresses in HTML snippet
  9. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure found
  10. No social media links detected in provided content
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses modern JavaScript libraries including JWPlayer for video playback and eTracker for analytics, integrated with cookie consent mechanisms. The HTML structure is semantic and supports accessibility. The site is mobile responsive and optimized for various screen sizes. No CMS or hosting provider is explicitly identified. Performance is moderate with asynchronous loading of analytics scripts. SEO is supported by meta tags and Open Graph data. The site could improve by adding explicit security headers and publishing technical documentation or policies.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with de.digital. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review de.digital.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.