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Security report for swr4.de

SWR/Südwestrundfunk - Anstalt des Öffentlichen Rechts · Media · Germany

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The website www.swr.de/swr4 is the official regional portal for SWR4, a public radio station operated by Südwestrundfunk (SWR), a major public broadcaster in Germany. It offers regional news, practical lifestyle tips, music programming, and event information targeted primarily at audiences in the Rheinland-Pfalz and Baden-Württemberg regions. The site demonstrates consistent branding and professional content quality, reflecting its position as a trusted media entity. Technically, the site uses modern web technologies including lazy loading, SVG icons, and analytics tools such as Chartbeat and Piano Analytics, ensuring good mobile optimization and accessibility. However, explicit privacy and cookie policies are not found in the provided content, and no direct contact information for security or incident response is disclosed. The domain registration data aligns well with the public broadcaster's identity, supporting high legitimacy and trustworthiness.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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

5 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

  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 SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching swr4.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

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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
65
Security headers
35
Email security
75
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
68

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 swr4.de, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for swr4.de right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

SWR4 operates as a public broadcasting service, focusing on regional content and music entertainment. Its business model is non-commercial, funded through public means, and it maintains a strong market position as a regional media leader. The website links to several official partner domains including ARD Mediathek and ARD Audiothek, indicating a broad partnership ecosystem within German public broadcasting. The content is tailored to a general audience with a focus on regional relevance, lifestyle, and cultural programming. The absence of commercial advertising networks suggests a focus on public service rather than revenue generation through ads.

Security posture

The website uses HTTPS and includes Google site verification, indicating basic security hygiene. It employs multiple third-party analytics and tracking scripts, which may raise privacy considerations. No explicit security headers or policies are visible in the HTML content, and no contact channels for incident response or vulnerability disclosure are provided. The lack of cookie consent mechanisms and privacy policy disclosures indicates partial GDPR compliance. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could be improved by publishing clear security policies, implementing security headers, and providing incident response contacts.

Recommendations

  1. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies prominently on the website.
  2. Implement a cookie consent mechanism to comply with GDPR requirements.
  3. Add standard security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HSTS, and X-Frame-Options.
  4. Provide clear contact information for security incidents and vulnerability reporting.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts to minimize security risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
SWR/Südwestrundfunk - Anstalt des Öffentlichen Rechts
Description
Regional news, practical everyday tips, and a music mix of international oldies and German pop hits for Rheinland-Pfalz and Baden-Württemberg.
Key services
Radio broadcasting, Regional news, Music programming, Event information, Lifestyle tips
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, SVG icons, Lazy loading images, Piano analytics, Chartbeat analytics, IntersectionObserver, Polyfill for modern JS features
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS usage implied by canonical URLs
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google site verification

Analytics and tracking

Services
Chartbeat, Piano Analytics, Xiti
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Chartbeat, Piano Analytics, Xiti
Marketing tools
Piano Analytics, Chartbeat
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a regional public broadcaster portal for SWR4 radio station.
  2. Content is rich with articles, videos, audio, and event information.
  3. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service pages found in provided content.
  4. Multiple external links to official partner and related media sites.
  5. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  7. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in the provided HTML snippet.
  8. No security or incident response contact information disclosed.
  9. No visible security headers or explicit security policies in HTML content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built with modern HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript technologies, including lazy loading for images and SVG icons for UI elements. It uses polyfills to support older browsers and integrates analytics tools like Chartbeat and Piano Analytics for user tracking. The site appears to be custom-developed or uses a proprietary CMS, as no common CMS signatures were detected. Performance is moderate with good mobile responsiveness and accessibility features. The site uses canonical URLs and meta tags effectively for SEO. Hosting provider details are not explicitly available from the content. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional and user-friendly experience but could benefit from enhanced security configurations.
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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