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Security report for ruhrverband.de

Ruhrverband · Energy · Germany

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and Security headers.

Security score

64/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Ruhrverband website represents a large, established non-profit organization focused on sustainable water management and wastewater treatment in the Ruhrgebiet region of Germany. Serving 4.6 million people and 60 cities, the organization emphasizes environmental stewardship and public service without profit motives. The website is built on TYPO3 CMS and integrates modern technologies such as ArcGIS for mapping and Cloudflare for DNS and security. The site is professionally designed with good content quality and clear navigation, targeting residents, municipalities, and environmental stakeholders. However, explicit privacy and cookie policies are missing, and no incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided, which are areas for improvement. Analytics is conducted via Piwik (Matomo), reflecting moderate user tracking with some privacy considerations. Overall, the website is trustworthy and credible but could enhance compliance and security transparency.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
40/ 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

6 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

  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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • 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
  • 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
25
Email security
60
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
40
Average
64

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

Ruhrverband holds a key regional position in water and environmental management, operating dams, reservoirs, wastewater treatment plants, and flood protection systems. Its non-profit business model focuses on sustainability and public welfare. The organization provides member services, educational resources, and environmental data, indicating a comprehensive service portfolio. The website's integration with GIS and member portals suggests a mature digital ecosystem supporting operational and stakeholder engagement needs. The absence of detailed business registration or VAT information on the site is typical for public or semi-public entities. The external domains linked are relevant to water management and GIS services, reinforcing the organization's ecosystem.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS and uses Cloudflare DNS, providing a solid baseline for security. However, the lack of visible security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options reduces protection against common web attacks. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. The absence of published security policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms limits transparency and preparedness communication. The use of Piwik (Matomo) analytics indicates a preference for privacy-respecting tools. Overall, the security posture is good but could be strengthened by adding security headers and formal security documentation.

Recommendations

  1. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with explicit GDPR compliance statements and consent mechanisms.
  2. Implement and configure security headers like Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection to enhance web security.
  3. Provide clear incident response and vulnerability disclosure policies including dedicated contact channels.
  4. Add contact information including emails and phone numbers for general and security-related inquiries to improve transparency.
  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
Ruhrverband
Description
Der Ruhrverband sichert die Wasserversorgung von 4,6 Millionen Menschen und reinigt Abwässer für 60 Städte im Ruhrgebiet. Der Verband sorgt mit effizientem Flussgebietsmanagement für nachhaltige Wasserversorgung und Abwasserreinigung im Einzugsgebiet der Ruhr. Ohne Gewinnerzielungsabsicht stehen Mensch und Umwelt im Fokus bei wirtschaftlicher Effizienz.
Key services
Water supply management, Wastewater treatment, Operation of dams and reservoirs, Flood protection, Environmental and water data provision, Educational services, Member services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
TYPO3 CMS, Bootstrap, ArcGIS JavaScript API, Cloudflare DNS
Frameworks
TYPO3 CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of Cloudflare DNS
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Piwik (Matomo)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Piwik (Matomo)
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 challenge.
  2. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found on the homepage or main navigation.
  3. Contact information such as emails or phone numbers are not explicitly present in the provided HTML snippet.
  4. The site uses modern web technologies and a reputable CMS (TYPO3).
  5. Analytics is done via Piwik (Matomo), indicating some privacy-conscious tracking.
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy detected.
  7. No data protection officer contact found.
  8. The site is well-branded and professionally designed with consistent styling.
  9. External links mostly relate to GIS services, member portals, and official water management resources.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on TYPO3 CMS, a robust open-source content management system, and uses Bootstrap for responsive design. It integrates ArcGIS JavaScript API for advanced mapping features, indicating a sophisticated technical infrastructure. Hosting and DNS are managed via Cloudflare, providing performance and security benefits. The site loads multiple compressed CSS and JS assets, suggesting optimization efforts. However, no explicit performance metrics are available. The site is mobile-optimized with good navigation clarity. The use of JSON-LD structured data and Open Graph tags supports SEO and social media integration. There is room for improvement in accessibility and security header implementation.
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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