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Security report for rowohlt.de

Rowohlt Verlag · Media · Germany

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

74/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Rowohlt Verlag is a well-established German publishing company specializing in a wide range of books including literature, crime, thrillers, and non-fiction. The website serves as a digital storefront and information portal for their catalog, authors, and new releases, targeting German-speaking readers and book buyers. The business model revolves around publishing and direct online sales, supported by a professional and consistent brand presence. Technically, the website leverages modern web technologies including Drupal CMS, Astro framework, Cloudflare DNS, and integrates consent management via Usercentrics, ensuring GDPR compliance mechanisms are in place. The site is mobile-optimized and features good SEO practices, although accessibility could be improved. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and Cloudflare protection, but lacks explicit security headers and published security policies. No privacy policy or terms of service pages were detected in the provided content, which is a compliance gap. Overall, the domain and website appear legitimate and trustworthy with active social media engagement and e-commerce capabilities.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
45/ 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. 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 SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching rowohlt.de

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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
75
Security headers
90
Email security
70
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
45
Average
74

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 rowohlt.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
65
Employees
0
Customers
64
Third parties
1
Weak passwords
9%

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 rowohlt.de.

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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

Rowohlt Verlag holds a strong market position in the German media and publishing sector, offering a diverse catalog of books and author services. Their competitive advantage lies in a broad genre coverage and bestseller titles. The business model includes direct-to-consumer sales via the website, rights and licenses management, and author representation. The target customer segment is primarily German-speaking readers interested in quality literature and entertainment. The company demonstrates digital maturity with integrated analytics and consent management, although explicit business contact information is not readily available on the site. Partnerships with social media platforms enhance their marketing reach. Growth indicators include active promotion of new releases and bestseller highlights. Strategic observations suggest opportunities to enhance transparency and compliance documentation to strengthen trust further.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and Cloudflare DNS providing resilience and protection. The integration of Usercentrics CMP indicates attention to privacy compliance. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security reduces defense-in-depth. No vulnerability disclosures or incident response contacts are published, which limits transparency in security management. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided content. The site uses secure forms for e-commerce transactions but lacks visible security policies. Compliance with GDPR is partially demonstrated through consent mechanisms but lacks full documentation. Overall, the security posture is good but can be improved by publishing security policies and enhancing header configurations.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service pages accessible from the website footer.
  2. Implement and publish a security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency.
  3. Add security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to enhance protection.
  4. Introduce a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to meet recognized standards and improve user experience for all visitors.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Rowohlt Verlag
Description
Rowohlt Verlag is a publishing company offering books, authors, and new releases. It targets readers interested in literature, entertainment, crime, thriller, and non-fiction books.
Key services
Book publishing, Author representation, Online book sales, Rights and licenses management
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, Cloudinary (image CDN), Algolia (search), Usercentrics (consent management), Google Tag Manager
Frameworks
Drupal (indicated by page-type--Drupal class), Astro (indicated by /_astro/ scripts and CSS)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of Cloudflare DNS and nameservers
  • Consent management via Usercentrics

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Marketing tools
Usercentrics CMP
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is primarily in German language targeting German-speaking readers.
  3. Strong use of modern web technologies and consent management.
  4. No explicit privacy policy or terms of service pages found in the provided content.
  5. Social media presence on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.
  6. E-commerce functionality for book sales with shopping cart and wishlist features.
  7. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in the HTML content.
  8. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information found.
  9. Good SEO and metadata usage including Open Graph and Twitter cards.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal CMS with modern frontend technologies including Astro framework and JavaScript modules. It uses Cloudflare for DNS and hosting infrastructure, ensuring reliable performance and security. Images are served via Cloudinary CDN with responsive and optimized formats (AVIF, WebP). The site integrates Algolia for search functionality and Usercentrics for consent management, reflecting a modern and privacy-aware tech stack. Google Tag Manager is used for analytics and marketing tracking. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and SEO metadata. However, accessibility features are basic and could be enhanced. The technical infrastructure is robust but could benefit from additional security headers and formalized security documentation.
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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