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Security report for tagesschau.de

ARD Online · Media · Germany

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

Security score

74/100

Risk levelMedium

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

tagesschau.de is a leading German news website operated by ARD Online, providing comprehensive news coverage and information updates 24/7. It holds a prominent market position as a trusted national news source in Germany, offering multimedia content including articles and videos. The website demonstrates a mature technical infrastructure leveraging modern web technologies, Google Cloud DNS hosting, and structured data for SEO optimization. Mobile responsiveness and accessibility are well implemented, enhancing user experience across devices. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement and no visible vulnerabilities, though explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not publicly detailed. Privacy compliance is robust with clear privacy and cookie policies and consent mechanisms. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained, serving a broad general audience with safe content.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
33/ 100 · High
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. GDPR outside view

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

    • Critical

      EU business without adequate privacy measures

      EU businesses are subject to strict GDPR requirements

      What to do: Implement comprehensive GDPR compliance including privacy policy, cookie consent, and data protection measures

    • 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

  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 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';…

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Keep watching tagesschau.de

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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
100
Security headers
60
Email security
80
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
33
Average
74

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 tagesschau.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
565
Employees
0
Customers
518
Third parties
47
Weak passwords
21%

6 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 tagesschau.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

The website operates within the media sector as an essential entity under the ARD public broadcasting umbrella. Its business model focuses on news dissemination and public information services, targeting the general German-speaking population. The site benefits from strong brand recognition and trust indicators such as verified social media presence and official affiliations. Revenue streams likely include public funding and advertising partnerships, with marketing tools like AB Tasty employed for user engagement. The absence of explicit security certifications or vulnerability disclosure programs suggests room for maturity in security governance. The partnership ecosystem includes content delivery networks and analytics providers, supporting scalable and performant content delivery.

Security posture

Security maturity is good, with enforced HTTPS and modern web practices observed. The site avoids exposing sensitive data and uses deferred script loading to optimize security and performance. However, the lack of published security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms indicates potential gaps in transparency and readiness. No critical vulnerabilities or malware indicators were found. Privacy compliance aligns with GDPR requirements, supported by cookie consent and privacy policy disclosures. Recommendations include implementing security headers, publishing a security policy, and establishing a security.txt file to enhance trust and incident handling capabilities.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page detailing security practices and compliance.
  2. Implement and enforce security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options.
  3. Create and maintain a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability reporting.
  4. Enhance incident response readiness by providing clear security contact channels.
  5. Continue monitoring and updating third-party scripts to avoid vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
ARD Online
Description
tagesschau.de is a leading German news website providing up-to-date news and information 365 days a year, around the clock.
Key services
news articles, video news, live updates, mobile app
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, CSS, SVG, JSON-LD, Google Cloud DNS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • deferred script loading
  • cookie-based dark mode preference
  • no exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
AB Tasty
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
AB Tasty
Tracking pixels
AB Tasty
Marketing tools
AB Tasty
Transparency
basic

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 affiliated with ARD.
  2. Content is in German and professionally maintained.
  3. Uses modern web technologies and structured data for SEO.
  4. Includes social media integration and app promotion.
  5. Has cookie consent and privacy mechanisms in place.
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  7. No explicit security policy or incident response contact found publicly.
  8. WHOIS data is consistent and transparent.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern tech stack with JavaScript, CSS, SVG graphics, and JSON-LD structured data for SEO. Hosting is managed via Google Cloud DNS, indicating reliable infrastructure. Performance is moderate with deferred script loading and preconnect hints to optimize resource fetching. Mobile optimization and accessibility are excellent, supporting a wide user base. No CMS was explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary platform. Technical risks are minimal, but the absence of some security headers and explicit security documentation could be addressed to reduce potential attack surface and improve compliance posture.
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. 73/100Medium27 findingsView report
  2. 73/100Medium26 findingsView report
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