Skip to main content

Security report for startupticker.ch

Startupticker · Media · Switzerland

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Startupticker.ch is a well-established Swiss media platform focused on delivering high-quality news, reports, and event information related to the Swiss startup ecosystem. It serves entrepreneurs, investors, and innovation stakeholders by providing timely and relevant content, supported by a network of reputable partners and sponsors. The platform offers a variety of services including news articles, event calendars, venture capital reports, and an ecosystem directory, positioning itself as a key information hub in Switzerland's startup landscape. Technically, the website employs a modern tech stack including jQuery, Bootstrap, and Google Analytics, ensuring a responsive and user-friendly experience across devices. Security-wise, the site uses HTTPS and basic security headers but lacks advanced headers and a formal security policy or incident response contact, which are areas for improvement. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and content-rich, with minor gaps in privacy compliance and security best practices.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

6 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"

  2. GDPR outside view

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

    • 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

  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

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

Keep watching startupticker.ch

This scan found 26 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.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
42
Security headers
40
Email security
60
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
63

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 platform holds a strong market position as a leading Swiss startup news channel, leveraging partnerships with prominent organizations such as Innosuisse and UBS. Its business model revolves around media and information dissemination, supported by sponsors and partners, with revenue likely derived from advertising, sponsorships, and report sales. The target audience includes startups, investors, and ecosystem participants in Switzerland. The presence of an ecosystem directory and venture capital reports indicates a comprehensive approach to serving the startup community. Growth indicators include active event submissions and a broad supporter network. The company maintains consistent branding and professional content, enhancing credibility and trust within its niche.

Security posture

Startupticker.ch demonstrates a moderate to good security posture with HTTPS enforced and no visible exposure of sensitive data. The use of asynchronous loading for analytics scripts reduces performance impact. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options, and the lack of a vulnerability disclosure policy or incident response contacts, represent compliance and security gaps. The site does not implement a cookie consent mechanism, which is important for GDPR compliance. These gaps could expose the platform to certain web-based attacks or regulatory scrutiny. Addressing these issues would strengthen the overall security and compliance framework.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  2. Add a cookie consent banner and detailed cookie policy to comply with GDPR and enhance user privacy transparency.
  3. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Include incident response contact information such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses to improve transparency and readiness.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries to ensure no vulnerable components are in use and maintain updated dependencies.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Startupticker
Description
Startupticker.ch is a Swiss startup news channel providing news, events, reports, and ecosystem information related to Swiss startups and innovation.
Key services
Startup news articles, Event calendar, Swiss Venture Capital Reports, Ecosystem directory, Newsletter subscription
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, jQuery UI, TinyMCE, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Bootstrap
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of async loading for analytics scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional Swiss startup news platform with comprehensive content and ecosystem integration.
  2. Strong presence of partners and supporters indicating trust and ecosystem engagement.
  3. No signs of blocking or WAF interference; content fully accessible.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  5. Lacks explicit cookie consent mechanism and security headers for enhanced security posture.
  6. No visible vulnerability disclosure or incident response contact information.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a custom CMS with a tech stack comprising jQuery, jQuery UI, Bootstrap, and TinyMCE for content editing. Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager are integrated for user tracking and analytics. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and basic accessibility features. Performance is moderate, with asynchronous script loading improving load times. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and structured navigation. However, there is room for improvement in accessibility compliance and advanced SEO techniques. The hosting provider is not explicitly identified. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional and scalable media platform but could benefit from modernization in security and privacy implementations.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with startupticker.ch. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review startupticker.ch.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.