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Security report for internationale-hochschulkooperationen.de

Stiftung zur Förderung der Hochschulrektorenkonferenz (HRK) · Education · Germany

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Email security and 3 other checks.

Security score

59/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The website internationale-hochschulkooperationen.de is an official platform operated by the Stiftung zur Förderung der Hochschulrektorenkonferenz (HRK) that provides comprehensive and up-to-date information on international cooperation agreements between German universities and their global partners. It serves as a key resource for students, researchers, and academic institutions interested in international academic collaboration, mobility, and joint projects. The platform is well-positioned within the German higher education sector, leveraging the credibility and authority of the HRK. Technically, the site is built on the TYPO3 CMS framework, utilizing standard web technologies such as jQuery and Bootstrap, and is optimized for mobile devices with good SEO practices. The site implements HTTPS and a robust cookie consent mechanism compliant with GDPR, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure. Performance is moderate, with room for improvements in accessibility and security headers. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates good practices including encrypted connections, no visible vulnerabilities, and detailed cookie and privacy disclosures. However, it lacks explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms such as security.txt. These gaps represent opportunities to enhance trust and compliance. Overall, the website is a trustworthy, professional, and valuable resource for its target audience. Strategic recommendations include publishing a dedicated security policy, adding incident response contact information, implementing security headers, and improving accessibility features to further strengthen its security posture and user trust.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of internationale-hochschulkooperationen.de. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
55/ 100 · Medium
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

  2. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

    • High

      No SPF record found

      SPF helps prevent email spoofing

      What to do: Add SPF record: "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourmailprovider.com ~all"

  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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

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

Keep watching internationale-hochschulkooperationen.de

This scan found 26 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
42
Security headers
70
Email security
40
DNS health
45
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
55
Average
59

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 internationale-hochschulkooperationen.de, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for internationale-hochschulkooperationen.de right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

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

The platform operates as an essential educational service under the HRK umbrella, focusing on transparency and facilitation of international university partnerships. Its market position is strong within the German academic ecosystem, supported by official backing and comprehensive data offerings. The business model centers on information dissemination rather than direct revenue generation, targeting universities, students, and policymakers. The site integrates with related HRK services and external data portals, forming a cohesive partnership ecosystem. Growth potential lies in expanding data analytics, user engagement, and international visibility. The absence of commercial advertising and affiliate programs aligns with its non-profit educational mission.

Security posture

The website maintains a good security posture with HTTPS enforced and a detailed cookie consent mechanism that complies with GDPR. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and lack of published security policies or incident response contacts indicate areas for improvement. The site does not provide a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file, which could hinder coordinated vulnerability reporting. Overall, the security maturity is moderate to good, suitable for an informational government-affiliated site but with room to enhance transparency and incident readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and commitments.
  2. Provide explicit incident response contact information (e.g., security@ or abuse@ email addresses).
  3. Implement and publish a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosures.
  4. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  5. Enhance website accessibility to meet higher standards and improve user experience for all visitors.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Stiftung zur Förderung der Hochschulrektorenkonferenz (HRK)
Description
Die Website bietet tagesaktuelle Informationen zu über 37.000 Vereinbarungen deutscher Hochschulen mit internationalen Partnern in über 150 Staaten. Sie unterstützt die Darstellung und Förderung internationaler Hochschulkooperationen, Mobilität von Studierenden und Forschenden sowie institutionelle Entwicklung.
Key services
Datenbank zu internationalen Hochschulkooperationen, Informationen zu deutschen und ausländischen Hochschulen, Statistiken zu Kooperationen, Informationen zu Mobilität und Projekten im Ausland
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
TYPO3 CMS, jQuery, Bootstrap, Google Fonts (Open Sans, Roboto)
Frameworks
TYPO3 CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent with detailed information
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo (inferred from _pk_ses and _pk_id cookies)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
excellent

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is an official service of the Hochschulrektorenkonferenz (HRK) providing comprehensive data on international university cooperation.
  2. Content is in German with English language support.
  3. No forms detected on the homepage; no user data collection forms present.
  4. Cookie consent mechanism is implemented with detailed user information and opt-in/out options.
  5. No social media links explicitly found in the provided HTML.
  6. No phone numbers or direct emails visible on the homepage; contact info likely on /service/impressum.html.
  7. No security.txt or explicit vulnerability disclosure found.
  8. No terms of service page detected.
  9. Website uses TYPO3 CMS with standard libraries and scripts.
  10. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on TYPO3 CMS, a mature and widely used content management system, supplemented by jQuery and Bootstrap for frontend interactivity and responsive design. Google Fonts are used for typography. The site loads multiple CSS and JS assets efficiently, though performance is moderate and could benefit from optimization. The site is mobile-friendly and SEO-optimized with appropriate meta tags. No modern JavaScript frameworks (e.g., React, Angular) are detected, indicating a traditional web architecture. Hosting provider details are not explicitly available. Overall, the technical infrastructure is stable and suitable for the site's informational purpose but could be modernized for enhanced performance and security.
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. 59/100Medium35 findingsView report
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