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Security report for foodwatch.de

foodwatch · Non-profit · Germany

Medium risk. 2 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

foodwatch is a German non-profit organization dedicated to exposing consumer-unfriendly practices in the food industry and advocating for the right to good, healthy, and honest food. The organization operates independently from the food industry and government funding, relying primarily on donations. Their website is content-rich, professionally designed, and targets German-speaking consumers interested in food safety and consumer rights. The site offers campaigns, reports, podcasts, and petitions to engage the public. Technically, the website is built on TYPO3 CMS and uses Matomo analytics for privacy-conscious visitor tracking. It features a cookie consent mechanism compliant with GDPR and is optimized for mobile devices with good accessibility and SEO practices. The site uses HTTPS with strong SSL configuration but lacks some advanced security headers and a public security policy or vulnerability disclosure page. From a security perspective, the site shows good practices such as encrypted connections and no exposed sensitive data. However, WHOIS data is privacy protected, limiting transparency about domain registration details. Overall, the site appears legitimate, trustworthy, and well-maintained, with recommendations to enhance security headers and publish a security policy for improved transparency and incident response readiness.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 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

2 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching foodwatch.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.

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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
42
Security headers
80
Email security
85
DNS health
80
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
83
Average
68

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 foodwatch.de, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for foodwatch.de right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

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

foodwatch holds a strong market position as an independent consumer protection NGO focused on food industry transparency in Germany. Their business model is donation-based, emphasizing advocacy, public education, and campaigning. The organization leverages multiple digital channels including social media and newsletters to engage supporters. Their content strategy includes current news, reports, and interactive petitions, indicating active community involvement. The presence of international branches suggests a broader European footprint. The website's professional presentation and clear mission support credibility and trust among their target audience of consumers concerned about food quality and safety.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and a comprehensive cookie consent mechanism aligned with GDPR. Use of Matomo analytics indicates a preference for privacy-respecting tools. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options is a gap that could be addressed to mitigate risks like clickjacking and content injection. No security.txt or incident response contact information is published, which limits external vulnerability reporting. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. Overall, the site is secure but could improve transparency and defense-in-depth measures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and provide clear channels for vulnerability reporting.
  3. Add a security.txt file at the root domain to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries to ensure no vulnerable components are included.
  5. Maintain and update cookie and privacy policies to reflect evolving regulations and best practices.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
foodwatch
Description
foodwatch entlarvt die verbraucherfeindlichen Praktiken der Lebensmittelindustrie und kämpft für das Recht der Verbraucherinnen und Verbraucher auf qualitativ gute, gesundheitlich unbedenkliche und ehrliche Lebensmittel. foodwatch ist ein gemeinnütziger Verein und unabhängig von der Lebensmittelwirtschaft sowie staatlichen und EU-Geldern. Nur weil Menschen uns durch Spenden unterstützen, ist unsere Arbeit überhaupt möglich.
Key services
Consumer advocacy, Information dissemination, Campaigns and petitions, Reports and investigations
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
TYPO3 CMS, Matomo Analytics, JavaScript, CSS
Frameworks
TYPO3 CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ads, Facebook Ads
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Matomo
Marketing tools
Google Grants, Google Adwords, Facebook Ads
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content in German language.
  2. Strong focus on consumer rights and food industry transparency.
  3. Uses TYPO3 CMS with Matomo analytics for privacy-respecting tracking.
  4. Cookie consent and privacy policy are well implemented and GDPR compliant.
  5. No security.txt or explicit security policy found.
  6. WHOIS data is privacy protected, no registrar or creation date available.
  7. Social media presence is strong across multiple platforms.
  8. No signs of adult or questionable content.
  9. No exposed sensitive data or obvious vulnerabilities detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by TYPO3 CMS, a robust open-source content management system, indicating a well-established technical foundation. It uses Matomo for analytics, favoring privacy and compliance. The site loads multiple compressed CSS and JS assets, suggesting optimization efforts. Mobile responsiveness and accessibility features are well implemented, enhancing user experience. The site uses modern meta tags for SEO and social media integration (Open Graph, Twitter Cards). Hosting provider details are not explicitly found. Performance is moderate, with potential for further optimization. No deprecated or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided scripts.
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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