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Security report for ptb.de

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt · Government · Germany

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and Security headers.

Security score

72/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) is Germany's national metrology institute, operating under the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. It provides high-precision measurement services, research, and development in metrology, calibration, conformity assessments, and international cooperation. The PTB serves a broad audience including scientists, industry, policymakers, and the public, positioning itself as a key authority in measurement science both nationally and internationally. The website reflects a mature, professional organization with comprehensive content and a clear focus on its core mission. Technically, the website is built on TYPO3 CMS with modern JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and Bootstrap. It demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices. The site is well-structured with clear navigation and up-to-date content including news, events, and publications. No blocking or WAF challenges were detected, indicating full accessibility. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS with strong SSL configuration and follows quality management and ISO 27001 frameworks. However, there is room for improvement in implementing security headers, cookie consent mechanisms, and publishing incident response or vulnerability disclosure information. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. Overall, the PTB website is trustworthy, professional, and secure, with minor gaps in privacy compliance and security best practices. Strategic recommendations include enhancing privacy consent, adding security headers, and publishing clear incident response contacts to further strengthen trust and compliance.

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

4 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 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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Keep watching ptb.de

This scan found 19 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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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
95
Security headers
65
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
72

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 ptb.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
462
Employees
4
Customers
440
Third parties
18
Weak passwords
15%

Latest record dated 2026-01-05 · 33 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 ptb.de.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –chat.ptb.de2026-01-05
  • –box.ptb.de2026-01-05
  • –www.ptb.de2025-07-30
  • –ptb.de2025-06-22

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

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)Monitor on Breach(opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

PTB holds a strong market position as Germany's national metrology institute, providing essential services in measurement science, calibration, and conformity assessment. Its business model is government-funded with a focus on scientific research and public service. The organization targets scientific communities, industry stakeholders, policymakers, and the general public. PTB's partnerships include international metrology networks and German federal ministries. The website content and structure indicate a well-established institution with a large workforce and extensive service offerings. Growth indicators include active research clusters, international cooperation, and technology transfer initiatives.

Security posture

The PTB website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and adherence to ISO 27001 and quality management systems. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, the absence of explicit security headers and incident response contact information suggests areas for enhancement. The lack of a cookie consent mechanism may pose GDPR compliance risks. Overall, the security culture appears strong but could benefit from formalizing vulnerability disclosure and incident response processes to improve readiness and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive cookie consent and tracking transparency to ensure GDPR compliance.
  2. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Publish clear incident response and vulnerability disclosure contact information, possibly via a security.txt file.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries to ensure no vulnerabilities are introduced.
  5. Enhance user privacy and security culture by providing educational resources and transparency on data protection.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
Description
Die Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig und Berlin, ist das nationale Metrologie-Institut mit wissenschaftlich-technischen Dienstleistungsaufgaben. Sie misst mit höchster Genauigkeit und Zuverlässigkeit – Metrologie als Kernkompetenz.
Key services
Research & Development in metrology, Metrological services and calibration, Conformity assessments, Quality management system, International metrology cooperation
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 3.7.1, jQuery Migrate 3.4.1, TYPO3 CMS, Bootstrap 3.3.5, MediaMatcher JS
Frameworks
TYPO3 CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of quality management system
  • Use of ISO 27001 framework

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is comprehensive, professional, and well-structured.
  3. Strong focus on metrology research, services, and international cooperation.
  4. No visible security vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data.
  5. No explicit privacy or cookie consent banner detected, which could be improved.
  6. Social media presence on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.
  7. No advertising or tracking scripts detected.
  8. Use of TYPO3 CMS and modern JavaScript libraries.
  9. Events and news are current and relevant.
  10. Strong affiliation with German federal ministry and international metrology bodies.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses TYPO3 CMS, a robust and widely used content management system, combined with jQuery and Bootstrap for frontend interactivity and responsiveness. The site loads multiple CSS and JS files, indicating modular design. Mobile optimization is handled via MediaMatcher scripts and responsive CSS. Performance is moderate, with no major blocking scripts detected. The site lacks advanced analytics or tracking scripts, which aligns with privacy-conscious design. Technical debt appears low, but opportunities exist to modernize JavaScript usage and implement progressive web app features for enhanced performance and user experience.
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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