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Security report for htw-berlin.de

Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin · Education · Germany

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

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

HTW Berlin is a prominent University of Applied Sciences located in Germany, offering a wide range of Bachelor, Master, and MBA programs across multiple disciplines including engineering, business, design, and health. The institution is well-ranked nationally and provides extensive research and continuing education services. The website reflects a mature digital presence with clear navigation, multilingual support, and active engagement with its target audiences such as prospective students, current students, alumni, and industry partners. Technically, the site uses modern web standards, integrates Matomo analytics with user consent, and maintains good performance and mobile optimization. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and cookie consent mechanisms, though some security headers could be improved and explicit security policies are not published. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and compliant with GDPR requirements.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
95/ 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 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';…

  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

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

Keep watching htw-berlin.de

This scan found 23 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
20
Email security
75
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
95
Average
70

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 htw-berlin.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
5,687
Employees
70
Customers
4,770
Third parties
847
Weak passwords
8%

Latest record dated 2026-06-13 · 147 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 htw-berlin.de.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –webmail.htw-berlin.de2026-06-13
  • –vpn.htw-berlin.de2026-06-12
  • –lsf.htw-berlin.de2026-06-12
  • –webmail.htw-berlin.de2026-06-12
  • –webmail.htw-berlin.de2026-06-07

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

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)Monitor on Breach(opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

HTW Berlin holds a strong market position as a leading applied sciences university in Germany, supported by top rankings and awards. Its business model centers on education, research, and professional development, targeting students, academic researchers, and industry collaborators. The university maintains a broad partnership ecosystem evident from related subdomains and external links. Revenue streams likely include tuition, government funding, research grants, and continuing education fees. The website content and structure support transparent communication and community engagement, enhancing its competitive advantage in the higher education sector.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security maturity level with enforced HTTPS, cookie consent, and no visible sensitive data exposure. However, the absence of explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and security.txt files indicates room for improvement in transparency and readiness. The use of Matomo analytics with consent aligns with privacy best practices. No vulnerabilities or suspicious domains were detected. Enhancing security headers and publishing incident response information would strengthen the security posture further.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and trust.
  2. Implement and verify security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Add a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to meet higher compliance standards.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin
Description
Die HTW Berlin bietet Studium, Forschung und Weiterbildung in den Bereichen Wirtschaft, Ingenieurwesen, Informatik, Design, Kultur, Gesundheit, Energie & Umwelt, Recht, Bauen & Immobilien. Studieren Sie in einem der 80 Studiengänge - Bachelor, Master, MBA. Forschen Sie in wissenschaftlichen Projekten. Oder besuchen Sie die Fortbildungen der Hochschule.
Key services
Bachelor and Master degree programs, Research projects, Continuing education and professional development, Campus facilities and services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, jQuery, Matomo Analytics
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is primarily in German with an English language option.
  3. Strong focus on education, research, and community engagement.
  4. Cookie consent and privacy policies are clearly presented and GDPR compliant.
  5. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found in the HTML; contact is primarily via forms and internal portals.
  6. Social media presence is active on major platforms.
  7. No visible security.txt or explicit security policy pages.
  8. No terms of service page detected.
  9. Use of Matomo analytics with user consent mechanism.
  10. No advertising or affiliate marketing detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and jQuery, with Matomo analytics integrated for user tracking under consent. The probable use of TYPO3 CMS aligns with common German academic institutions. Hosting appears to be managed internally or via academic data centers, ensuring control and reliability. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and basic accessibility. SEO practices are adequate with proper meta tags and structured navigation. Opportunities exist to modernize frameworks and improve security headers to reduce technical risks.
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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