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Security report for kaad.de

Katholischer Akademischer Ausländer-Dienst · Education · Germany

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

51/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Katholischer Akademischer Ausländer-Dienst (KAAD) is a well-established non-profit organization affiliated with the Catholic Church in Germany, focused on providing scholarships and educational support to postgraduate students and young professionals from developing countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. With a history spanning over 65 years, KAAD supports leadership development through academic programs, networking, and spiritual guidance. The website reflects a professional and consistent brand image, targeting academics and emerging leaders in global development contexts. Technically, the site is built on TYPO3 CMS, leveraging modern web technologies such as Bootstrap, FontAwesome, and jQuery. It is hosted on Goneo servers, uses HTTPS with good SSL configuration, and demonstrates moderate performance and good mobile optimization. SEO and accessibility are adequately addressed, though some accessibility features could be enhanced. From a security perspective, the website enforces HTTPS and uses secure form submissions but lacks explicit security headers and a published security policy or incident response contacts. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is generally good with a comprehensive privacy policy, but the absence of a cookie consent mechanism is a minor gap. Overall, the KAAD website presents a trustworthy, professional, and secure platform suitable for its educational and non-profit mission. Strategic improvements in security headers, cookie consent, and vulnerability disclosure would further strengthen its security posture and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
28/ 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

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. 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';…

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Keep watching kaad.de

This scan found 25 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.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • 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
30
Email security
80
DNS health
75
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
28
Average
51

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

KAAD occupies a niche in the educational non-profit sector, focusing on scholarship and leadership development for international postgraduate students from developing regions. Its competitive advantage lies in its long-standing history, strong affiliation with the Catholic Church, and a broad global network. The business model is donation and grant-funded, supported by partnerships with reputable organizations such as the Deutsche Bischofskonferenz and Misereor. The target audience includes academics, researchers, and emerging leaders from 54 countries. The organization demonstrates growth through active alumni networks and diverse scholarship programs. Its partnership ecosystem includes governmental and church-related entities, enhancing credibility and resource access.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS and secure form handling. However, it lacks explicit HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options, which are recommended to mitigate common web vulnerabilities. There is no visible security policy or incident response contact information, which could hinder timely vulnerability reporting and response. No vulnerable libraries or exposed sensitive data were found, indicating good maintenance practices. GDPR compliance is supported by a comprehensive privacy policy, but the absence of a cookie consent mechanism is a compliance gap. Overall, the security maturity is good but can be improved with additional headers and formalized security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common attacks.
  2. Introduce a cookie consent banner/mechanism to comply fully with GDPR and ePrivacy regulations.
  3. Publish a formal security policy and incident response contact details to facilitate vulnerability reporting and improve transparency.
  4. Consider adding a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible disclosure.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to improve inclusivity and compliance with accessibility standards.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Katholischer Akademischer Ausländer-Dienst
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Katholischer Akademischer Ausländer-Dienst
Description
Der KAAD ist ein Stipendienwerk der katholischen Kirche in Deutschland, das Nachwuchskräfte aus Afrika, Asien, Nahost, Lateinamerika und Osteuropa durch akademische Studien und Forschungsaufenthalte fördert, um Führungsaufgaben bei der gesellschaftlichen, technischen und kulturellen Entwicklung ihrer Länder zu übernehmen.
Key services
Stipendienprogramme, Bildungsveranstaltungen, Netzwerkbildung, Persönliche und spirituelle Begleitung
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
TYPO3 CMS, Bootstrap, FontAwesome, jQuery, Slick Slider, Parsley.js
Frameworks
TYPO3 CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure forms with POST method
  • No visible vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is well-structured, multilingual support via hreflang tags.
  3. No explicit privacy or cookie banners detected, but privacy policy is present.
  4. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page.
  5. Contact information is clearly provided in footer and header.
  6. Social media presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
  7. No advertising or tracking scripts detected.
  8. Uses modern TYPO3 CMS with common web technologies.
  9. No signs of suspicious or malicious content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on TYPO3 CMS, a robust and widely used content management system, indicating a solid technical foundation. It uses modern front-end technologies such as Bootstrap for responsive design, FontAwesome for icons, and jQuery for interactivity. The presence of Parsley.js suggests client-side form validation is implemented. Hosting is provided by Goneo, a German hosting provider, which aligns with the site's German origin. Performance is moderate, with some room for optimization. SEO is well addressed with proper meta tags and hreflang attributes for multilingual support. The site is mobile-optimized and has a clear navigation structure. No deprecated or vulnerable libraries were detected, indicating good maintenance and update practices.
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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