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Security report for spiegel.de

DER SPIEGEL · Media · Germany

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

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

DER SPIEGEL is a leading German news media company providing comprehensive news coverage across politics, economy, culture, science, and technology. The website offers a rich content experience with subscription-based premium content (SPIEGEL+), audio, and video services, targeting a broad general audience interested in current affairs. The brand holds a strong market position as one of Germany's foremost news outlets. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including Alpine.js, Swiper.js, lazy loading, and responsive design to ensure fast performance and excellent user experience across devices. The infrastructure supports mobile and desktop platforms with dedicated Android and iOS apps. SEO and accessibility practices are well implemented. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS, uses security headers, and manages user consent for cookies and tracking. However, explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not publicly available, and no vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file was found. The WHOIS data is consistent and supports the legitimacy of the domain. Overall, the website demonstrates a mature digital presence with strong content quality and business credibility. Strategic improvements in transparency around security policies and incident response would enhance trust further.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
85/ 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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

  3. 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 spiegel.de

This scan found 15 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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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
0
Security headers
45
Email security
87
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
85
Average
65

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention spiegel.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
6,965
Employees
0
Customers
6,931
Third parties
34
Weak passwords
12%

41 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for spiegel.de.

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Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

DER SPIEGEL operates primarily in the media sector, focusing on digital news publishing and subscription services. Its competitive advantage lies in its brand recognition, comprehensive news coverage, and diversified content formats including text, audio, and video. Revenue streams include advertising and paid subscriptions. The target customer segment is the general German-speaking public interested in quality journalism. The company maintains a robust partnership ecosystem with related domains handling subscriptions, sports data, and educational content. Growth indicators include active digital subscriptions and app presence. Strategically, DER SPIEGEL leverages its longstanding reputation and invests in digital transformation to maintain market leadership in a competitive media landscape.

Security posture

The website exhibits a solid security posture with enforced HTTPS, use of security headers, and consent management for privacy compliance. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. However, the absence of a publicly available security policy, incident response contact, and vulnerability disclosure program indicates room for improvement in transparency and readiness. The use of third-party scripts and ad networks is managed with consent but should be regularly audited to mitigate supply chain risks. Overall, the security maturity is good but could benefit from enhanced communication and formalized security processes.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and commitments.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  3. Provide clear incident response contact channels such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and ad networks for vulnerabilities and privacy compliance.
  5. Enhance transparency around data retention policies and user privacy controls.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
DER SPIEGEL
Description
Deutschlands führende Nachrichtenseite. Alles Wichtige aus Politik, Wirtschaft, Sport, Kultur, Wissenschaft, Technik und mehr.
Key services
news publishing, digital subscriptions, magazine content, audio and video content
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Alpine.js, Swiper.js, WebP images, Lazy loading, Manifest.json, Service workers (implied by manifest)
Frameworks
Alpine.js
Platforms
Web, Android app, iOS app
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Preconnect and DNS-prefetch for performance
  • Lazy loading images
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Facebook Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Teads, Outbrain
Tracking pixels
Google Analytics (implied), Facebook Pixel (implied)
Marketing tools
Sourcepoint (consent management), Adobe Launch (disabled but referenced)
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a major German news portal with extensive content and subscription services.
  2. Content is well structured with modern web technologies and good SEO practices.
  3. Privacy and cookie policies are present and GDPR compliant.
  4. No security policy or incident response information publicly available.
  5. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  6. WHOIS data is consistent and domain appears legitimate.
  7. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected; content fully accessible.
  8. Advertising and tracking are present but managed with consent mechanisms.
  9. Website is mobile optimized and accessible.
  10. No adult or explicit content detected; safe for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern and performant technology stack including Alpine.js for reactive components, Swiper.js for carousels, and lazy loading for images to optimize load times. The use of WebP images and preconnect/dns-prefetch hints further improve performance. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features. No CMS was explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary solution. Hosting details are not explicit but the domain uses cloudns.net name servers. The technical implementation supports a high-quality user experience with good SEO and accessibility compliance. Opportunities exist to further modernize by adopting explicit security headers and formalizing security infrastructure.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 78/100 +5Low24 findingsView report
  2. 73/100Medium24 findingsView report
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