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Security report for gfbio-ev.de

German Federation for Biological Data e.V. · Other · Germany

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Email security and 2 other checks.

Security score

50/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The German Federation for Biological Data e.V. (GFBio e.V.) is a small non-profit organization based in Germany focused on collecting, preserving, and distributing biological and environmental data for research purposes. It plays a key role as a coordinating partner in the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI), particularly in the biodiversity sector. The website presents a professional and consistent brand image, targeting researchers, academic institutions, and data centers involved in biological data management. Key services include service development, data curation, software development, and project management within research data infrastructures. Technically, the website uses a modern front-end stack including Bootstrap, various icon libraries, and JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and Glightbox. It is hosted on a domain registered with DomainDiscount24, with no privacy protection on WHOIS, indicating transparency. The site is mobile-optimized and has good SEO practices, though some technical improvements are possible, such as updating jQuery and adding security headers. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS and avoids exposing sensitive data. However, it lacks visible security headers and a cookie consent mechanism, which are important for GDPR compliance. No explicit security or incident response policies are published. Google Analytics is used for user tracking, with moderate tracking levels but no visible cookie consent banner. Overall, the website is trustworthy, professional, and well-positioned within its niche, but could improve privacy compliance and security posture by implementing cookie consent, security headers, and publishing security policies.

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

7 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 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 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 gfbio-ev.de

This scan found 27 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
72
Security headers
40
Email security
60
DNS health
60
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
28
Average
50

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 gfbio-ev.de, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for gfbio-ev.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

GFBio e.V. occupies a niche position as a non-profit coordinating biological data services within Germany's national research infrastructure. Its competitive advantage lies in its integration with the NFDI4Biodiversity consortium and partnerships with academic and research institutions. The business model focuses on service provision and coordination rather than commercial revenue. The target customers are researchers and institutions requiring data management support. Growth indicators include active projects and seminars. The partnership ecosystem includes recognized organizations such as the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin and the German Archaeological Institute. Strategic observations suggest a stable operation with opportunities to enhance digital maturity and compliance. No direct revenue streams or commercial activities are evident, consistent with a non-profit entity. The website supports transparency and community engagement through news, projects, and team information.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enabled and no visible sensitive data exposure. However, the use of an outdated jQuery version (1.11.2) may pose security risks. The absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security reduces defense-in-depth. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response information is provided, which limits transparency and preparedness. The lack of a cookie consent mechanism is a compliance gap under GDPR. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a non-commercial research organization but could be improved by updating libraries, adding security headers, and publishing security policies. No critical vulnerabilities or malware indicators were detected in the HTML content. The use of Google Analytics is standard but should be accompanied by proper consent mechanisms.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a GDPR-compliant cookie consent banner and detailed cookie policy to enhance privacy compliance.
  2. Add and configure security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to improve security posture.
  3. Update jQuery and other JavaScript libraries to their latest secure versions to mitigate known vulnerabilities.
  4. Publish a security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  5. Consider adding a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
German Federation for Biological Data e.V.
Description
We collect and distribute important data for research. GFBio e.V. is a member of the National Research Data Infrastructure NFDI and coordinates biodiversity data services and projects.
Key services
Service development, Support and knowledge transfer, Data curation, Software development, Project management, Science-policy communication
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Bootstrap CSS, Bootstrap Icons, Boxicons, Glightbox, Swiper, jQuery 1.11.2, PureCounter, PHP Email Form validation, Google Analytics (gtag.js)
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure external scripts
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (gtag.js)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is focused on biological data services and research infrastructure.
  3. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found in the HTML; contact is via a contact form.
  4. Privacy policy is present and linked in the footer.
  5. No cookie consent banner or explicit cookie policy detected.
  6. Use of modern front-end libraries and Google Analytics for tracking.
  7. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy.
  8. No visible security headers in the HTML content; server headers not provided.
  9. Branding and navigation are consistent and professional.
  10. Social media links include YouTube, Zenodo, and X (Twitter).
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern front-end technology stack centered on Bootstrap for responsive design, with additional libraries for icons, lightbox effects, and sliders. The presence of jQuery 1.11.2 indicates some legacy code that should be updated. Google Analytics is integrated for visitor tracking. The site is hosted on a domain registered with DomainDiscount24, a known domain registrar. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and SEO practices. Accessibility is basic but could be enhanced. No CMS is explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or static site generation approach. The technical infrastructure supports the organization's mission but has room for modernization and security improvements.
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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