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Security report for heisegroup.de

Heise Gruppe GmbH & Co. KG · Media · Germany

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Email security and 2 other checks.

Security score

59/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Heise Gruppe GmbH & Co. KG is a well-established German media company with a 75-year history, specializing in publishing, marketing services, events, and IT education. The company operates multiple well-known brands and subsidiaries, targeting IT professionals, businesses, and general consumers. Their digital presence is professional, with a modern website powered by the InterRed CMS platform, optimized for mobile and accessibility. Security posture is solid with HTTPS usage and no visible vulnerabilities, though improvements in security headers and explicit cookie consent mechanisms are recommended. The company demonstrates high business credibility with clear contact information and strong branding consistency.

Scanned

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

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

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

    • 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 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 heisegroup.de

This scan found 26 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
95
Security headers
45
Email security
40
DNS health
45
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
59

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 heisegroup.de, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for heisegroup.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

Heise Gruppe holds a strong market position in the German media sector, leveraging a diversified portfolio including publishing, local marketing, price comparison portals, and IT training. Their business model integrates content creation with marketing and educational services, targeting a broad audience from IT professionals to local businesses. The presence of multiple subsidiaries and partner domains indicates a mature ecosystem. The company’s longevity and brand recognition provide competitive advantages, while their digital infrastructure supports ongoing growth and customer engagement.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS and avoids exposing sensitive data, reflecting a mature security posture. However, the absence of key security headers and lack of a public vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file suggest areas for enhancement. No incident response contacts or security policies are published, which could impact rapid response capabilities. Overall, the security maturity is good but could benefit from formalized policies and improved transparency to align with best practices and compliance requirements.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, and X-Frame-Options.
  2. Introduce a visible cookie consent banner to comply with GDPR and enhance user privacy transparency.
  3. Publish a formal security policy and incident response contact information to improve trust and readiness.
  4. Consider establishing a vulnerability disclosure program and hosting a security.txt file for responsible reporting.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and CMS components to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Heise Gruppe GmbH & Co. KG
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Heise Gruppe GmbH & Co. KG
Description
Zeitschriften, Verzeichnismedien, New-Media-Produkte, Events: Als Medienunternehmen vermittelt heise Informationen und Mediendienstleistungen. Seit 75 Jahren bietet Heise fundierte und unabhängige redaktionelle Inhalte, Marketingdienstleistungen, Veranstaltungen und Weiterbildung für IT-Professionals.
Key services
Publishing magazines and online media, Local marketing and directory services, Price comparison portals, IT training and academy, Events and conferences
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS, JavaScript
Frameworks
InterRed CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS usage assumed (URL is https)
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
basic

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 and professional design.
  2. Strong brand presence with multiple subsidiaries and business units.
  3. Contact information is clearly provided with multiple channels.
  4. No security blocking or WAF challenges detected.
  5. No explicit privacy or cookie consent banner visible, which could be improved.
  6. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy.
  7. Social media presence is broad and consistent.
  8. Content is safe and suitable for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern tech stack with HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript, managed via the InterRed CMS platform. The site is mobile-optimized with good accessibility and SEO practices. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization. The hosting provider is not explicitly identified. The technical infrastructure supports a professional and scalable digital presence, though adding performance monitoring and advanced security configurations would further strengthen the platform.
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. 59/100Medium35 findingsView report
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