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Security report for herne.de

Stadt Herne · Government · Germany

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

58/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Stadt Herne operates an official municipal government website providing comprehensive information and services to its citizens and visitors. The site covers a wide range of topics including city life, culture, education, integration, environment, and digitalization initiatives. It maintains a strong presence with official branding, social media integration, and a citizen service portal. Technically, the website employs a mature technology stack including Bootstrap, jQuery, and specialized tools like eTracker for analytics and ReadSpeaker for accessibility. The site is well-structured, mobile-optimized, and includes cookie consent mechanisms aligned with GDPR requirements. Security posture is generally good with HTTPS enforced and no visible vulnerabilities, though improvements could be made by adding security headers and updating legacy libraries. Overall, the domain and content appear legitimate and trustworthy, consistent with a large government entity. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, publishing a security policy, and modernizing JavaScript libraries to maintain security and compliance.

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. 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';…

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Keep watching herne.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
67
Security headers
15
Email security
70
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
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

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

Stadt Herne is positioned as a key regional government entity serving a large population with diverse services ranging from citizen engagement, cultural events, education, urban development, to digital infrastructure. The business model is public service-oriented, funded by municipal budgets and government programs. The website supports transparency and citizen interaction through online portals and event calendars. Partnerships with local business development entities and media outlets are evident, enhancing community engagement. The presence of certifications like Total E-Quality signals commitment to quality and equality standards. The site’s comprehensive content and professional presentation reflect a mature digital strategy aimed at broad audience segments including residents, businesses, and visitors.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security foundation with HTTPS enforced and a cookie consent mechanism that respects user privacy and GDPR compliance. The use of eTracker in a cookie-free mode shows privacy-conscious analytics implementation. However, the site lacks explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options, which are recommended to mitigate common web attacks. The use of an outdated jQuery version (1.12.4) could expose the site to known vulnerabilities if not properly patched. No incident response or security contact information is published, which could hinder timely vulnerability reporting and mitigation. Overall, the security posture is good but could be improved by adopting modern security best practices and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Upgrade jQuery and other JavaScript libraries to current stable versions to reduce vulnerability exposure.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy and provide clear incident response contact channels to enhance transparency and trust.
  4. Continue to maintain and improve cookie consent mechanisms ensuring full GDPR compliance and user control.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and plugins to maintain security and performance.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Stadt Herne
Description
Offizielle Webseite der Stadtverwaltung Herne mit Informationen zu städtischen Dienstleistungen, Veranstaltungen, Stadtentwicklung, Bürger-Service und mehr.
Key services
Bürger-Service-Portal, Informationen zu Stadtleben, Kultur, Bildung, Wirtschaft, Online-Dienstleistungen, Veranstaltungskalender, Stadtentwicklung und Infrastruktur
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 1.12.4, Bootstrap, Revolution Slider, FontAwesome, eTracker (cookie-free and cookie-based analytics), ReadSpeaker (text-to-speech), Google Translate integration
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism with opt-in/out
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No vulnerable libraries detected in scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
eTracker
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
eTracker
Marketing tools
eTracker
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official municipal government website for Stadt Herne, Germany.
  2. Comprehensive content covering city services, culture, events, and administration.
  3. Strong privacy and cookie consent mechanisms in place.
  4. Use of multiple modern web technologies and accessibility features.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  6. Social media presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram.
  7. No visible security policy or incident response contact information.
  8. WHOIS data is minimal but domain status is active and consistent with hosting provider.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a combination of established front-end technologies including Bootstrap for responsive design, jQuery for DOM manipulation, and Revolution Slider for interactive content. Analytics are handled by eTracker with both cookie-free and cookie-based options, balancing user privacy and data collection needs. Accessibility is enhanced with ReadSpeaker integration and Google Translate support. The site is well-structured with clear navigation and semantic HTML elements. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements by updating legacy scripts and optimizing resource loading. No explicit CMS was detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary content management system. Hosting details are not explicit but domain name servers indicate a professional hosting provider. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a robust and user-friendly municipal website.
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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