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Security report for nic.at

nic.at GmbH · Technology · Austria

Partial score · DNS & email only

54/100

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

nic.at GmbH operates as the official registry authority for Austrian top-level domains including .at, co.at, and or.at. The company provides domain registration, administration, and security services, positioning itself as a trusted and authoritative entity in the Austrian internet infrastructure landscape. Their website is professionally designed, multilingual, and targets domain holders, registrars, and internet service providers in Austria. The business model centers on domain registry services and related security offerings, supported by a partner ecosystem. Technically, the website employs modern frameworks such as Laravel and uses Matomo for analytics, but lacks a valid SSL certificate, which is a critical security shortfall. Security headers are implemented, and cookie consent mechanisms comply with GDPR, reflecting a strong privacy posture. However, the absence of HTTPS and TLS protocols significantly weakens the security posture. Overall, nic.at demonstrates a high level of business credibility and digital maturity but must address fundamental security gaps to enhance trust and compliance.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of nic.at. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
33/ 100 · High
Checks completed
6of 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

3 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

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

    • 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.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching nic.at

This scan found 10 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.

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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
0
Email security
50
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
33
Average
54

Not counted

  • Security headers: did not complete in this scan.
  • 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

nic.at GmbH is the official registry for Austrian top-level domains, providing domain registration, administration, and security services. The company targets domain holders, registrars, and businesses in Austria, offering a trusted and authoritative service. Their business model is based on domain registry fees and value-added services such as security locks and partner finder tools. The company maintains a consistent brand and professional online presence, supported by GDPR-compliant privacy and cookie policies. Partnerships with related service providers enhance their ecosystem. The website content is comprehensive and professionally maintained, reflecting a mature and credible business operation.

Security posture

The current security maturity level of nic.at's website is moderate due to the lack of HTTPS and valid SSL certificates, which is a critical vulnerability. While security headers such as X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-XSS-Protection are present, the absence of TLS protocols and HSTS reduces protection against common web threats. Cookie consent is well implemented, supporting GDPR compliance. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is publicly available, indicating potential gaps in transparency. The site uses secure cookies with HttpOnly and Secure flags, and CSRF tokens are implemented in forms, which are positive security practices. Overall, the security posture requires urgent improvement in transport layer security to protect user data and maintain trust.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and maintain a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS across the entire site.
  2. Enable modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3) and disable insecure protocols.
  3. Configure HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) with includeSubDomains and preload directives.
  4. Enable OCSP stapling to improve certificate revocation checks and reduce latency.
  5. Implement session resumption mechanisms to enhance performance and security.
  6. Publish a security policy and vulnerability disclosure program to improve transparency.
  7. Provide incident response contact information such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  8. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and libraries to avoid vulnerabilities.
  9. Enhance accessibility features and continue SEO optimization for broader reach.
  10. Maintain consistent branding and update content regularly to reflect company developments.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
nic.at GmbH
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern technology stack including nginx web server and Laravel PHP framework. It uses Bootstrap for responsive design and jQuery for client-side scripting. Analytics are handled by Matomo, a privacy-focused analytics platform. The site supports multiple languages and includes secure login areas for domain management and payment. However, the lack of a valid SSL certificate and disabled TLS protocols severely impact security and performance. The site shows slow performance metrics, possibly due to missing optimizations or server configurations. Accessibility and SEO are well addressed with proper meta tags and ARIA roles. The cookie consent mechanism is robust and integrates with external CMPs and tag managers. Hosting provider details are not explicitly identified. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but requires urgent security upgrades and performance tuning.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 76/100 −4Low27 findingsView report
  2. 80/100Low26 findingsView report
  3. 80/100Low26 findingsView report
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