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Security report for dkrz.de

Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum GmbH · Energy · Germany

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

Security score

73/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum GmbH (DKRZ) operates as a national service center providing high-performance computing and data management infrastructure to support climate research in Germany. The website reflects a well-established organization focused on delivering computational resources, data storage, and expert services to the scientific community engaged in climate modeling and simulations. Their market position is strong within the German and international climate research ecosystem, emphasizing collaboration and advanced technological support. Technically, the website is built on the Plone CMS platform, leveraging Bootstrap for responsive design and Matomo for privacy-conscious analytics. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, clear navigation, and professional content presentation. However, some improvements could be made in accessibility and the implementation of security headers. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses script integrity attributes, but lacks explicit security headers and a published security policy or incident response information. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is partially addressed with a comprehensive privacy policy but lacks a cookie consent mechanism. Overall, the website is trustworthy, professional, and serves its target audience effectively. Strategic enhancements in security headers, cookie consent, and incident response transparency would further strengthen its security posture and compliance.

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

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 dkrz.de

This scan found 19 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

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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
82
Security headers
80
Email security
85
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
73

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 dkrz.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
470
Employees
0
Customers
470
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
6%

24 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 dkrz.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

DKRZ holds a critical role as a national infrastructure provider for climate science, offering supercomputing and data services tailored to the needs of climate researchers. Its business model centers on service provision rather than direct research, positioning it as an essential enabler within the scientific community. The organization benefits from strong partnerships and a clear focus on high-performance computing and data management. Growth indicators include active project involvement and a broad service portfolio. The website's content and structure support its credibility and outreach to researchers and institutional partners.

Security posture

The security maturity of the DKRZ website is moderate to good. HTTPS is enforced, and no sensitive data leaks were found. The use of Matomo analytics suggests a privacy-aware approach. However, the absence of key security headers (e.g., CSP, X-Frame-Options) and lack of publicly available security policies or incident response contacts indicate areas for improvement. No vulnerability disclosures or security.txt files were found, which could enhance transparency and trust. Overall, the site is secure but could benefit from adopting additional best practices to align with modern security standards and compliance requirements.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  2. Introduce a cookie consent banner or mechanism to ensure full GDPR compliance regarding user tracking and data collection.
  3. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  4. Consider adding a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to improve usability for all users and meet accessibility standards.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum GmbH
Description
Das Deutsche Klimarechenzentrum ist eine nationale Serviceeinrichtung und ein wichtiger Partner der Klimaforschung. Es bietet Hochleistungsrechner, Datenspeicher und Dienste als zentrale Forschungsinfrastruktur für simulationsbasierte Klimawissenschaft in Deutschland.
Key services
Hochleistungsrechner, Datenmanagement, Fachberatung, Modellcode-Optimierung, Softwareentwicklung, Langzeitarchivierung, Datenverteilung, Visualisierung, KI / Machine Learning
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Plone CMS, Bootstrap, Matomo Analytics, JavaScript, CSS
Frameworks
Plone
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of integrity attributes on some scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is professionally presented in German with English alternate links.
  3. No explicit email addresses or phone numbers found in the HTML content; contact is via contact page/form.
  4. Use of Matomo analytics indicates privacy-conscious tracking.
  5. No cookie consent banner detected, which may be a GDPR compliance gap.
  6. No explicit security headers detected in the HTML content; recommend adding for improved security.
  7. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  8. Website uses Plone CMS and Bootstrap framework.
  9. Social media presence includes LinkedIn and YouTube links.
  10. No advertising or affiliate marketing detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Plone CMS platform, a mature and secure content management system favored in academic and research environments. It uses Bootstrap for responsive design and includes JavaScript libraries with integrity checks. The site loads moderately fast and is mobile-optimized. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and Open Graph data. However, the lack of explicit security headers and cookie consent mechanisms indicates some technical debt in security and privacy compliance. The infrastructure appears stable and suitable for the organization's needs, with opportunities for modernization in security and accessibility.
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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