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Security report for ipm-essen.de

Messe Essen GmbH · Other · Germany

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in Email security and SSL/TLS.

Security score

76/100

Risk levelLow

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

Messe Essen GmbH operates the IPM ESSEN website, which serves as the world-leading trade fair for the horticulture industry. The site provides comprehensive information about the entire value chain of plant production, technology, floristry, equipment, and point of sale. It targets professional audiences in the gardening and plant sectors, positioning itself as a key global event in this niche. The website employs a modern technical stack including jQuery, Usercentrics for consent management, Google reCAPTCHA for bot protection, and multiple advertising and analytics platforms. Hosting is managed via kasserver.com, indicating a professional hosting environment. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and CSRF protections in place, though explicit security headers and policies are absent. Privacy compliance is partially addressed through cookie consent but lacks a clear privacy policy or terms of service. Overall, the site is professional, content-rich, and trustworthy but could improve transparency around privacy and security policies.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 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

2 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

  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 ipm-essen.de

This scan found 20 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
72
Security headers
75
Email security
60
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
76

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

IPM ESSEN holds a dominant market position as the world’s leading horticulture trade fair, offering a unique platform that covers the entire horticultural supply chain. Its business model revolves around event management and industry networking, targeting specialized professional visitors and exhibitors. The company leverages partnerships with advertising and analytics providers to monetize and optimize user engagement. The absence of detailed contact and compliance information suggests room for growth in corporate transparency. The company’s digital presence is consistent with its large size and international reach, supporting its role as a major industry player in Germany and beyond.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced, CSRF token implementation, and integration of Google reCAPTCHA to mitigate automated abuse. Consent management via Usercentrics indicates awareness of GDPR requirements. However, the lack of explicit security headers (such as CSP, HSTS) and absence of published security policies or incident response contacts represent gaps. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analyzed content. The use of multiple third-party advertising and tracking scripts increases the attack surface and privacy risks, though mitigated by consent mechanisms. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be enhanced by formalizing policies and tightening HTTP headers.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service accessible from the main site.
  2. Implement and publish a security policy including incident response contacts (e.g., security@ or abuse@ email).
  3. Add security HTTP headers such as Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection.
  4. Conduct regular audits of third-party scripts to minimize privacy and security risks.
  5. Enhance transparency by providing clear contact information for business and security inquiries.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Messe Essen GmbH
Description
Die Internationale Pflanzenmesse (IPM ESSEN) ist die Weltleitmesse des Gartenbaus. Als einzige Fachmesse ihrer Art bildet sie die gesamte Wertschöpfungskette von der Pflanzen-Produktion, über die Technik, Floristik, Ausstattung bis hin zum Point of Sale ab. Auf keiner anderen Pflanzenmesse findet das Fachpublikum eine derart umfassende Marktübersicht und vielfältige Neuheiten.
Key services
Pflanzen-Produktion, Technik, Floristik, Ausstattung, Point of Sale
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 3.7.0, jQuery UI, jQuery Cycle2, Usercentrics Consent Management, Google reCAPTCHA, etracker Analytics, Adform, TradeDesk, SMART AdServer, Piwik PRO Tag Manager, eyeAble Accessibility
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced (implied by canonical URL https://)
  • CSRF token implemented in AJAX setup
  • Google reCAPTCHA integration
  • Consent management via Usercentrics
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
etracker, Piwik PRO Tag Manager, LeadLab & Leadfeeder
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Adform, SMART AdServer, TradeDesk
Tracking pixels
etracker, LeadLab & Leadfeeder, Piwik PRO Tag Manager
Marketing tools
Usercentrics Consent Management
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 trade fair site for the horticulture industry.
  2. Uses modern consent management and analytics tools.
  3. No explicit privacy or terms of service pages found in provided content.
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in the analyzed HTML snippet.
  5. Strong use of third-party advertising and tracking services with consent mechanism.
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information detected.
  7. No explicit security policy or incident response contact information found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a traditional jQuery-based frontend with multiple plugins for UI and carousel functionality. Consent management is handled by Usercentrics, a leading CMP provider, ensuring GDPR compliance for cookies and tracking. Analytics and advertising are integrated via etracker, Piwik PRO, Adform, TradeDesk, and SMART AdServer, indicating a sophisticated marketing infrastructure. Hosting is via kasserver.com, a professional hosting provider. Performance is moderate with room for optimization. Mobile responsiveness and accessibility are addressed but could be improved. No CMS was explicitly detected. The site uses structured data (JSON-LD) for SEO enhancement. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but could benefit from modernization and enhanced security headers.
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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