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Security report for digitalcourage.de

Digitalcourage · Non-profit · Germany

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Digitalcourage is a well-established German non-profit organization founded in 1987, dedicated to promoting digital rights, privacy, and democracy in the digital age. The organization operates with a strong community focus, relying on donations and volunteer work, and is known for organizing the annual BigBrotherAwards since 2000. Their website reflects a professional and privacy-respecting approach, with no tracking or cookie consent mechanisms, emphasizing transparency and user respect. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 11, using modern web technologies and is hosted via Schlundtech. It demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and no evident vulnerabilities, though some security headers could be improved. The WHOIS data aligns well with the organization's history and legitimacy. Overall, Digitalcourage's website is a trustworthy, content-rich platform serving activists and the general public interested in digital rights. It maintains high standards of privacy and security, with clear calls to action for membership, donations, and participation. The site integrates several related services and partner domains, enhancing its ecosystem and outreach.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
43/ 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

  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"

  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 digitalcourage.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.

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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
55
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
43
Average
71

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 digitalcourage.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
34
Employees
0
Customers
34
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
21%

4 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 digitalcourage.de.

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

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

Digitalcourage holds a strong position in the German digital rights NGO sector, leveraging its long history and the BigBrotherAwards to maintain visibility and influence. Its business model is donation-based, supported by volunteer efforts, and it targets privacy-conscious individuals and activists. The organization offers educational content, tools for digital self-defense, and community engagement opportunities. Its partnership ecosystem includes related service domains and platforms that support its mission. Growth indicators include active event scheduling, new working groups, and a well-maintained blog. The organization's transparent funding and clear contact information enhance credibility.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, absence of tracking scripts, and no exposed sensitive data. However, explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options are not detected and could be added to strengthen defenses. There is no visible security or incident response policy, nor a security.txt file, which are areas for improvement. The privacy policy is comprehensive and GDPR compliant, reflecting a strong data protection culture. Overall, the security risks are low, but formalizing incident response and vulnerability disclosure would enhance readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to improve browser security.
  2. Publish a security policy and incident response information on the website to increase transparency and preparedness.
  3. Add a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure.
  4. Consider adding a cookie policy page or banner even if no cookies are used, to clarify privacy stance to all users.
  5. Regularly audit third-party links and embedded content to ensure ongoing security and privacy compliance.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Digitalcourage
Description
Digitalcourage engagiert sich seit 1987 für eine lebenswerte Welt im digitalen Zeitalter. Die Organisation setzt sich für Grundrechte, Datenschutz und Demokratie ein und betreibt seit 2000 die jährliche Verleihung der BigBrotherAwards.
Key services
Aufklärung und Information zu digitalen Grundrechten, Veranstaltung der BigBrotherAwards, Bereitstellung von Tipps und Tools zur digitalen Selbstverteidigung, Organisation von Mitmachaktionen und Ehrenamt
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 11, jQuery, Normalize.css, Slick Carousel
Frameworks
Drupal CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced (implied by canonical and shortlink URLs with https)
  • No tracking or cookies used (explicitly stated no cookie banner and no tracking)
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with proper labels and placeholders

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
excellent

Advertising

Transparency
excellent

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-established non-profit focused on digital rights and privacy.
  2. No tracking or cookie consent mechanisms, emphasizing privacy respect.
  3. Content is rich, well-structured, and professionally presented.
  4. Multiple external links to related non-profit and community resources.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  6. WHOIS data supports legitimacy and consistency with website claims.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses Drupal 11 CMS with jQuery and Normalize.css, indicating a modern and maintainable tech stack. Hosting is via Schlundtech, a reputable German provider. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with good SEO metadata including Open Graph and Twitter cards. Performance is moderate, likely due to rich content and images. There is no evidence of outdated or vulnerable libraries. The site uses structured data and semantic HTML, enhancing search engine understanding and accessibility. Opportunities exist to improve security headers and formalize security documentation.
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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