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Security report for koeln.de

Stadtportal koeln.de · Government · Germany

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The website www.koeln.de serves as the official city portal for Cologne, Germany, providing comprehensive information about the city, including events, sightseeing, and leisure activities. It targets residents and visitors, positioning itself as a trusted government-related information hub. The site employs a modern WordPress CMS infrastructure with popular plugins such as Rank Math SEO and Cookiebot for privacy compliance. Hosting appears to be regional, consistent with the domain's geographic focus. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent mechanisms in place, although some security headers and policies could be improved. No critical vulnerabilities or blocking mechanisms were detected, and the site maintains a professional and trustworthy appearance suitable for its audience.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
100/ 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

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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';…

  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 koeln.de

This scan found 22 issues across 5 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
77
Security headers
15
Email security
70
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
100
Average
70

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

As an official city portal, koeln.de operates in the government sector, providing essential public information and services. Its business model revolves around content provision and community engagement rather than commercial transactions. The portal leverages partnerships with local entities such as Verkehr.nrw and Stepstone for additional services. The site’s SEO and marketing tools indicate a focus on broad visibility and user engagement. The absence of direct contact information or detailed corporate data suggests a focus on information dissemination rather than direct customer service. The portal’s large size and consistent branding reinforce its authoritative market position.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enabled and integration of a robust cookie consent framework via Cookiebot, ensuring GDPR compliance. Use of Google Tag Manager with consent mode further supports privacy-conscious analytics. However, the lack of explicit security headers and absence of a published security policy or incident response contact reduces overall security transparency. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided content. Recommendations include implementing security headers, publishing a security policy, and establishing a vulnerability disclosure process to enhance trust and compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Implement HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  3. Add a vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and plugins to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to meet compliance standards and improve user experience.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Stadtportal koeln.de
Description
Offizielle Webseite für Köln mit Informationen zu Stadt, Events, Sehenswürdigkeiten und Freizeitmöglichkeiten.
Key services
City information, Events calendar, Tourism and sightseeing information, Local news and updates
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.2, PHP, jQuery, Google Tag Manager, Cookiebot, Nextend Smart Slider 3 Pro, Rank Math SEO
Frameworks
GeneratePress theme, GenerateBlocks, Kadence Blocks
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent management via Cookiebot
  • Google Tag Manager with consent mode enabled

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via GTM)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Revive Adserver
Tracking pixels
Google Analytics (via GTM), Cookiebot tracking
Marketing tools
Rank Math SEO
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is an official city portal for Cologne, Germany
  2. Content is in German language
  3. Uses WordPress CMS with modern plugins and SEO tools
  4. Cookie consent managed by Cookiebot with clear consent mechanism
  5. No visible contact emails or phone numbers on homepage HTML snippet
  6. No explicit privacy policy or terms of service URLs found in provided content
  7. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure found
  8. No explicit data protection officer contact found
  9. Uses Google Tag Manager and Revive Adserver for analytics and advertising
  10. No adult or questionable content detected
Technical notes

Notes

The site is built on WordPress 6.8.2 with a modern tech stack including jQuery, Google Tag Manager, and Cookiebot for privacy management. The GeneratePress theme and associated block plugins provide a responsive and SEO-optimized framework. Hosting via NetCologne nameservers suggests regional infrastructure. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization. The site uses structured data (JSON-LD) for enhanced search engine understanding. Technical debt appears low, but improvements in security headers and accessibility could further modernize the platform and reduce risk.
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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