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Security report for hochschule-ruhr-west.de

Hochschule Ruhr West · Education · Germany

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

60/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Hochschule Ruhr West is a public university of applied sciences located in the Ruhr region of Germany, with campuses in Mülheim an der Ruhr and Bottrop. The institution offers a variety of academic programs focused on practical and applied education, targeting students and academic professionals in the region. The website reflects a medium-sized educational institution with a clear focus on regional engagement and academic excellence. Technically, the website employs modern JavaScript technologies, including Cookiebot for cookie consent management and Google Tag Manager for analytics, indicating a mature digital infrastructure. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices and a professional design. Security-wise, the site enforces HTTPS and uses cookie consent mechanisms compliant with GDPR. However, there is room for improvement in implementing additional security headers and publishing explicit security policies. Overall, the website is trustworthy, professionally maintained, and compliant with privacy regulations, supporting the institution's credibility and user trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 100 · Low
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

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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';…
  2. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • High

      Weak Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching hochschule-ruhr-west.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
52
Security headers
30
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
83
Average
60

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 hochschule-ruhr-west.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
2
Employees
0
Customers
2
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
0%

2 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 hochschule-ruhr-west.de.

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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

The Hochschule Ruhr West operates as a public educational institution with a focus on applied sciences, serving students primarily in the Ruhr area of Germany. Its business model centers on providing higher education and research services, supported by regional cooperation and partnerships. The institution's market position is that of a reputable regional university with a growing presence. The website content and structure support this positioning, with clear navigation to academic programs, research, and organizational information. The use of third-party services like Spotify and YouTube for content embedding suggests engagement with modern digital media to enhance user experience. The absence of commercial advertising or affiliate programs aligns with its public education mission. The institution maintains GDPR compliance and transparent data protection practices, which are critical for its public trust and regulatory adherence.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security posture with mandatory HTTPS encryption and a comprehensive cookie consent mechanism powered by Cookiebot. The privacy policy is detailed and GDPR compliant, and the presence of a data protection officer contact indicates organizational commitment to data privacy. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and others suggests an area for enhancement to mitigate common web threats. There is no visible incident response or vulnerability disclosure policy, which could improve transparency and preparedness. Overall, the security maturity is good for an educational institution, with recommendations to strengthen header policies and publish security-related documentation.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and configure security headers like Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and user trust.
  3. Conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to proactively identify and remediate security risks.
  4. Enhance monitoring and logging capabilities to detect and respond to security incidents promptly.
  5. Maintain up-to-date third-party libraries and dependencies to avoid vulnerabilities from outdated components.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Hochschule Ruhr West
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Hochschule Ruhr West
Description
Die Hochschule Ruhr West ist eine staatliche Fachhochschule im Herzen des Ruhrgebiets in Mülheim an der Ruhr und Bottrop
Key services
Studiengänge, Forschung, Kooperationen, Weiterbildung
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Cookiebot, Google Tag Manager, SVG, PristineJS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

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

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google
Tracking pixels
Cookiebot
Marketing tools
Cookiebot
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured.
  2. Cookie consent mechanism is implemented with detailed cookie declaration.
  3. Privacy policy is comprehensive and GDPR compliant.
  4. No signs of phishing, malware, or suspicious activity.
  5. Use of reputable third-party services like Google Analytics and Cookiebot.
  6. No explicit security headers detected in provided data; recommend adding.
  7. Contact information and data protection officer details are available.
  8. No terms of service page found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses modern web technologies including asynchronous JavaScript loading, SVG graphics for logos, and Cookiebot for cookie management, indicating a contemporary technical stack. Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics are integrated for traffic analysis and marketing insights. The site is mobile responsive and includes accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA labels. Performance appears moderate, with deferred script loading and optimized CSS. No CMS is explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or static site architecture. Hosting provider details are not disclosed in the HTML content. The site could benefit from enhanced security headers and further technical SEO improvements. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a stable and user-friendly experience appropriate for an educational institution.
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. 54/100Medium29 findingsView report
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