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Security report for hs-ruhrwest.de

Hochschule Ruhr West · Education · Germany

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and Security headers.

Security score

53/100

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 broad range of degree programs including bachelor, master, part-time, and dual studies, alongside active research and transfer activities. The website reflects a well-established regional educational institution with a clear focus on accessibility, student services, and cooperation with industry and society. The target audience includes prospective and current students, academic staff, and business partners. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including JavaScript, CSS, and Cookiebot for cookie consent management, and integrates Google Tag Manager for analytics and marketing. The content management system appears to be Ibexa, supporting a structured and navigable site architecture. Performance is moderate with a page load time of approximately 6 seconds and a page size of about 335 KB. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible with good SEO practices. From a security perspective, the site lacks a valid SSL/TLS certificate and does not serve content over HTTPS, which is a critical vulnerability impacting user trust and data protection. No modern TLS protocols or security headers are detected, and HSTS is not enabled. DNS records show proper SPF and DMARC configurations, which help mitigate email spoofing risks. Cookie consent is implemented comprehensively, supporting GDPR compliance. However, no explicit security policy or incident response information is found. Overall, the website is professionally designed and content-rich but suffers from significant security shortcomings due to the absence of HTTPS. Strategic improvements in SSL deployment, security headers, and incident response transparency are recommended to enhance trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
18/ 100 · Critical
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

6 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';…

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

Keep watching hs-ruhrwest.de

This scan found 19 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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Recommended

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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
50
Security headers
15
Email security
50
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
18
Average
53

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

Hochschule Ruhr West operates as a regional public university focusing on applied sciences education and research. Its business model centers on providing diverse academic programs and fostering industry collaboration. The institution maintains a strong digital presence with multiple social media channels and a comprehensive website offering detailed information on study programs, research institutes, events, and cooperation opportunities. The university targets students, academic professionals, and corporate partners, positioning itself as a key educational player in the Ruhr area. The presence of quicklinks to portals like Moodle and eCampus indicates integrated digital services for students and staff. The lack of phone contact may reflect a preference for digital communication channels. No commercial certifications or subsidiaries are indicated.

Security posture

The current security posture of the website is weak due to the absence of a valid SSL certificate and lack of HTTPS enforcement, exposing users to potential data interception and man-in-the-middle attacks. The site does implement SPF and DMARC DNS records, which is positive for email security. Cookie consent is managed via Cookiebot, indicating awareness of privacy regulations. However, no security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options are detected, and no incident response or security policy pages are available. The lack of TLS protocols and HSTS further weakens the security stance. These gaps could impact user trust and regulatory compliance, especially under GDPR and NIS2 frameworks. Immediate remediation of SSL/TLS and security headers is critical.

Recommendations

  1. Deploy and maintain a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS across the entire website.
  2. Enable modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3) and disable insecure protocols.
  3. Implement HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) with includeSubDomains and preload directives.
  4. Add essential security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, and Referrer-Policy.
  5. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a CMS platform identified as Ibexa, utilizing modern front-end technologies including JavaScript and CSS. Cookiebot is integrated for cookie management, and Google Tag Manager is used for analytics and marketing scripts. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with a clear navigation structure and comprehensive content. Performance is moderate with a page load time of approximately 6 seconds and a page size of 335 KB, which is acceptable but could be improved. The DNS configuration is robust with valid SPF and DMARC records. However, the lack of SSL/TLS and security headers represents a significant technical risk. Hosting provider details are not explicitly identified. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional educational website but requires urgent security upgrades.
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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