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Security report for geomar.de

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel · Education · Germany

High risk. 8 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 2 other checks.

Security score

36/100

Risk levelHigh

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

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel is a prominent German research institution specializing in oceanographic and climate research. The website reflects its role as a leading scientific center with comprehensive information on research programs, expeditions, and educational outreach. The site targets researchers, students, policymakers, and the public interested in marine sciences. It operates under the Helmholtz Association umbrella, emphasizing non-profit research and education. Technically, the website is built on TYPO3 CMS with modern JavaScript libraries like jQuery and Slick Slider, providing a responsive and accessible user experience. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and no visible vulnerabilities, though some security headers could be improved. Privacy compliance is good with a clear privacy policy, but lacks a cookie consent mechanism and vulnerability disclosure policy. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained, supporting GEOMAR's mission and public engagement.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of geomar.de. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
3/ 100 · Critical
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

    • Critical

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

  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.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

  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 geomar.de

This scan found 23 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

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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
0
Security headers
40
Email security
65
DNS health
70
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
3
Average
36

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 geomar.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
74
Employees
14
Customers
54
Third parties
6
Weak passwords
42%

Latest record dated 2026-06-08 · 11 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 geomar.de.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –webmail.geomar.de2026-06-08
  • –geomar.de2026-01-12
  • –mail.geomar.de2026-01-10
  • –webmail.geomar.de2025-11-03
  • –mail.geomar.de2025-08-22

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

GEOMAR holds a strong market position as a leading oceanographic research center in Germany and internationally. Its business model is non-profit, funded by government and research grants, focusing on scientific research, education, and public outreach. The website's extensive content and structured navigation indicate a mature digital presence. Partnerships with related domains like aquarium-geomar.de and oceanrep.geomar.de enhance its ecosystem. The institution targets academic and policy audiences, with growth potential in digital science and climate research communication. The absence of commercial advertising and affiliate programs aligns with its non-profit status.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and no exposed sensitive data. Security headers are present but could be enhanced with Content-Security-Policy and other modern headers. Forms use POST methods but lack visible advanced protections like CSRF tokens. No security.txt or incident response contacts are provided, which could improve vulnerability management and transparency. The absence of cookie consent mechanisms may be a compliance gap under GDPR. Overall, the site is secure but could benefit from additional security best practices and transparency measures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a cookie consent banner to comply fully with GDPR requirements.
  2. Add a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure.
  3. Enhance HTTP security headers, including Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security.
  4. Provide explicit incident response contact information on the website.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries to avoid vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel
Description
GEOMAR is a Helmholtz research center focused on ocean research, climate, marine ecology, and related scientific fields. It provides research programs, expeditions, and educational resources.
Key services
Oceanographic research, Scientific expeditions, Educational outreach, Publications and media, Research infrastructure
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
TYPO3 CMS, jQuery, jQuery UI, Slick Slider
Frameworks
TYPO3 CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced (base href uses https)
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with POST method for search

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Notes

The website uses TYPO3 CMS, a robust open-source content management system, combined with jQuery and Slick Slider for interactive elements. The HTML is well-structured with proper meta tags supporting SEO and accessibility. Performance is moderate, likely due to image-heavy content and slider usage, but mobile optimization is good. The site lacks some modern security headers and cookie consent mechanisms, which are technical debt areas. Hosting details are not explicit, but HTTPS and domain registration indicate a professional setup. Opportunities exist to modernize JavaScript usage and improve performance metrics.
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. 53/100Medium35 findingsView report
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