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Security report for faz.net

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH · Media · Germany

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH operates FAZ.NET, a leading German news portal providing comprehensive coverage across politics, economy, sports, culture, and finance. The website targets a broad general audience seeking high-quality news content and offers subscription-based services alongside advertising revenue streams. The company maintains a strong market position as a reputable national daily newspaper with a significant digital presence. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including Vue.js, Adobe Launch for tag management, and CleverPush for push notifications. The site is well-optimized for mobile devices, features good accessibility, and implements SEO best practices. Performance is moderate with asynchronous loading of scripts enhancing user experience. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses industry-standard analytics and marketing tools. However, explicit security headers and incident response contacts are not evident, suggesting areas for improvement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analyzed content. Overall, the website demonstrates a high level of professionalism, content quality, and trustworthiness. The absence of WHOIS data is noted but does not detract from the site's legitimacy given its established brand and verified social media presence. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, publishing a security.txt file, and providing clearer incident response information.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
85/ 100 · Low
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

6 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

    • High

      No SPF record found

      SPF helps prevent email spoofing

      What to do: Add SPF record: "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourmailprovider.com ~all"

  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. GDPR outside view

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

    • 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

  4. 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 faz.net

This scan found 20 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

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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
62
Security headers
75
Email security
40
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
85
Average
70

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 faz.net, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
5,841
Employees
0
Customers
5,782
Third parties
59
Weak passwords
13%

43 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 faz.net.

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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

FAZ.NET is positioned as a premium news media outlet in Germany, leveraging a subscription and advertising business model. Its competitive advantage lies in its authoritative journalism, comprehensive coverage, and strong brand recognition. The company targets educated, news-interested consumers and professionals. Growth is supported by digital transformation efforts and multimedia content such as podcasts. The ecosystem includes partnerships with social media platforms and use of advanced analytics and marketing tools. The company operates in the media sector with a large organizational size and a focus on digital innovation.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and no visible exposure of sensitive data. Use of Adobe Launch and CleverPush indicates controlled third-party integrations. However, the lack of explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and absence of a published vulnerability disclosure or incident response contact reduces overall security maturity. Compliance with GDPR is supported by comprehensive privacy and cookie policies. The site would benefit from formalizing incident response processes and enhancing header-based protections to mitigate risks.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection.
  2. Publish a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability reporting and improve transparency.
  3. Provide explicit incident response contact information on the website.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts to minimize security risks.
  5. Enhance privacy policy details with explicit data retention and processing information.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH
Description
News, Nachrichten und aktuelle Meldungen aus allen Ressorts. Politik, Wirtschaft, Sport, Feuilleton und Finanzen im Überblick.
Key services
News reporting, Digital news platform, Subscription services, Podcasts
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Adobe Launch (Tag Manager), CleverPush (Push Notifications), Vue.js (inferred from data-v-* attributes), EBX applets, Modern CSS with Tailwind-like utility classes
Frameworks
Vue.js
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of Adobe Launch for tag management
  • Use of async and defer for scripts
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Adobe Launch (likely Adobe Analytics)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Adobe Launch, CleverPush
Marketing tools
Adobe Launch, CleverPush
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a major German news portal with comprehensive content.
  2. Uses modern web technologies and frameworks.
  3. Strong branding and consistent design.
  4. Privacy and cookie policies are present and comprehensive.
  5. No security policy or incident response info explicitly found.
  6. WHOIS data unavailable, but site legitimacy is high based on content and branding.
  7. No adult or questionable content detected.
  8. Multiple social media verified accounts linked.
  9. Uses Adobe Launch and CleverPush for analytics and notifications.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern technology stack centered on Vue.js for frontend interactivity, Adobe Launch for tag management, and CleverPush for push notifications. The CSS employs utility-first classes similar to Tailwind CSS, indicating a contemporary design approach. Scripts are loaded asynchronously to optimize performance. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO metadata and structured data for enhanced search engine visibility. Hosting details are not explicitly identified but the infrastructure supports a large-scale media operation. Opportunities exist to improve performance further by optimizing script loading and caching strategies.
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. 73/100Medium26 findingsView report
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