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Security report for hs-kehl.de

Hochschule für öffentliche Verwaltung Kehl · Education · Germany

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

Security score

45/100

Risk levelHigh

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

Hochschule Kehl is a public higher education institution specializing in training qualified professionals for public administration. It offers a range of Bachelor, Master, and doctoral programs focused on public management, digital administration, and international cooperation. The institution positions itself as a bridge between academia and the public sector, emphasizing sustainable development and social justice. The website reflects a well-structured academic portal with event announcements and research activities, targeting students, public sector professionals, and international partners. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with Elementor and incorporates modern SEO and cookie consent tools, indicating a mature digital infrastructure. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS and cookie consent management, though improvements in security headers and explicit security policies are recommended. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and compliant with basic privacy regulations, serving its educational mission effectively.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
33/ 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

    • 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. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • High

      High-Risk Service Exposed: FTP

      Port 21 (FTP) is publicly accessible - FTP - Often unencrypted file transfer

      What to do: Consider restricting access to FTP or implementing strong authentication

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

  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

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

Keep watching hs-kehl.de

This scan found 28 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.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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Full report

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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
62
Security headers
15
Email security
70
DNS health
70
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
33
Average
45

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

The Hochschule Kehl holds a solid position as a specialized public administration university in Germany, offering comprehensive academic programs and applied research. Its business model centers on public sector education and research, with a focus on regional and European cooperation. The institution leverages partnerships with related educational entities and government bodies, as evidenced by linked domains and event collaborations. Growth indicators include active event hosting and international program offerings. The website content and structure support clear communication of academic offerings and institutional values, enhancing its market presence and credibility.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a baseline security maturity with HTTPS enabled and GDPR-compliant cookie consent via Usercentrics. However, the absence of explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms indicates room for improvement. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. The use of popular WordPress plugins necessitates regular updates to mitigate plugin-related risks. Security headers appear missing or not detected, which could be enhanced to improve defense against common web attacks. Overall, the security posture is moderate but should be strengthened to align with best practices for educational institutions handling personal data.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and provide dedicated incident response contact information.
  3. Establish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Ensure all web forms include anti-CSRF tokens and robust input validation to prevent injection attacks.
  5. Maintain regular updates and security patches for all CMS components and plugins to reduce vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Hochschule für öffentliche Verwaltung Kehl
Description
Die Hochschule Kehl ist eine Bildungseinrichtung, die qualifizierte Fachkräfte für die öffentliche Verwaltung ausbildet. Sie bietet Bachelor-, Master- und Promotionsprogramme mit Fokus auf Public Management, Digitales Verwaltungsmanagement, Europäisches Verwaltungsmanagement und weitere spezialisierte Studiengänge. Die Hochschule fördert Forschung, internationale Kooperationen und nachhaltige Entwicklung im öffentlichen Sektor.
Key services
Bachelorstudiengänge, Masterstudiengänge, Promotionen, Forschung, Weiterbildung, Internationale Programme
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Elementor, Yoast SEO, WP Rocket, Usercentrics CMP, Leaflet.js, Ajax Search Lite, Max Mega Menu, The Events Calendar, Font Awesome
Frameworks
Elementor
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Use of cookie consent management
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Usercentrics
Marketing tools
Usercentrics CMP
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional academic institution site focused on public administration education.
  2. Content is primarily in German with structured academic and event information.
  3. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in the provided HTML snippet.
  4. Cookie consent is managed via Usercentrics, indicating GDPR compliance efforts.
  5. No explicit privacy policy or terms of service pages detected in the analyzed content.
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information found.
  7. Use of modern WordPress plugins and Elementor builder for site construction.
  8. No signs of adult, questionable, or unsafe content.
  9. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected; site content is fully accessible.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform using the Elementor page builder, enhanced with plugins like Yoast SEO for search optimization, WP Rocket for caching and performance, and Usercentrics for cookie consent management. The site uses modern JavaScript libraries such as Leaflet for mapping and Ajax Search Lite for search functionality. Performance is moderate with some lazy loading and caching optimizations. Mobile responsiveness is good, and SEO meta tags are well implemented. However, accessibility features are basic and could be improved. The hosting provider is not explicitly identified, but the domain uses regional name servers consistent with its German location. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but could benefit from enhanced security configurations and accessibility 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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