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Security report for usethenews.de

UseTheNews · Media · Germany

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

60/100

Risk levelMedium

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

UseTheNews is a German initiative focused on enhancing news literacy among young people, teachers, and media professionals. The project conducts research on news consumption and literacy, develops educational resources, and fosters collaboration between journalists and youth to strengthen fact-based public discourse. The website reflects a small, specialized non-profit organization with a clear educational mission and a strong focus on trustworthy journalism. Technically, the website is built on a modern React and Next.js stack, hosted on Colt's infrastructure, and uses Matomo analytics with cookies disabled to respect user privacy. The site is well-designed, mobile-optimized, and accessible, providing a professional user experience. Security-wise, HTTPS is enforced, and no critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found, though security headers and explicit incident response policies are absent. Overall, the site demonstrates a good security posture and privacy compliance but could improve transparency around security policies and cookie consent mechanisms.

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

7 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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  • TLS certificates and expiry
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  • 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
72
Security headers
20
Email security
75
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
60

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 usethenews.de, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for usethenews.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

The initiative occupies a niche in the German media and education sectors, targeting youth news literacy and media education. Its business model is non-commercial, focusing on educational outreach and community engagement rather than revenue generation. The project leverages partnerships with media professionals and educators to develop resources and events. The presence on multiple social media platforms supports community building and outreach. The lack of explicit company registration or VAT information suggests a non-profit or project-based entity rather than a commercial enterprise. Growth potential lies in expanding educational offerings and deepening collaboration with media and academic institutions.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS and uses privacy-conscious analytics (Matomo with cookies disabled), indicating a strong commitment to user privacy. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security reduces the overall security hardening. No public security or incident response policies were found, which could hinder transparency and trust in case of incidents. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files are present, limiting external reporting channels. The site does not expose sensitive data or use vulnerable libraries based on the analysis. Overall, the security posture is good but could be enhanced with additional headers and published policies.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers like Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to improve site security.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response plan on the website to enhance transparency and trust.
  3. Add a cookie consent mechanism to comply fully with GDPR cookie requirements.
  4. Consider publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  5. Maintain regular security audits and update dependencies to avoid potential vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
UseTheNews
Description
The nationwide project #UseTheNews investigates young people's news use and literacy and develops new information and educational offerings to strengthen trustworthy journalism and fact-based opinion-forming.
Key services
Research on news use and literacy, Educational resources for teachers, Collaborative projects with media professionals, Community engagement with young people
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Next.js, Matomo Analytics
Frameworks
Next.js
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • No cookies used by Matomo (disabled cookies)
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Marketing tools
Matomo Analytics
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is focused on news literacy education in Germany targeting youth, teachers, and media professionals.
  3. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found; contact is via a contact form.
  4. Social media presence on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
  5. No terms of service page detected.
  6. Privacy policy is present and comprehensive, indicating GDPR compliance.
  7. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  8. Uses Matomo analytics with cookies disabled, enhancing privacy.
  9. Modern tech stack with Next.js and React, hosted on Colt infrastructure.
  10. No advertising networks detected; no affiliate or retargeting services.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern React and Next.js framework, indicating a contemporary and maintainable codebase. Hosting on Colt's infrastructure suggests reliable and professional hosting services. The use of Matomo analytics with disabled cookies reflects a privacy-first approach. The site is well-optimized for mobile devices and accessibility, with good SEO practices evident from meta tags and Open Graph data. Performance is likely fast given the use of optimized images and modern frameworks. No CMS is explicitly stated, but the data structure and URLs suggest Strapi as the backend CMS. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid with room for minor security enhancements.
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. 65/100Medium34 findingsView report
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