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Security report for dw.com

Deutsche Welle · Media · Germany

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

78/100

Risk levelLow

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

Deutsche Welle (DW) operates as Germany's international broadcaster, delivering comprehensive news, analysis, and multimedia content to a global audience. The website serves as a hub for current affairs, featuring video news, audio content, live TV streaming, and educational resources. DW holds a strong market position as a reputable public media entity with government backing, targeting a broad international audience interested in German and global news. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including JavaScript ES modules, React framework, and Video.js for media playback. Hosting and content delivery leverage Akamai services, ensuring fast performance and global availability. The site is well-optimized for mobile devices and accessibility, with good SEO practices and structured metadata. From a security perspective, DW enforces HTTPS, uses security headers, and integrates a consent management platform to comply with GDPR. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, explicit security policies and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not publicly evident, representing an area for improvement. Overall, DW's website demonstrates a mature digital presence with strong content quality, technical robustness, and privacy compliance. The absence of WHOIS data is attributed to registry query limitations rather than suspicious activity. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security transparency and incident response visibility to further strengthen trust and compliance.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of dw.com. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
70/ 100 · Medium
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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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"

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • 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

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

Keep watching dw.com

This scan found 18 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
100
Security headers
45
Email security
75
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
70
Average
78

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 dw.com, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
30,391
Employees
19
Customers
30,096
Third parties
276
Weak passwords
11%

Latest record dated 2026-05-26 · 77 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 dw.com.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –web-mail.dw.com2026-05-26
  • –web-mail.dw.com2026-05-20
  • –web-mail.dw.com2026-05-12
  • –man.dw.com2026-01-13
  • –.dw.com2026-01-13

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

DW is positioned as a leading international news broadcaster funded by the German government, focusing on delivering multilingual news and cultural content worldwide. Its business model relies on public funding rather than commercial revenue streams, emphasizing trustworthiness and editorial independence. The company maintains a broad partnership ecosystem, including social media platforms and content distribution networks. Growth indicators include continuous content updates, multimedia expansion, and engagement with diverse global audiences. DW's operations reflect a strategic focus on digital transformation and compliance with international data protection standards.

Security posture

The website exhibits a strong security posture with enforced HTTPS, modern security headers, and GDPR-compliant consent mechanisms. No signs of malware, phishing, or data leakage were found. The lack of a public security policy or vulnerability disclosure page suggests room for improvement in transparency and incident response readiness. Data protection practices align with GDPR, but explicit contact channels for security incidents are not visible. Overall, the security maturity is high for a media organization, with recommendations to formalize security communications and disclosures.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and compliance.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file.
  3. Enhance visibility of incident response contacts to facilitate reporting of security issues.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to mitigate supply chain risks.
  5. Continue investment in privacy and consent management to maintain GDPR compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Deutsche Welle
Description
DW is a German international broadcaster providing news, off-beat stories, and analysis of German and international affairs with features from Europe and beyond, including a 24/7 TV stream.
Key services
News articles, Video news, Audio news, Live TV streaming, Podcasts, Educational content
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript ES Modules, Video.js player, Google Publisher Tags (GPT) for ads, Boomerang performance monitoring
Frameworks
React (implied)
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of modern JavaScript modules
  • Consent management platform for GDPR compliance

Analytics and tracking

Services
Akamai Boomerang
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Publisher Tags (GPT)
Tracking pixels
Akamai Boomerang
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional international news broadcaster site.
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and updated with recent news.
  3. Strong compliance with GDPR and cookie consent mechanisms.
  4. No signs of phishing, malware, or suspicious content.
  5. Social media presence is extensive and consistent.
  6. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on main pages; contact via corporate site.
  7. No security.txt or explicit vulnerability disclosure found.
  8. WHOIS data unavailable from provided raw output, likely due to registry query limitations.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern JavaScript stack, likely React-based, with modular scripts and video streaming capabilities via Video.js. Hosting appears to leverage Akamai CDN for performance and reliability. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features. Performance monitoring is implemented using Boomerang scripts. SEO is supported through comprehensive meta tags and Open Graph data. No CMS was explicitly identified, suggesting a custom or proprietary content management solution. Technical risks are minimal, but ongoing maintenance of third-party libraries is advised to avoid vulnerabilities.
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. 63/100Medium25 findingsView report
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