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Security report for gerit.org

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft e.V. · Education · Germany

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

58/100

Risk levelMedium

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

GERiT is a comprehensive information portal operated by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in partnership with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK). It provides detailed data on over 33,000 German research institutions, including profiles, job vacancies, doctoral program information, and links to DFG-funded projects. The portal targets students and researchers both within Germany and internationally, serving as an authoritative resource for academic and research-related information in Germany. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including React for frontend components and Apache Lucene/Solr for search functionality. It integrates Google Maps API for geospatial data visualization and uses a cookie consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices and bilingual content in German and English. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS and has no visible critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. However, DNSSEC is not enabled and security headers are not explicitly detected, suggesting room for improvement. Privacy compliance is strong, with a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie consent banner. Contact information and legal imprint are clearly provided, enhancing trustworthiness. Overall, GERiT presents a professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained digital presence for German research institutions. Strategic recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, implementing security headers, and publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy to further strengthen security posture and transparency.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of gerit.org. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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

7 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

  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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • 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';…

  3. 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

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

Keep watching gerit.org

This scan found 29 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
62
Security headers
15
Email security
40
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
58

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 gerit.org, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for gerit.org 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

GERiT occupies a strong market position as the official German research institution directory, operated by the reputable DFG with partnerships from DAAD and HRK. Its business model is non-commercial, focusing on providing authoritative, up-to-date information to students and researchers. The portal supports international research marketing for Germany and facilitates access to academic job markets and doctoral programs. The partnership ecosystem includes major German academic organizations, enhancing credibility and reach. Growth indicators include monthly data updates and integration with multiple external authoritative data sources. The portal's comprehensive search and filter capabilities provide competitive advantages in usability and data granularity.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and no visible exposure of sensitive data. The use of a cookie consent banner aligns with GDPR requirements. However, the absence of DNSSEC and missing security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options indicate potential gaps. No explicit incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is published, which could limit responsiveness to security issues. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be enhanced by adopting additional best practices and transparency measures.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Publish a security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and trust.
  4. Add a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability reporting and responsible disclosure.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to ensure no vulnerable libraries are used.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft e.V.
VAT number
DE122276357
Registration number
VR 2030 (Vereinsregister Bonn)
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft e.V.
Description
GERiT is an information portal on German research institutions provided by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in partnership with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK). It offers an overview of approximately 33,000 research institutions in Germany, including profiles, job vacancies, doctoral regulations, and links to DFG-funded projects.
Key services
Research institution directory, Search by subject, location, institution type, Links to job vacancies and doctoral opportunities, Information on DFG-funded projects, Data download service
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React (react-autosuggest), Apache Lucene / Solr (search backend), Google Maps API, CSS3, JavaScript
Frameworks
React
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of consent banner for cookies

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a comprehensive, bilingual (German/English) portal for German research institutions.
  2. Operated by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in partnership with DAAD and HRK.
  3. Provides detailed search and filter options for over 33,000 research institutions.
  4. Includes job listings, doctoral program info, and links to DFG-funded projects.
  5. Strong legal and privacy compliance with clear imprint and privacy policy.
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  7. No advertising or tracking scripts detected beyond consent management.
  8. Good mobile and accessibility support.
  9. No explicit security headers detected in provided data; recommend improvements.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern React-based frontend with server-side search powered by Apache Lucene/Solr, indicating a robust and scalable technical infrastructure. Integration of Google Maps API enhances user experience for geographic searches. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO metadata and bilingual support. Hosting appears stable with DNS managed by the German Research Network (dfn.de). Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization. No CMS detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary content management approach. Overall, the technical stack is well-suited for the portal's informational and search functionalities, with opportunities for security and performance enhancements.
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. 58/100Medium36 findingsView report
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