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Security report for pccl.at

Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH · Energy · Austria

High risk. 9 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

45/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH (PCCL) is a leading Austrian research institution specializing in polymer technology and polymer sciences. It collaborates closely with industry partners and academic institutions to deliver innovative R&D projects across sectors such as automotive, aerospace, packaging, and renewable energy. The website reflects a mature organization with a clear focus on cooperative research and sustainable polymer solutions. Technically, the site is built on Joomla CMS with a variety of extensions and frameworks, but suffers from critical security shortcomings, notably the absence of a valid SSL certificate and HTTPS support. This significantly impacts the security posture and user trust. Privacy and compliance documentation is well maintained, including GDPR-compliant privacy policies and incident reporting mechanisms. Overall, the site is professional and content-rich but requires urgent improvements in security infrastructure to align with best practices and user expectations.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
0/ 100 · Critical
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

9 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

    • Critical

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

  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

  3. 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 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';…

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
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  • 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
Security headers
40
Email security
50
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
0
Average
45

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

PCCL holds a strong market position as Austria's premier polymer research center, leveraging partnerships with universities and industry. Its business model centers on collaborative research projects funded by federal and regional bodies, targeting polymer applications in energy, transportation, and manufacturing sectors. The organization demonstrates a robust partnership ecosystem and a clear focus on innovation and sustainability. The website content and linked domains reinforce its credibility and outreach. Growth indicators include active project listings and funding acknowledgments. However, the lack of modern security measures could pose risks to reputation and operational continuity.

Security posture

The current security posture is weak due to the absence of HTTPS and a valid SSL certificate, exposing users to potential data interception risks. While some security headers are present and DNS-based email protections like SPF and DMARC are configured, the server does not support modern TLS protocols or session resumption features. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files are available, limiting transparency. The presence of incident reporting channels is a positive indicator of security awareness. Immediate remediation of SSL/TLS issues and enhancement of security best practices are critical to reduce risk and improve compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Acquire and deploy a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS across the entire site.
  2. Enable and configure modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 and 1.3) and security features such as OCSP stapling and session resumption.
  3. Implement a cookie consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and improve user trust.
  4. Add a publicly accessible vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to enhance transparency.
  5. Regularly audit and update all server software, CMS, and third-party libraries to mitigate vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH
Technical notes

Notes

The website runs on an Apache server with PHP 7.4 and Joomla CMS, utilizing Gantry framework and several Joomla extensions like RokGallery and RokAjaxSearch. DNS is managed via GoDaddy's domain control servers with proper SPF and DMARC records, indicating good email security hygiene. However, the site lacks HTTPS support due to an invalid or missing SSL certificate, and no modern TLS protocols are enabled, which is a significant technical risk. Performance metrics are missing or zero, suggesting potential monitoring gaps. The site is mobile optimized and SEO friendly with proper meta tags and structured navigation. Technical debt is evident in outdated PHP version and missing SSL, which should be addressed to improve security and performance.
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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