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Security report for smart-production.de

VDE VERLAG GmbH · Media · Germany

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Email security, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

57/100

Risk levelMedium

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

smart-production.de is a professional German-language media portal operated by VDE VERLAG GmbH, aggregating three specialized technical magazines focused on automation, production IT, Industry 4.0, IoT, and energy management. The site targets industry professionals and businesses seeking current news, expert articles, events, and job listings in these sectors. The business model centers on media publishing, advertising, and providing industry-specific information and services. Technically, the website is built on TYPO3 CMS with Yoast SEO optimization, hosted on agenturserver infrastructure, and implements modern web standards with good mobile responsiveness and SEO practices. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent mechanisms in place, though additional security headers and explicit security policies could enhance protection. No critical vulnerabilities or suspicious elements were detected. Overall, the site demonstrates a mature digital presence with good content quality and business credibility.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
80/ 100 · Low
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. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

    • High

      No SPF record found

      SPF helps prevent email spoofing

      What to do: Add SPF record: "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourmailprovider.com ~all"

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • 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

  3. 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 Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1
    • High

      SSL Certificate Expires Soon

      SSL certificate expires in 22 days

      What to do: Renew SSL certificate before expiration

      • NIS2 21(2)(h)
      • IR 2024/2690 9.2(c): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 9.2(c): Cryptography
      • NIST SC-17: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-17: Public Key Infrastructure Certificates

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

Keep watching smart-production.de

This scan found 23 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

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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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
80
Email security
40
DNS health
60
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
80
Average
57

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 portal holds a strong market position as a reputable media source under VDE VERLAG GmbH, serving the German industrial and manufacturing sectors. Its competitive advantage lies in consolidating multiple specialized magazines and offering comprehensive industry insights, events, and job opportunities. Revenue streams likely include advertising, subscriptions, and event sponsorships. The target customers are technical professionals, engineers, and decision-makers in automation and energy sectors. The partnership ecosystem includes jobware.net for job listings and normenbibliothek.de for standards access. Growth indicators include active content updates, event promotion, and digital newsletters. Strategic observations suggest maintaining strong compliance and expanding digital engagement could further solidify market presence.

Security posture

The website exhibits a good security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent aligned with GDPR. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were found. However, the absence of explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms indicates room for improvement in security governance and transparency. The use of third-party advertising and tracking services introduces moderate user tracking, which is managed via consent. Compliance with GDPR is evident but could be enhanced by publishing detailed data retention and incident response information. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a media portal but should evolve to address emerging compliance and transparency expectations.

Recommendations

  1. Implement additional HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options to strengthen protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy page and provide clear incident response contact channels to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Introduce a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to improve usability for all users, including those with disabilities.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and advertising networks to minimize privacy risks and ensure compliance with evolving data protection regulations.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
VDE VERLAG GmbH
Description
Das Portal smart-production.de bündelt und verknüpft die Kompetenz der Medienmarken etz elektrotechnik & automation, openautomation und Digital Factory Journal in den Bereichen Automatisierung, Produktions-IT, Industrie 4.0, IoT, Digitalisierung der Produktion, Antriebstechnik, Elektrotechnik und Energiemanagement.
Key services
Industry news and articles, Specialized magazines, Events and webinars, Job listings, Newsletter subscriptions, Norms and standards information
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, CSS, HTML5
Frameworks
TYPO3 CMS, Yoast SEO for TYPO3
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent with opt-in/out
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
etracker
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
AdSpirit
Tracking pixels
etracker
Marketing tools
Yoast SEO for TYPO3
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional media portal aggregating multiple technical magazines.
  2. Uses TYPO3 CMS with Yoast SEO plugin for optimization.
  3. Implements cookie consent and privacy policy compliant with GDPR.
  4. Includes advertising via AdSpirit and tracking via etracker.
  5. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in HTML; contact via forms.
  6. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  7. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  8. Content is German language, targeting industrial and technical professionals.
  9. No adult or questionable content detected.
  10. Good SEO and mobile optimization observed.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on TYPO3 CMS, a robust and widely used content management system, enhanced with the Yoast SEO plugin for search engine optimization. The hosting environment is managed by agenturserver, as indicated by the nameservers. The site uses compressed CSS and JavaScript assets for performance optimization and includes asynchronous loading of advertising and analytics scripts. Mobile optimization is good, with responsive design elements and viewport settings. Accessibility is basic but could be improved. The site leverages external services for advertising (AdSpirit) and analytics (etracker), which are integrated with GDPR-compliant consent mechanisms. Overall, the technical infrastructure is modern and well-maintained, supporting a professional user experience with moderate performance.
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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