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Security report for smartcountry.berlin

Government · Germany

Low risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

76/100

Risk levelLow

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

The website smartcountry.berlin serves as the official platform for the Smart Country Convention, a leading event in Germany focused on digital government and public services. It offers a comprehensive program including congresses, expos, workshops, and networking opportunities targeted at public sector professionals and technology providers. The platform is well-branded and professionally designed, reflecting its position as a key event in the digital transformation of public administration. Technically, the site is built using modern web technologies such as Next.js and React, with content managed via e-Spirit's CaaS API. It employs HTTPS and security headers to ensure secure communications and integrates Usercentrics for consent management, demonstrating a commitment to privacy compliance. Performance and mobile optimization are good, though accessibility could be improved. From a security perspective, the site shows strong fundamentals with no detected vulnerabilities or blocking mechanisms. However, it lacks explicit privacy policy and terms of service pages, and no direct contact emails or phone numbers are publicly available, which could impact user trust and compliance transparency. Overall, the site is legitimate and professionally maintained, but it would benefit from enhanced privacy disclosures and clearer contact information to improve compliance and user confidence. Strategic recommendations include publishing detailed privacy and terms documents, providing security incident contacts, and enhancing accessibility features.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
73/ 100 · Medium
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. 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';…

  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

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

Keep watching smartcountry.berlin

This scan found 16 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

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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
15
Email security
80
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
73
Average
76

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

Smart Country Convention positions itself as a premier event organizer in the government and technology sectors, focusing on digital transformation in public services. Its business model revolves around event management, providing a platform for knowledge exchange, innovation showcasing, and networking. The target audience includes government officials, public sector IT professionals, and technology vendors. The event's market position is strong within Germany, supported by partnerships with Messe Berlin and other stakeholders. Revenue streams likely include exhibitor fees, sponsorships, and ticket sales. The website's integration with e-Spirit CMS and Usercentrics indicates a mature digital infrastructure supporting content delivery and compliance. The absence of direct contact details suggests a controlled communication channel, possibly to manage inquiries efficiently. Overall, the business demonstrates a focused niche with growth potential in digital government initiatives.

Security posture

The website exhibits a solid security posture with HTTPS enforced and multiple security headers implemented, including HSTS, X-Content-Type-Options, and Content-Security-Policy. The integration of Usercentrics for consent management indicates attention to privacy and regulatory compliance. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided content. However, the lack of explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms represents a gap in comprehensive security governance. The site does not appear to be behind a WAF or show signs of blocking, which facilitates accessibility but also requires vigilant monitoring. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be enhanced by publishing formal security and incident response documentation and establishing a vulnerability disclosure program.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy page detailing GDPR compliance and data handling practices.
  2. Add a clear terms of service page to define user rights and obligations.
  3. Provide explicit security incident response contact information to improve trust and readiness.
  4. Implement and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Enhance website accessibility to meet recognized standards and improve user experience for all visitors.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Description
Das führende Event für den digitalen Staat und öffentliche Dienste. Drei Tage Kongress, Expo, Workshops & Networking.
Key services
Congress, Expo, Workshops, Networking
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Next.js, Usercentrics (Consent Management), JavaScript, CSS
Frameworks
Next.js
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security headers
  • Consent management implemented

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Usercentrics
Marketing tools
Usercentrics Consent Management
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 event platform for digital government and public services in Germany.
  2. Content is in German language and well structured.
  3. No direct contact emails or phone numbers publicly listed; contact form available.
  4. Consent management implemented via Usercentrics.
  5. No privacy policy or terms of service pages explicitly found in the provided content.
  6. WHOIS data is privacy protected and registrar info is not publicly available.
  7. No signs of security blocking or WAF challenges.
  8. No adult or questionable content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern technology stack featuring Next.js and React, enabling server-side rendering and efficient client-side interactivity. Content is managed through e-Spirit's CaaS API, indicating a decoupled CMS architecture that supports scalability and content flexibility. The site uses Usercentrics for consent management, reflecting compliance with privacy regulations. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization, though some improvements in accessibility and SEO could be made. Hosting appears to be managed by Messe Berlin infrastructure, ensuring reliability. No deprecated or vulnerable libraries were identified in the analyzed scripts. Overall, the technical implementation is robust, supporting the business goals effectively while offering opportunities for further optimization.
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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