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Security report for thm-i40.de

Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen · Education · Germany

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

53/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (THM) website for the Smart Factory Mittelhessen (SFM) research group presents a well-structured academic and research-focused platform. It highlights the group's commitment to Industry 4.0 concepts, applied research, and collaboration with SMEs to enhance manufacturing competitiveness in Germany. The site targets students, researchers, and industry partners, offering educational programs, research projects, and practical smart factory infrastructure. The content is professionally presented in German, with clear navigation and comprehensive information about equipment, research themes, and partnerships. Technically, the website is built on Joomla CMS with modern libraries such as jQuery and Bootstrap, and includes interactive elements like Smart Slider 3. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, though some accessibility features could be enhanced. Security-wise, HTTPS is enforced, and forms use CSRF tokens, but security headers are not explicitly detected. Privacy compliance is addressed with a privacy policy and cookie information, though no explicit consent mechanism is present. Contact information is clearly provided, enhancing business credibility. Overall, the security posture is solid but could benefit from additional security headers and incident response information. The website shows no signs of malicious activity or suspicious content, and the domain registration aligns well with the academic institution's identity. The site is safe for general audiences and maintains a high level of professionalism and trustworthiness.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
28/ 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

8 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

  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 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';…

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Keep watching thm-i40.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
62
Security headers
20
Email security
60
DNS health
50
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
53

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

THM's Smart Factory Mittelhessen operates as a medium-sized academic research group focused on Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing technologies. Its business model centers on applied research, education, and industry collaboration, supported by EU funds, sponsors, and institutional funding. The group leverages partnerships with regional companies and integrates practical projects into student education, fostering innovation and workforce readiness. The website reflects a strong regional market position in education and technology sectors, with a clear focus on supporting SMEs in digital transformation. The presence of multiple sponsors and industry partners indicates a robust ecosystem and strategic alignment with regional economic development goals.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security maturity level. HTTPS is properly implemented, and forms include CSRF tokens, reducing common web vulnerabilities. Email addresses are obfuscated to prevent scraping. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), X-Frame-Options, and HSTS reduces the overall security posture. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response policies are visible, which could be improved to enhance transparency and readiness. There are no signs of exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries. Overall, the site is secure for its purpose but could benefit from adopting additional security best practices and formal policies.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Add a cookie consent mechanism to comply fully with GDPR and enhance user privacy transparency.
  3. Publish explicit security policy and incident response information to improve trust and preparedness.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to meet higher standards and improve user experience for all visitors.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen
Description
Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (THM) is a University of Applied Sciences focused on applied research and education in mathematics, natural sciences, and computer science. The Smart Factory Mittelhessen (SFM) is a research institute/group within THM that develops and researches Industry 4.0 concepts, providing practical solutions for SMEs to implement smart manufacturing technologies.
Key services
Applied research in Industry 4.0, Education and training in digital manufacturing, Collaboration with industry partners, Provision of smart factory infrastructure for projects and theses
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Bootstrap, Smart Slider 3, Joomla CMS, jQuery Migrate, Slimbox2
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Platforms
Joomla
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed emails in raw form (email cloaking used)
  • Use of CSRF tokens in forms

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a university research group page focused on Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing.
  2. Content is in German and professionally presented.
  3. Multiple internal navigation menus and detailed content sections.
  4. Contact information is clearly provided with professional email and phone.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  6. No explicit privacy or security policy pages beyond basic privacy and imprint.
  7. No visible analytics or advertising scripts detected.
  8. Use of modern web technologies and CMS (Joomla).
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Joomla CMS with a tech stack including jQuery, Bootstrap, and Smart Slider 3 for interactive content. The site is responsive and mobile-friendly, with moderate performance likely influenced by multiple CSS and JS assets. The use of email cloaking and CSRF tokens indicates attention to security in form handling. However, the lack of detected security headers and limited analytics/tracking scripts suggests a minimalistic approach to user data collection and privacy. The site could improve performance by optimizing asset delivery and implementing caching strategies. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the academic and research mission effectively with room for modernization and enhanced security.
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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