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Security report for desy.de

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY · Technology · Germany

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY is a leading German research center specializing in particle accelerator science, photon science, particle physics, and astroparticle physics. It operates major research infrastructures accessible globally and actively promotes technology transfer and innovation. The website reflects a mature, professional institution with a clear focus on scientific research and collaboration. Technically, the site uses modern frameworks such as Bootstrap and jQuery, with a CMS based on ZMS, and integrates privacy-conscious Matomo analytics. Security posture is strong with HTTPS and privacy settings, though improvements can be made in cookie consent and security policy transparency. Overall, the site is trustworthy, well-branded, and serves a specialized scientific audience effectively.

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

5 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. 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

  3. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • High

      Weak SPF Policy

      SPF record has permissive policy allowing any server to send email

      What to do: Use -all or ~all qualifier for better email security

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

Keep watching desy.de

This scan found 23 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
72
Security headers
80
Email security
75
DNS health
55
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
68

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 desy.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
577
Employees
24
Customers
471
Third parties
82
Weak passwords
7%

Latest record dated 2026-05-29 · 79 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 desy.de.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –lists.desy.de2026-05-29
  • –it.desy.de2026-05-25
  • –mail.desy.de2026-05-21
  • –mail.desy.de2026-05-15
  • –hare.desy.de2026-01-12

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

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)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

DESY holds a prominent market position as a large-scale research institution in Germany and internationally. Its business model centers on fundamental research, infrastructure provision, and technology transfer. The target audience includes scientists, academic institutions, industry partners, and students. The website links to affiliated organizations such as the Helmholtz Association and European XFEL, indicating a strong partnership ecosystem. The content and navigation are designed for clarity and professionalism, supporting DESY's role as a knowledge hub and innovation driver in the technology and education sectors.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security foundation with enforced HTTPS and privacy-respecting analytics configuration. However, it lacks visible security policies, incident response contacts, and a cookie consent mechanism, which are important for compliance and user trust. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. The absence of security headers in the provided data suggests room for enhancement. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be improved by publishing explicit policies and implementing cookie consent.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a visible cookie consent banner to comply with GDPR and enhance user trust.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response information to improve transparency.
  3. Add standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  4. Consider publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Enhance contact information by including phone numbers and physical addresses where appropriate.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
Description
DESY is one of the world’s leading centers for research with particle accelerators. It develops and operates research infrastructures accessible to scientists worldwide, publishes research results, and promotes application of findings through active technology transfer.
Key services
Particle accelerator research, Photon science research, Particle physics research, Astroparticle physics research, Technology transfer and innovation, Collaboration with institutes and industry
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Bootstrap 5.1.3, jQuery 3.7.0, Flickity carousel, Matomo analytics
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Matomo analytics configured with DoNotTrack and cookie disabling

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Marketing tools
Matomo
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured.
  2. Content is comprehensive and relevant to particle accelerator research and related scientific fields.
  3. No forms detected on the main page; minimal data collection visible.
  4. Social media presence includes LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram with official links.
  5. No visible phone numbers or physical addresses explicitly stated on the main page.
  6. Privacy policy is present and GDPR compliant; cookie consent mechanism is missing.
  7. No visible terms of service or security policy pages.
  8. Use of Matomo analytics with privacy-respecting settings.
  9. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern and stable technology stack including Bootstrap 5.1.3, jQuery 3.7.0, and Flickity for carousels. It is built on the ZMS CMS platform, which is specialized for content management in scientific institutions. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. SEO is well addressed with proper meta tags and structured navigation. The integration of Matomo analytics with privacy settings shows attention to data protection. There is no indication of technical debt or outdated libraries. Opportunities exist to improve security headers and cookie management for compliance and security hardening.
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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