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Security report for humboldt-foundation.de

Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung · Education · Germany

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

72/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung is a reputable German foundation dedicated to promoting international scientific collaboration and supporting researchers worldwide. It offers various funding programs, scholarships, and networking opportunities, boasting a large global network of over 30,000 researchers including numerous Nobel laureates. The foundation's website reflects its mission with comprehensive content, professional design, and consistent branding. Technically, the site is built on TYPO3 CMS, hosted by Colt Technology Services, and employs modern web technologies including lazy loading and Google Charts. Analytics are conducted via eTracker, though explicit cookie consent mechanisms and privacy policies are not evident in the provided content. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced, but lacks visible security headers and published security policies or incident response contacts. Overall, the site is trustworthy and well-positioned in the education and non-profit sectors, though improvements in privacy compliance and security transparency are recommended.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
43/ 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

3 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. 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 humboldt-foundation.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
72
Security headers
85
Email security
70
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
43
Average
72

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 humboldt-foundation.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
7,751
Employees
0
Customers
7,751
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
8%

17 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 humboldt-foundation.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 foundation operates in the education and non-profit sectors, focusing on funding and networking for researchers regardless of discipline or nationality. Its business model centers on lifelong support for funded individuals and strengthening Germany's scientific standing through international exchange. The organization enjoys a strong market position with a large, prestigious network and offers key services such as scholarships, alumni engagement, and event coordination. The website's content and structure support these objectives effectively, targeting academics and research professionals globally. No parent or subsidiary companies were identified, indicating an independent foundation structure.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enabled and no exposed sensitive data in the HTML. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security reduces defense-in-depth. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response information is published, which could hinder timely reporting and mitigation of security issues. The use of eTracker for analytics introduces moderate user tracking, but no explicit cookie consent or privacy policy was found, indicating potential GDPR compliance gaps. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be enhanced by adopting best practices in headers, transparency, and user consent.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with clear GDPR compliance statements.
  2. Implement a cookie consent mechanism to obtain explicit user consent for tracking.
  3. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  4. Create and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file with incident response contact details.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize privacy risks and improve transparency.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
Description
Die Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung fördert Wissenschaftler*innen unabhängig von Fachrichtung und Nationalität, stärkt den Wissenschaftsstandort Deutschland durch internationalen Forschungsaustausch und unterstützt Geförderte ein Leben lang. Sie setzt sich für internationale Verständigung, wissenschaftlichen Fortschritt und Entwicklung ein.
Key services
Förderprogramme, Stipendien und Preise, Alumninetzwerk, Veranstaltungen und Vernetzung, Beratung und Unterstützung für Geförderte
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
TYPO3 CMS, JavaScript, lazySizes (lazy loading), Google Charts, eTracker (analytics/tracking)
Frameworks
TYPO3 CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure cookies (implied by etracker data-block-cookies attribute)
  • Lazy loading images to improve performance

Analytics and tracking

Services
eTracker
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
eTracker
Marketing tools
eTracker
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and professional design.
  2. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service pages detected in the provided content.
  3. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in the HTML snippet.
  4. Strong branding and consistent messaging focused on academic funding and networking.
  5. Use of TYPO3 CMS and Colt hosting indicates a mature technical infrastructure.
  6. Tracking via eTracker is present but no explicit cookie consent mechanism found.
  7. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information found.
  8. No security headers detected in the provided data; potential area for improvement.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by TYPO3 CMS, a robust open-source content management system, indicating a well-maintained technical infrastructure. Hosting is provided by Colt Technology Services, suggesting reliable and professional hosting. The site uses modern JavaScript libraries for lazy loading images and Google Charts for data visualization, enhancing performance and user experience. Analytics are handled by eTracker, which is integrated asynchronously to reduce page load impact. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices including meta tags and Open Graph data. Performance is moderate, with opportunities to improve load times and security headers to strengthen the overall technical posture.
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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