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Security report for kiel.de

Landeshauptstadt Kiel · Government · Germany

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

67/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The website kiel.de serves as the official digital portal for the Landeshauptstadt Kiel, providing extensive information and services related to the city’s governance, culture, health, environment, education, and public administration. It targets residents, visitors, and stakeholders interested in the city’s offerings and developments. The site is well-structured with comprehensive content in German, reflecting a mature and professional public sector digital presence. Technically, the site uses standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and Matomo analytics for visitor tracking. The CMS identified is PANSITE (TM), indicating a specialized content management system for municipal websites. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices evident from meta tags and Open Graph data. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enabled and deferred script loading, but lacks visible security headers and explicit security policies or incident response contacts. Privacy compliance is limited due to absence of explicit privacy and cookie policies or consent mechanisms. WHOIS data aligns well with the official city identity, confirming legitimacy and trustworthiness. Overall, the site is a reliable and authoritative source for city-related information but would benefit from enhanced privacy and security disclosures.

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

4 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

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

  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 kiel.de

This scan found 24 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

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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
80
Email security
55
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
67

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 kiel.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
258
Employees
0
Customers
252
Third parties
6
Weak passwords
17%

14 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 kiel.de.

Select it in the checkout above.

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

Kiel.de operates as a government entity website, representing the city administration of Kiel, Germany. Its market position is that of an authoritative public service provider, offering a broad range of information and digital services to citizens and visitors. The business model is non-commercial, focused on transparency, civic engagement, and service delivery. Key services include urban planning, social services, cultural events, environmental initiatives, and educational resources. The site supports community participation and digital transformation efforts. The target audience includes local residents, families, students, businesses, and tourists. The website’s extensive content and structured navigation indicate a mature digital strategy aligned with public sector goals. Partnerships or subsidiaries are not evident, consistent with a municipal government structure. The site’s branding is consistent and professional, reinforcing trust and official status.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a baseline security posture with HTTPS enforced, ensuring encrypted communication. The use of Matomo analytics is privacy-conscious compared to other analytics platforms. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options reduces protection against common web attacks like clickjacking and MIME sniffing. No visible incident response or vulnerability disclosure information limits transparency and readiness communication. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided content. The site lacks explicit privacy and cookie consent mechanisms, which may pose compliance risks under GDPR. Overall, the security posture is moderate but can be improved by implementing recommended headers, publishing security policies, and enhancing privacy compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with explicit GDPR-compliant consent mechanisms.
  2. Add security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection.
  3. Publish a security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  4. Introduce a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and libraries to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Landeshauptstadt Kiel
Description
Infos zu Deutschlands nördlichster Hauptstadt, zu Zukunft, Gesellschaft & Gesundheit, zu Kultur & Freizeit, zu Umwelt & Verkehr, Bildung & Wissenschaft, Politik & Verwaltung sowie Wirtschaft & Arbeit.
Key services
Stadtinformationen, Bürgerdienste, Kultur- und Freizeitangebote, Gesundheits- und Sozialdienste, Umwelt- und Verkehrsinfos, Bildung und Wissenschaft
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Matomo Analytics, eye-able translation script
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • No visible sensitive data exposure
  • Use of deferred and async script loading

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a comprehensive official city portal for Kiel, Germany
  2. Content is extensive, well-structured, and in German language
  3. No privacy or cookie policies explicitly found in scanned content
  4. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly found in provided content snippet
  5. Uses Matomo analytics for visitor tracking
  6. No visible security policy or incident response information
  7. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found
  8. WHOIS data shows domain status 'connect' with addix.de name servers
  9. No signs of WAF or content blocking
  10. No adult or questionable content detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a custom CMS named PANSITE (TM), utilizing standard web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. It integrates Matomo analytics for visitor tracking and includes an accessibility translation script from eye-able. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design elements and uses canonical links and Open Graph metadata for SEO and social sharing. Performance is moderate, with deferred and async script loading improving load times. No modern JavaScript frameworks or advanced frontend technologies were detected. Hosting provider details are not explicit but DNS uses addix.de name servers. The site could benefit from enhanced security headers and privacy features. Overall, the technical infrastructure is stable and suitable for a government portal but has room for modernization and security enhancements.
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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