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Security report for drks.de

Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte (BfArM) · Government · Germany

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

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte (BfArM) is a German federal government agency responsible for the regulation and oversight of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The website serves as an authoritative source for clinical trial registration (DRKS), pharmacovigilance, medical device regulation, and related regulatory information. It targets healthcare professionals, researchers, regulatory bodies, and the general public seeking official information on clinical studies and medical product safety. The site is built on the Government Site Builder CMS, featuring a professional, accessible, and mobile-optimized design with comprehensive navigation and content relevant to its regulatory mission. Technically, the website employs modern web standards including responsive CSS, SVG graphics, and a manifest for progressive web app capabilities. It uses HTTPS with good SSL configuration and implements cookie consent mechanisms compliant with GDPR, including opt-in for statistical cookies via Matomo analytics. No advertising or third-party marketing tools are detected, reflecting its government nature. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates good practices such as HTTPS enforcement and cookie consent. However, explicit security headers and a public security or incident response policy are not evident. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. WHOIS data is minimal but consistent with a government domain managed by German federal IT infrastructure. Overall, the website is trustworthy, professionally maintained, and compliant with privacy regulations. It provides a secure and user-friendly platform for disseminating critical regulatory information. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security header implementation, publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy, and providing clearer direct contact information for security incidents.

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

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Keep watching drks.de

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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
70
Email security
70
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
69

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

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

BfArM holds a strong market position as the national regulatory authority for drugs and medical devices in Germany. Its business model is government-funded regulatory oversight and public service. The agency's key services include clinical trial registration, pharmacovigilance, medical device approval, and information dissemination. The website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive content and structured navigation supporting multiple stakeholder groups. The absence of commercial advertising and the use of a government-specific CMS underscore its official status. Partnerships with WHO (evidenced by ICD11 integration) and adherence to EU regulations position BfArM as a critical node in international healthcare regulation. Growth indicators include expanding digital services such as the Clinical Trials Information System and digital health applications (DiGA/DiPA).

Security posture

The website exhibits a solid security posture with HTTPS enabled and cookie consent mechanisms aligned with GDPR. No signs of malware, phishing, or exposed credentials were detected. The use of minimal tracking (Matomo) with anonymized data collection reflects privacy-conscious analytics. However, the absence of explicit security headers like X-Frame-Options and a public security policy or incident response contact limits transparency and may reduce resilience against certain attacks. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file was found, which is a best practice for government sites. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be improved by formalizing incident response and disclosure processes.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and explicitly publish security headers such as X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, and Content-Security-Policy.
  2. Publish a public vulnerability disclosure policy and consider adding a security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  3. Provide clear and direct contact information for security incidents or data protection officer contacts.
  4. Enhance transparency by linking to or publishing a dedicated security policy page.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries to ensure no vulnerabilities are introduced.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte (BfArM)
Description
The BfArM is the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices in Germany, responsible for regulatory oversight, clinical trials, pharmacovigilance, and medical product safety.
Key services
Clinical trial registry (DRKS), Pharmacovigilance, Medical device regulation, Drug approval and monitoring, Information dissemination
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Government Site Builder CMS, SVG graphics, Responsive CSS stylesheets, Manifest for PWA, Embedded WHO ICD11 CSS
Frameworks
Government Site Builder
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent with opt-in for statistics cookies
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo (implied by cookie banner text)
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official German federal government website for BfArM
  2. Comprehensive navigation structure covering pharmaceuticals, medical devices, coding systems, and regulatory topics
  3. Cookie consent implemented with clear user options
  4. No visible contact emails or phone numbers on main page; contact form available
  5. No advertising or third-party marketing detected
  6. Use of government-specific CMS and embedded WHO ICD11 styles
  7. No security.txt or explicit vulnerability disclosure found
  8. No social media links detected in provided content
  9. No explicit privacy or security policy beyond standard privacy and cookie policies
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Government Site Builder CMS, a specialized platform for German federal agencies, ensuring compliance with government standards. It uses modern web technologies including responsive CSS, SVG graphics, and a web manifest for PWA features. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices such as meta tags and canonical links. Performance is moderate, likely due to comprehensive content and multiple CSS files. No deprecated or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided HTML. The hosting environment appears stable with German DNS infrastructure. Opportunities exist to optimize performance further and enhance security header implementation.
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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