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Security report for secession.at

Vereinigung bildender Künstler*innen Wiener Secession · Non-profit · Austria

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

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Secession website represents a well-established Austrian non-profit cultural institution dedicated to contemporary art exhibitions and events. It holds a strong market position as one of the oldest independent art exhibition houses globally, with a rich history dating back to 1897. The site targets art enthusiasts, visitors, and the contemporary art community, offering detailed information about exhibitions, events, and the institution's mission. The business model is non-commercial, focusing on cultural promotion and education. The website content is rich, professionally designed, and consistent with the institution's branding and reputation. Technically, the website employs a mix of legacy and modern JavaScript libraries, including jQuery 1.11.3, GSAP, and Slick Carousel, with no explicit CMS detected, suggesting a custom-built platform. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. SEO practices are well implemented with proper meta tags and Open Graph data. Hosting details are not explicitly identified. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses Google Analytics with consent mechanisms denying ad and analytics storage by default, indicating good privacy awareness. However, the use of outdated jQuery versions and missing explicit security headers like Content Security Policy and X-Frame-Options present moderate risks. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy policies and cookie consent mechanisms are comprehensive and GDPR compliant. Overall, the website is trustworthy, professional, and safe for general audiences. It demonstrates a mature digital presence suitable for a cultural institution, with minor technical and security improvements recommended to enhance resilience and compliance.

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';…

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

Keep watching secession.at

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
100
Security headers
20
Email security
85
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
40
Average
70

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

The Secession operates in the non-profit cultural sector, focusing on contemporary art exhibitions and related events. Its competitive advantage lies in its historical significance and independent status since 1897. Revenue streams likely include sponsorships (notably Erste Bank), ticket sales via partner platforms, donations, and possibly grants. The target customer segments are art lovers, tourists, and the local community interested in contemporary art. The partnership ecosystem includes financial sponsors and ticketing service providers. Growth indicators include active event programming and digital engagement through social media and newsletters. The institution maintains a strong brand identity and market presence in Austria and internationally within the art community.

Security posture

The website exhibits a moderate to good security posture. HTTPS is enforced, and Google Analytics is configured with privacy-conscious consent defaults. Input validation scripts are present, reducing risk from malformed inputs. However, the use of an outdated jQuery version (1.11.3) introduces potential vulnerabilities. The absence of explicit Content Security Policy and other security headers reduces defense-in-depth. No incident response or security policy pages were found, which is typical for non-profit cultural sites but could be improved. Overall, the site is secure for its purpose but would benefit from modernization of libraries and enhanced header policies.

Recommendations

  1. Upgrade jQuery and other JavaScript libraries to current secure versions to mitigate known vulnerabilities.
  2. Implement and enforce Content Security Policy (CSP) and other recommended security headers (X-Frame-Options, Referrer-Policy).
  3. Publish a basic security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and preparedness.
  4. Continue maintaining GDPR compliance and enhance cookie consent mechanisms for greater user control.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies for security and privacy compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Vereinigung bildender Künstler*innen Wiener Secession
Description
Die Vereinigung bildender Künstler*innen Wiener Secession zählt weltweit zu den ältesten unabhängigen und ausdrücklich der zeitgenössischen Kunst gewidmeten Ausstellungshäusern.
Key services
Art exhibitions, Events and lectures, Art mediation, Archiving and publications
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 1.11.3, jQuery UI, GSAP 3.6.1, Slick Carousel, Select2, GLightbox, Google Analytics (gtag.js)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Google Analytics consent set to deny ad and analytics storage by default
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of input validation scripts (jquery.validate.js)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (gtag.js)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-established cultural institution site with rich content about exhibitions and events.
  2. Strong branding and consistent design focused on art and culture.
  3. Good privacy and cookie policy presence with GDPR compliance.
  4. Use of some outdated JavaScript libraries could pose minor security risks.
  5. No evidence of malicious or suspicious content or domains.
  6. Social media presence is active and linked clearly.
  7. No terms of service page found, which is common for non-commercial cultural sites.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a custom or unknown CMS with a technology stack including jQuery 1.11.3, jQuery UI, GSAP, Slick Carousel, Select2, and GLightbox. It loads resources from reputable CDNs like cdnjs.cloudflare.com and jsdelivr.net. Google Analytics is integrated via gtag.js with consent management scripts. The site is mobile optimized and accessible with ARIA labels and skip links. Performance is moderate, with some legacy scripts potentially impacting speed. SEO is well addressed with meta tags, Open Graph data, and canonical links. Hosting provider details are not explicit. The site could improve by updating legacy libraries and adding modern security headers.
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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