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Security report for kommunal.de

KOMMUNAL · Government · Germany

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

54/100

Risk levelMedium

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

KOMMUNAL is a well-established German media platform serving mayors, local politicians, and municipal administrations. It offers a broad range of content including articles, podcasts, webinars, newsletters, and organizes events such as the Messe KOMMUNAL. The website is built on Drupal 9 and uses modern web technologies and analytics tools, hosted on AWS infrastructure. Security posture is good with HTTPS and reCAPTCHA implemented, though explicit privacy and terms policies are not found on the homepage. The domain WHOIS data is consistent and transparent, supporting the legitimacy of the business. Overall, the site presents a professional, trustworthy, and content-rich platform for its target audience.

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

6 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. 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 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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  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
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  • Security headers
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  • 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
50
Email security
65
DNS health
70
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
28
Average
54

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 kommunal.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
5
Employees
0
Customers
5
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
20%

2 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 kommunal.de.

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Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

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Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

The business operates in the government and media sectors, focusing on municipal governance and administration. Its revenue streams likely include subscriptions (K+), advertising, event sponsorships, and job market services. The target audience is niche but well-defined, comprising municipal officials and administrators. The company maintains a strong brand presence with consistent content quality and engagement through multiple channels. Partnerships with event platforms and job market services enhance its ecosystem. The business model is content-driven with diversified offerings supporting municipal professionals.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, use of Google reCAPTCHA v3 on forms, and asynchronous loading of scripts to reduce attack surface. However, explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options are not evident in the provided content and should be verified and implemented if missing. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. The absence of a published security policy or incident response information is a gap in compliance and transparency. Overall, the site is secure but could improve in formalizing security documentation and headers.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service accessible from the homepage or footer.
  2. Implement and verify security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Provide clear incident response and vulnerability disclosure contacts or pages.
  4. Enhance privacy compliance by detailing data retention and user rights in policies.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries for vulnerabilities and update accordingly.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
KOMMUNAL
Description
KOMMUNAL is a magazine for mayors, local politicians, and administration, delivering trends, practical examples, tips and tricks for work in municipalities.
Key services
Magazine publishing, E-paper, Podcasts, Webinars, Events and trade fairs (Messe KOMMUNAL), Newsletter, Job market platform
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 9, Bootstrap, FontAwesome, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Piano (paywall/engagement), Recaptcha v3, Revive Adserver
Frameworks
Drupal CMS, Bootstrap CSS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of HTTPS
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA v3 on forms
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of async loading for scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Revive Adserver
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag
Marketing tools
Piano (paywall and engagement)
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional German media outlet focused on municipal governance.
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and includes multiple media types (articles, podcasts, events).
  3. Uses modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  4. No security or privacy policies explicitly found on homepage but cookie consent is implemented.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  6. WHOIS data is consistent and domain is properly configured with AWS nameservers.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses Drupal 9 CMS with Bootstrap for responsive design and FontAwesome for icons. It integrates multiple third-party services including Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, and Piano for paywall/engagement. Hosting is on AWS as indicated by nameservers. Performance is moderate with asynchronous script loading and mobile optimization is excellent. Accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA roles are present. SEO is supported by meta tags and structured data (schema.org Articles). Technical debt appears low but continuous monitoring and updates are recommended.
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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