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Security report for deal-konsortium.de

DEAL Konsortium · Education · Germany

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

60/100

Risk levelMedium

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

DEAL Konsortium is a German academic consortium focused on enabling open access publishing through transformative agreements with major scholarly publishers. The website serves librarians, researchers, and administrators by providing information and practical support for the implementation of Projekt DEAL agreements. The consortium is affiliated with prominent German science organizations and led by the German Rectors' Conference, positioning it as a key player in the German academic publishing landscape. Technically, the website is built on Joomla CMS with SP Page Builder and uses modern web technologies including jQuery, Font Awesome, and Awesomplete. It employs Cookiebot for GDPR-compliant cookie consent management and Matomo for privacy-respecting analytics. The site is hosted on infrastructure using domaincontrol.com nameservers, likely GoDaddy, and enforces HTTPS with good SSL configuration. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates good practices such as HTTPS enforcement and consent-based analytics tracking. However, explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options are not clearly detected and could be improved. No incident response or security policy information is published, which is a gap for transparency and readiness. Overall, the website is professional, well-structured, and compliant with privacy regulations. It lacks explicit contact details and terms of service, which could be enhanced to improve business credibility and user trust. There are no signs of malicious activity or content safety concerns, making it a safe and trustworthy resource for its target audience.

Scanned

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

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  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 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';…

  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

  4. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • High

      High-Risk Service Exposed: FTP

      Port 21 (FTP) is publicly accessible - FTP - Often unencrypted file transfer

      What to do: Consider restricting access to FTP or implementing strong authentication

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

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

Keep watching deal-konsortium.de

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

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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
77
Security headers
60
Email security
60
DNS health
60
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
83
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 deal-konsortium.de, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for deal-konsortium.de right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

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

DEAL Konsortium operates as a non-profit consortium representing German research institutions in negotiations with major academic publishers to facilitate open access publishing. Its market position is strong within Germany's academic and research sectors, leveraging partnerships with leading science organizations. The business model centers on transformative 'Publish and Read' agreements that benefit thousands of researchers and institutions by enabling open access without additional cost. Revenue streams are likely institutional funding and consortium membership fees. The target customers are academic libraries, researchers, and administrators. The consortium's strategic focus on open access aligns with global trends in scholarly communication, positioning it for continued relevance and growth. The website supports this ecosystem by providing educational content, news, and event information to engage stakeholders.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and use of a reputable cookie consent management platform (Cookiebot) that blocks tracking scripts until consent is given. Matomo analytics is configured to respect user consent, reducing privacy risks. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options suggests room for improvement in mitigating common web vulnerabilities. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. The lack of published security policies or incident response contacts limits transparency and preparedness communication. Overall, the site is secure for its purpose but would benefit from enhanced security header implementation and public security documentation.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and verify comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to strengthen defense-in-depth.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Add explicit contact information such as official emails and phone numbers to enhance business credibility and user trust.
  4. Consider creating and linking a terms of service page to clarify user rights and obligations.
  5. Regularly audit and update Joomla CMS and third-party libraries to mitigate vulnerabilities and maintain security posture.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
DEAL Konsortium
Description
DEAL Operations provides librarians, researchers and administrators with information and practical support for successful implementation of the Projekt DEAL agreements. DEAL is an initiative of the Alliance of Science Organisations in Germany, led by the German Rectors' Conference (HRK), negotiating nationwide transformative 'Publish and Read' agreements with major scholarly publishers on behalf of German research institutions.
Key services
Information and support for Projekt DEAL agreements, Guidance on open access publishing, Community engagement for institutions and authors
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Joomla CMS, jQuery, Awesomplete, Font Awesome, Matomo Analytics, Cookiebot Consent Management
Frameworks
SP Page Builder
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent with blocking mode
  • No exposed sensitive data detected
  • Use of Matomo with consent requirement

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Marketing tools
Cookiebot
Transparency
excellent

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 challenge.
  2. Professional academic consortium site focused on open access publishing.
  3. Strong privacy and cookie consent implementation via Cookiebot.
  4. Use of Matomo analytics with consent enforcement.
  5. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly found on the homepage HTML.
  6. No terms of service page detected.
  7. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  8. Technical stack is modern and based on Joomla CMS with SP Page Builder.
  9. Good SEO and accessibility practices observed.
  10. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Joomla CMS with SP Page Builder, leveraging modern JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and Awesomplete for enhanced user experience. Font Awesome is used for icons, and Cookiebot manages GDPR-compliant cookie consent with blocking mode enabled. Matomo analytics is integrated with consent enforcement, reflecting a privacy-conscious approach. The site uses responsive design techniques and CSS media queries for mobile optimization. Hosting is via domaincontrol.com nameservers, indicating GoDaddy infrastructure. Performance is moderate, with asynchronous loading of scripts and deferred JavaScript where appropriate. SEO is supported by proper meta tags, Open Graph tags, and alternate hreflang links. Accessibility features such as ARIA labels and keyboard navigation support are present. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid with opportunities for security header enhancements and performance tuning.
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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