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Security report for phpbb.de

phpBB.de · Technology · Germany

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

58/100

Risk levelMedium

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

phpBB.de is a German-language community and support platform dedicated to the phpBB open-source forum software. It provides users with downloads, documentation, support forums, and community engagement tools. The site is hosted by Linevast.de and uses the phpBB software with custom styling and standard web technologies such as jQuery and Font Awesome. The platform targets phpBB users and developers primarily in Germany and offers a comprehensive resource for forum setup and troubleshooting. Technically, the website employs a standard phpBB stack with modern JavaScript libraries and is moderately optimized for performance and mobile use. However, there is room for improvement in security practices, including the implementation of HTTP security headers and enhanced privacy controls. The site uses session IDs in URLs and lacks explicit cookie consent mechanisms, which could be improved for GDPR compliance. From a security perspective, the site shows no signs of blocking or WAF interference and does not expose sensitive data. However, the absence of security headers and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms indicates a moderate security posture. The WHOIS data is partially consistent with the hosting and domain usage, supporting legitimacy but lacking detailed registrant information. Overall, phpBB.de is a trustworthy and well-maintained community resource with good business credibility and content quality. Strategic improvements in security headers, privacy compliance, and contact transparency would enhance its security posture and user trust.

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. 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 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. 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
  4. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • High

      Weak SPF Policy

      SPF record has permissive policy allowing any server to send email

      What to do: Use -all or ~all qualifier for better email security

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

Keep watching phpbb.de

This scan found 26 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.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
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  • Lifetime access to this report

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
62
Security headers
50
Email security
75
DNS health
50
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
68
Average
58

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 phpbb.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
318
Employees
0
Customers
318
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
18%

3 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 phpbb.de.

Select it in the checkout above.

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

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

phpBB.de occupies a niche as the primary German-language support and community hub for phpBB forum software users. Its business model revolves around community engagement, support services, and providing localized downloads and documentation. The platform benefits from a loyal user base and regular updates aligned with phpBB core releases. Its partnership with Linevast.de for hosting indicates a stable infrastructure. The absence of direct monetization or advertising suggests a community-driven approach. Growth potential lies in expanding developer resources and enhancing security and privacy features to meet evolving compliance standards.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level. HTTPS is implied but not explicitly confirmed in the data. The lack of HTTP security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options reduces defense-in-depth. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy is present, limiting transparency for security researchers. The use of session IDs in URLs may pose session fixation risks. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism. Incident response contact channels are not disclosed. Overall, the site is functional and secure enough for community use but would benefit from enhanced security controls and compliance measures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive HTTP security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to harden the site against common web attacks.
  2. Enforce HTTPS site-wide and verify SSL/TLS configuration to ensure secure communications.
  3. Add a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with GDPR and improve user privacy transparency.
  4. Publish a security.txt file and establish a clear vulnerability disclosure policy to engage with security researchers.
  5. Provide direct contact information such as a security or abuse email address to improve incident response readiness.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
phpBB.de
Description
phpBB.de ist die deutsche phpBB-Community und bietet Support, Downloads, Dokumentationen und eine Kommunikationsplattform für phpBB-Forensoftware.
Key services
Supportforen, Downloads von phpBB Paketen und Sprachpaketen, Dokumentation und Tutorials, Community-Foren und Chat
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
phpBB, jQuery, Font Awesome, Highlight.js
Frameworks
phpBB default prosilver style
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
60/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of session IDs in URLs
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-maintained community support portal for phpBB in German.
  2. Content is comprehensive for its target audience with regular updates and announcements.
  3. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found; contact is via form only.
  4. No explicit cookie consent mechanism detected despite GDPR-relevant privacy policy.
  5. No security.txt or explicit vulnerability disclosure found.
  6. No social media links detected in the HTML content.
  7. Uses standard open-source forum software with custom styling.
  8. Hosting is provided by a German hosting company (Linevast.de).
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the phpBB forum software platform with custom styles based on the default prosilver theme. It uses jQuery 3.7.1, Font Awesome icons, and highlight.js for code syntax highlighting. The hosting is provided by Linevast.de, a German hosting provider. The site loads multiple CSS and JavaScript assets with versioning for cache control. Performance is moderate with no explicit performance optimization indicators. Accessibility is basic with some skip links and ARIA roles but could be improved. SEO is basic with meta viewport and charset tags but no Open Graph or JSON-LD structured data detected. The site uses session IDs in URLs, which may affect security and SEO.
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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