Skip to main content

Security report for energy-efficiency-center.de

Center for Applied Energy Research e.V. (CAE) · Energy · Germany

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Email security and 2 other checks.

Security score

53/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Energy Efficiency Center (EEC) website represents a research and demonstration facility focused on energy efficiency technologies and sustainable building practices in Würzburg, Germany. The site is operated by the Center for Applied Energy Research e.V. (CAE) and funded by federal and Bavarian government initiatives. It serves as an informational hub with exhibits and research outputs targeting professionals, researchers, and interested public in the energy sector. The business model is primarily research and public information dissemination supported by public funding. Technically, the website is built on WordPress 6.7.4 with common plugins for slideshows and image lightboxes. The site uses HTTPS and basic performance optimizations like lazy loading images, although some lazy loading errors were detected. Mobile optimization and accessibility are basic but functional. SEO is basic with proper meta tags but no advanced structured data or Open Graph tags detected. From a security perspective, the site benefits from HTTPS but lacks explicit security headers and visible incident response or security policy documentation. No forms with input validation or CSRF protections were found on the homepage. Privacy compliance is indicated by a privacy policy page in German, but no cookie consent mechanism is implemented despite cookie policy presence. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files were found. Overall, the site is a credible and professional informational resource with moderate technical maturity and a good business credibility score. Security posture is adequate but could be improved with additional headers and policies. Privacy compliance is basic but present. There are no indications of malicious or suspicious activity. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, implementing cookie consent, and improving technical robustness.

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

8 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. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  3. 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"

    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

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

Keep watching energy-efficiency-center.de

This scan found 30 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
62
Security headers
30
Email security
40
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
53

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

The EEC is positioned as a specialized research and demonstration center in the energy efficiency sector within Bavaria, Germany. Its competitive advantage lies in its public funding and collaboration with government ministries and research networks. The business model focuses on research, technology demonstration, and public education rather than commercial sales. Revenue streams are likely grant and government funding based. Target customers include researchers, industry partners, and policy makers interested in sustainable building and energy technologies. The partnership ecosystem includes federal and state ministries and research consortia. Growth indicators are not explicit but the presence of multiple funding logos suggests stable support. The website content and structure reflect a focused, mission-driven organization with moderate digital maturity.

Security posture

The current security maturity level is moderate. HTTPS is properly implemented, which is a critical baseline. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options reduces defense-in-depth. No explicit incident response or security policy pages are present, limiting transparency and preparedness. The lack of visible forms reduces attack surface but also limits user interaction. Privacy policy exists and GDPR compliance is indicated, but cookie consent mechanisms are missing, which is a compliance gap. No known vulnerabilities or malware indicators were detected. Overall, the security posture is sufficient for an informational site but improvements are recommended to align with best practices and compliance requirements.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Add a cookie consent mechanism to comply fully with GDPR and improve user privacy transparency.
  3. Develop and publish explicit security and incident response policies to improve trust and preparedness.
  4. Fix lazy loading image errors to improve user experience and technical robustness.
  5. Consider adding structured data (JSON-LD) and Open Graph tags to improve SEO and social media sharing.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Center for Applied Energy Research e.V. (CAE)
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Center for Applied Energy Research e.V. (CAE)
Description
Das Energy Efficiency Center (EEC) in Würzburg ist ein Informationszentrum mit einer Dauerausstellung zu Energie, Klima, Ökologie und Ressourcenschonung. Es bündelt und demonstriert neue Energieeffizienztechnologien, energieeffiziente Baumaterialien, Bausysteme und Technologien zur ressourcenschonenden Bauweise. Gefördert durch Bundes- und Landesmittel.
Key services
Forschung, Demonstration von Energieeffizienztechnologien, Informationsausstellung, Monitoring
Content quality
good
Branding
moderate

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.7.4, jQuery 3.7.1, Fluid Responsive Slideshow plugin, FooBox Image Lightbox plugin, W3 Total Cache plugin
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
60/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled

Analytics and tracking

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. Website is a WordPress-based informational and research site focused on energy efficiency.
  2. Content is in German and professionally presented with clear contact information.
  3. No visible forms for user data collection on the homepage.
  4. No explicit privacy or security policy pages beyond standard Datenschutz (privacy) page.
  5. No signs of advertising or tracking scripts detected.
  6. No social media links found in the provided HTML content.
  7. Site uses HTTPS with no visible security warnings.
  8. Images have lazy loading but some show 'error' in lazy load status, indicating possible broken lazy loading implementation.
Technical notes

Notes

The website runs on a modern WordPress CMS version 6.7.4 with standard plugins for slideshows and image lightboxes. It uses jQuery 3.7.1 and lazy loading for images, although some lazy loading errors were detected indicating minor technical debt. The hosting provider is inferred from nameservers as Domain Discount 24, a common registrar and hosting provider. Performance is moderate with some optimization but no advanced caching or CDN detected in the HTML. Mobile optimization is basic but functional. Accessibility features are minimal but present. SEO is basic with meta description and keywords but lacks advanced structured data. Overall, the technical infrastructure is adequate for a small research informational site but could benefit from modernization and technical improvements to enhance performance, accessibility, and SEO.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with energy-efficiency-center.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 energy-efficiency-center.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.