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Security report for pauly-rechtsanwaelte-koeln.de

PAULY Rechtsanwälte Köln · Energy · Germany

High risk. 4 critical or high findings in Network security, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

49/100

Risk levelHigh

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

PAULY Rechtsanwälte Köln is a small law firm specializing in environmental and energy law based in Cologne, Germany. The website presents a professional appearance using WordPress with the Avada theme and includes SEO optimization via Rank Math PRO. The technical infrastructure includes Google Tag Manager for analytics and Borlabs Cookie for cookie consent management. However, the site lacks explicit privacy policy and terms of service pages, and no direct contact information such as emails or phone numbers were found in the provided content. Security posture is moderate with no detected security headers and unknown SSL configuration. WHOIS data is minimal with generic hosting name servers and no detailed registrant information, which slightly reduces trustworthiness. Overall, the website is functional and professionally designed but would benefit from enhanced transparency and security practices.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 100 · Medium
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. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: MySQL

      Port 3306 (MySQL) is publicly accessible - MySQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to MySQL using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection
    • High

      High-Risk Service Exposed: FTP

      Port 21 (FTP) is publicly accessible - FTP - Often unencrypted file transfer

      What to do: Consider restricting access to FTP or implementing strong authentication

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • 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

  3. 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 pauly-rechtsanwaelte-koeln.de

This scan found 18 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.

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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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Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
82
Security headers
85
Email security
85
DNS health
60
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
68
Average
63
After the cap
49

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 · found on this site
  • 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

The firm targets clients needing legal advice in environmental and energy law, positioning itself as a niche legal service provider in Germany. The business model is professional services with a focus on specialized legal sectors. The website's SEO and cookie consent implementation indicate awareness of digital marketing and compliance requirements, though the absence of privacy and terms policies suggests room for improvement. The hosting provider and domain registration details are generic, typical for small businesses, with no evident partnerships or subsidiaries. The firm appears to maintain a moderate market presence with a focus on local clientele.

Security posture

Security maturity is basic; the website uses HTTPS (assumed but not confirmed), but lacks security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or Strict-Transport-Security. No vulnerability disclosures or incident response contacts are published. Cookie consent is managed properly, indicating some compliance with GDPR. The absence of explicit privacy policies and contact details for data protection officers or security incidents is a compliance gap. No known vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analyzed content. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a small professional website but requires enhancements to meet higher compliance and security standards.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service pages to improve legal compliance and user trust.
  2. Implement and verify security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Add explicit contact information including emails and phone numbers for client communication and data protection officer if applicable.
  4. Consider publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to enhance transparency and incident response readiness.
  5. Regularly audit and update SSL/TLS configurations and ensure all third-party scripts are up to date to reduce security risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
PAULY Rechtsanwälte Köln
Description
Law firm specializing in environmental law and energy law based in Cologne, Germany.
Key services
Environmental law, Energy law
Content quality
basic
Branding
moderate

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Avada Theme, Google Tag Manager, Borlabs Cookie
Frameworks
Avada
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
40/100

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Marketing tools
Rank Math PRO SEO
Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
basic
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
moderate

Key observations

  1. Website is accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is primarily in German and focused on legal services in environmental and energy law.
  3. No explicit privacy policy or terms of service pages found.
  4. Cookie consent is implemented via Borlabs Cookie plugin.
  5. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly found in the provided HTML snippet.
  6. Uses WordPress CMS with Avada theme and Rank Math PRO for SEO.
  7. Includes Google Tag Manager for analytics/tracking.
  8. No security headers detected in provided data; SSL status unknown.
  9. WHOIS data is minimal with generic name servers; no registrant details.
  10. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress using the Avada theme, a popular and modern CMS platform. It leverages Google Tag Manager for analytics and Borlabs Cookie for cookie consent management, indicating a moderate level of technical maturity. Hosting is provided by kle-hosting.net, a common provider for small businesses. The site shows good mobile optimization and SEO practices but lacks advanced accessibility features. Performance is moderate with no explicit indicators of slow loading or technical debt. The absence of security headers and incomplete privacy compliance are notable technical gaps. Overall, the infrastructure is standard for a small professional service website but could benefit from modernization in security and compliance aspects.
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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