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Security report for seismoverlag.ch

Seismo Verlag · Other · Switzerland

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Network security and 2 other checks.

Security score

52/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Seismo Verlag is a specialized academic publisher based in Switzerland focusing on social science books, journals, and open access publications. The website is multilingual (German, French, English) and targets researchers, academics, and professionals in social sciences. The business model centers on publishing scholarly content with a niche market position in Swiss social science academia. The site features rich content including new releases, journal issues, and author interviews, reflecting a strong content strategy and professional presentation. Technically, the website uses a custom CMS with JavaScript libraries such as jQuery 2.2.4, Modernizr, and lazy loading for images. The site is moderately performant and mobile-optimized with good SEO practices. However, some modernization opportunities exist, such as updating libraries and improving accessibility features. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS but lacks visible security headers and does not provide explicit privacy or cookie policies, which are important for GDPR compliance. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is present. No signs of WAF or blocking mechanisms were detected, and no vulnerabilities were apparent in the provided content. Overall, the website is professional, content-rich, and trustworthy for its academic audience but would benefit from enhanced privacy compliance and security best practices to improve user trust and regulatory adherence.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 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

8 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.

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • 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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google APIs

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

  2. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • High

      High-Risk Service Exposed: FTP

      Port 21 (FTP) is publicly accessible - FTP - Often unencrypted file transfer

      What to do: Consider restricting access to FTP or implementing strong authentication

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

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

Keep watching seismoverlag.ch

This scan found 24 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

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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
62
Security headers
45
Email security
65
DNS health
85
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
35
Average
52

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

Seismo Verlag operates as a niche academic publisher specializing in social sciences with a multilingual approach, serving the Swiss and broader European academic community. Its competitive advantage lies in its focus on social science topics, open access availability, and a strong portfolio of journals and book series. The business model is primarily content publishing with revenue likely from book sales, journal subscriptions, and open access fees. The company maintains an active presence on social media and participates in academic discourse through interviews and events. Growth indicators include recent publications, awards, and nominations. The partnership ecosystem includes academic institutions and media outlets, enhancing its market presence and credibility.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a basic to moderate security posture. HTTPS is enforced, ensuring encrypted communication. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security reduces protection against common web attacks. No privacy or cookie policies are visible, indicating potential GDPR compliance gaps. There is no public incident response or vulnerability disclosure mechanism, which limits transparency and readiness for security incidents. No vulnerable libraries or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. Overall, the security posture is adequate but requires improvements to meet modern standards and regulatory requirements.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism to improve GDPR compliance.
  2. Implement essential security headers (CSP, X-Frame-Options, HSTS) to enhance protection against web attacks.
  3. Create and publicize an incident response contact or security page to improve transparency and readiness.
  4. Update JavaScript libraries to current versions to reduce potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and conduct regular security audits to maintain a strong security culture.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Seismo Verlag
Description
Seismo ist ein Verlag für sozialwissenschaftliche Sach- und Fachbücher mit Sitz in Zürich und Genf.
Key services
Publishing social science books, Publishing academic journals, Open Access publishing, Author services including manuscript submission
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 2.2.4, Modernizr, jQuery LazyLoad, jQuery Peekabar
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of HTTPS (inferred from URL https://)
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a multilingual academic publisher focused on social sciences.
  2. Content is rich, professionally presented, and includes multiple recent publications and news.
  3. No explicit privacy or cookie policies found on the homepage or main navigation.
  4. Contact information includes email addresses embedded in text and a search form for user queries.
  5. Social media presence is strong with official Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn links.
  6. No visible security.txt or incident response contact information.
  7. No advertising or tracking scripts detected in the provided HTML.
  8. Website uses older jQuery version but includes modernizr and lazy loading for images.
  9. No signs of WAF or content blocking; site fully accessible.
  10. No phone numbers or physical addresses explicitly found in the provided content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a custom CMS platform using older but stable JavaScript libraries such as jQuery 2.2.4 and Modernizr for feature detection. Lazy loading is implemented for images, improving performance. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design elements and good SEO metadata including multilingual hreflang tags. However, the use of older jQuery versions suggests some technical debt. No modern frontend frameworks or CMS platforms like WordPress or Drupal are detected. Performance is moderate, with room for improvement in accessibility and security headers. The hosting provider and backend infrastructure details are not disclosed.
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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