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Security report for hessenschau.de

Hessischer Rundfunk · Media · Germany

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and Security headers.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Hessenschau.de is a professional regional news portal operated by Hessischer Rundfunk, the public broadcaster for the German state of Hessen. The website provides comprehensive news coverage including weather, traffic, sports, and politics, supported by multimedia content such as videos and audio. It serves a general audience interested in regional news and information. The site demonstrates strong branding consistency and high content quality, reflecting its position as a trusted media source in the region. Technically, the website employs modern JavaScript frameworks like Alpine.js and uses ARD Player for media content delivery. It is hosted on secure infrastructure with HTTPS and Content Security Policy headers implemented, ensuring good security posture. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices evident from meta tags and structured data. Analytics tools such as Piano Analytics and Xiti are used for user behavior tracking, with moderate user tracking levels. Security-wise, the site follows best practices with HTTPS and security headers but lacks explicit published security policies or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms. Privacy compliance is partial, as no explicit privacy or cookie policies were found in the provided content, which could be improved to enhance user trust and regulatory compliance. Overall, Hessenschau.de is a high-quality, trustworthy regional news platform with solid technical infrastructure and security measures. Strategic improvements in privacy transparency and security policy publication would further strengthen its compliance and user confidence.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
45/ 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

5 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

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

  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 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 hessenschau.de

This scan found 21 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
100
Security headers
30
Email security
70
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
45
Average
68

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 hessenschau.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
172
Employees
0
Customers
121
Third parties
51
Weak passwords
26%

5 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 hessenschau.de.

Select it in the checkout above.

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

Hessenschau.de operates as a key regional news outlet under the umbrella of Hessischer Rundfunk, a public broadcasting entity. Its market positioning is strong within Hessen, offering a broad range of news and multimedia content that caters to a wide demographic. The business model is primarily public service media funded by broadcasting fees, focusing on information dissemination rather than commercial revenue. The site integrates with multiple social media platforms to extend reach and engagement. Its partnership ecosystem includes sister radio and TV stations under Hessischer Rundfunk. Growth indicators include continuous content updates and multimedia integration. The platform's operations reflect a mature digital media presence with a focus on regional relevance and public trust.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, Content Security Policy, and use of modern JavaScript polyfills to support legacy browsers securely. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided content. However, the absence of published security policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms represents a compliance gap. The use of analytics is transparent but could benefit from enhanced privacy controls. Overall, the site is secure for users but should publish formal security and incident response documentation to align with best practices and regulatory expectations.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with clear GDPR compliance statements.
  2. Implement and publish a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosure and incident reporting.
  3. Enhance Content Security Policy to include script-src and style-src restrictions to reduce risk of XSS.
  4. Provide explicit security and incident response policies accessible to users and partners.
  5. Increase transparency around data retention policies and user tracking to improve privacy compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Hessischer Rundfunk
Description
Hessenschau.de ► aktuelle Nachrichten aus Hessen ★ Aktuelles aus Wetter ✓ Verkehr ✓ Sport ✓ Politik ✓ auf dem Online-Portal des hr.
Key services
News reporting, Weather updates, Traffic information, Sports coverage, Political news, Video and audio content
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Alpine.js, Modernizr, ARD Player, Piano Analytics
Frameworks
Alpine.js
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Content Security Policy present
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of modern JS polyfills for legacy browsers

Analytics and tracking

Services
Piano Analytics, Xiti
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Piano Analytics, Xiti (logs.xiti.com)
Marketing tools
Piano Analytics
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional regional news portal for Hessen, Germany.
  2. Operated by Hessischer Rundfunk, a public broadcasting organization.
  3. Content includes news articles, videos, audio, weather, traffic, and sports.
  4. Uses modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  5. No privacy or cookie policies explicitly found in the provided HTML snippet.
  6. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found in the provided content.
  7. Strong branding and consistent navigation structure.
  8. No signs of adult or questionable content.
  9. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure found.
  10. No explicit security or incident response policies found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern tech stack including Alpine.js for reactive UI components, Modernizr for feature detection, and ARD Player for media playback. It is built on the hrcms-delivery CMS platform version 4.26.0, indicating a custom or specialized CMS for broadcasting content. Hosting is managed by sec-provider.de, with DNS prefetching for performance optimization. The site is well-optimized for mobile devices and accessibility, with responsive design and ARIA attributes. Performance is enhanced by preloading critical CSS, fonts, and scripts. The use of deferred and async script loading improves page load times. Overall, the technical infrastructure is robust, scalable, and aligned with modern web standards.
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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