Skip to main content

Security report for dhbw.de

Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg · Education · Germany

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg (DHBW) is a leading German state dual university specializing in integrating academic theory with practical work experience. Founded in 2009, it continues the legacy of the former Berufsakademie Baden-Württemberg, offering dual Bachelor and Master programs, scientific further education, and research services. The institution targets students, dual partners, alumni, and academic staff, positioning itself as a prominent European University under the EU4Dual initiative. The website reflects a professional, well-branded, and content-rich platform that effectively communicates its educational offerings and institutional values. Technically, the website is built on TYPO3 CMS, leveraging modern web technologies including Matomo for privacy-conscious analytics and Cookiefirst for consent management. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and SEO-friendly, with a moderate performance profile. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and no visible vulnerabilities, though additional security headers and incident response disclosures could enhance the security maturity. Overall, DHBW demonstrates a high level of digital maturity and compliance with privacy regulations such as GDPR. The WHOIS data confirms domain legitimacy and consistency with the institution's identity. The site is free from adult or questionable content, making it safe for general audiences. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, publishing incident response and vulnerability disclosure policies, and providing explicit data protection officer contact information to further strengthen trust and compliance.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of dhbw.de. View the latest report

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

4 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

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

Keep watching dhbw.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

€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
72
Security headers
75
Email security
60
DNS health
70
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 dhbw.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
1,334
Employees
184
Customers
990
Third parties
160
Weak passwords
4%

Latest record dated 2026-06-15 · 55 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 dhbw.de.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –vpn.heilbronn.dhbw.de2026-06-15
  • –webmail.dhbw.de2026-06-14
  • –idp.heilbronn.dhbw.de2026-06-13
  • –lehre.mosbach.dhbw.de2026-06-13
  • –webmail.dhbw.de2026-06-12

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

DHBW operates in the education sector with a unique dual study model combining academic coursework and practical training, giving it a competitive advantage in Germany and Europe. Its market position is strong, supported by certifications and EU4Dual membership. The business model relies on partnerships with dual partners and a large alumni network. The website indicates a large institution with over 32,000 students and 9,000 dual partners, reflecting significant scale and reach. The institution's growth is supported by internationalization efforts and research initiatives. The partnership ecosystem includes academic, governmental, and industry stakeholders, enhancing its strategic positioning in higher education.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent mechanisms in place. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and lack of published incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies indicate areas for improvement. The site does not publicly list a data protection officer contact, which is recommended for GDPR compliance. Overall, the security culture appears positive but could benefit from formalizing policies and enhancing technical controls to mitigate emerging threats and demonstrate transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  2. Publish an incident response policy and provide clear contact channels for security incidents.
  3. Establish and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Provide explicit contact information for the Data Protection Officer to enhance GDPR compliance and user trust.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and libraries to prevent vulnerabilities and ensure privacy compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg
Description
Die Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg ist die erste staatliche duale, praxisintegrierende Hochschule in Deutschland, die seit über 40 Jahren das duale Modell der Berufsakademie Baden-Württemberg fortführt.
Key services
Bachelor and Master dual degree programs, Scientific further education, Research, innovation and transfer, Support services and facilities
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
TYPO3 CMS, Matomo Analytics, Slick Slider, Cookiefirst Consent Management
Frameworks
TYPO3 CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent banner implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Marketing tools
Cookiefirst Consent Management
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 and not blocked by WAF.
  2. Content is comprehensive and professionally presented.
  3. Strong focus on dual education and academic services.
  4. Good implementation of privacy and cookie consent mechanisms.
  5. Use of open source CMS TYPO3 and Matomo analytics indicates privacy-conscious analytics.
  6. No exposed sensitive data or obvious security misconfigurations found.
  7. WHOIS data supports legitimacy and consistency with business claims.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by TYPO3 CMS, a robust open-source content management system widely used in education and government sectors. It uses Matomo analytics for privacy-friendly user tracking and Cookiefirst for cookie consent management, reflecting a privacy-conscious approach. The site includes responsive design elements and accessibility features, supporting a broad user base. Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization in image loading and script management. The technical stack is modern but could be enhanced with additional security headers and performance tuning. Hosting details are not explicitly identified but DNS name servers indicate a German academic network provider (belwue.de), consistent with institutional hosting.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 67/100Medium33 findingsView report
Reviews of this site

Share your experience with dhbw.de. 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 dhbw.de.

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.