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Security report for vdma.org

VDMA · Manufacturing · 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

VDMA is a prominent German and European industry association representing approximately 3,600 companies in the machinery and plant engineering sector. The organization focuses on innovation, export orientation, and supporting medium-sized enterprises. Their website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive content, professional design, and clear navigation tailored to industry professionals and stakeholders. The technical infrastructure is based on the Liferay CMS platform, leveraging modern JavaScript frameworks and analytics tools, ensuring a responsive and accessible user experience. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement, consent management, and use of security best practices, although explicit security headers could be enhanced. Overall, the site demonstrates compliance with GDPR and provides clear contact and privacy information, supporting trust and credibility.

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 vdma.org

This scan found 18 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.

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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
90
Security headers
50
Email security
87
DNS health
85
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 vdma.org, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
35
Employees
6
Customers
25
Third parties
4
Weak passwords
31%

Latest record dated 2026-05-21 · 5 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 vdma.org.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –my.vdma.org2026-05-21
  • –brazil.vdma.org2026-05-11
  • –brazil.vdma.org2025-11-13
  • –brazil.vdma.org2025-08-08
  • –my.vdma.org2025-07-26

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)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

VDMA holds a leading position as an industry association in the European manufacturing sector, particularly machinery and plant engineering. Their business model centers on advocacy, information dissemination, event organization, and supporting innovation within the industry. The website targets industry professionals, policymakers, and member companies, providing resources and news relevant to the sector. The association benefits from a strong brand presence and partnerships, with a focus on export and innovation. The digital platform supports their strategic goals by offering multilingual content, event calendars, and industry insights, positioning VDMA as a key player in the machinery industry ecosystem.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced site-wide, use of nonce attributes in inline scripts to mitigate XSS risks, and integration of consent management for cookies and tracking. Analytics are implemented via Google Analytics and Matomo with user consent. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the analyzed content. However, explicit security headers such as X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options were not clearly identified and should be verified and implemented if missing. Incident response and vulnerability disclosure information are not prominently available, suggesting an area for improvement in transparency and readiness. Overall, the site maintains a secure environment appropriate for an industry association.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and verify explicit security headers including X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against clickjacking and MIME sniffing.
  2. Publish clear incident response and vulnerability disclosure policies to improve transparency and security posture.
  3. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to ensure no vulnerabilities are introduced.
  4. Enhance CSRF protections on all forms and ensure secure handling of user input.
  5. Maintain up-to-date software versions and conduct periodic security assessments.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau e.V. (VDMA)
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
VDMA
Description
Der VDMA vertritt 3.600 deutsche und europäische Unternehmen des Maschinen- und Anlagenbaus. Die Industrie steht für Innovation, Exportorientierung und Mittelstand.
Key services
Industry representation, Information dissemination, Event organization, Research and innovation support
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Liferay Portal, jQuery, React, Clay UI, Google Tag Manager, Matomo Analytics, Usercentrics Consent Management, Podigee Podcast Player, Google Maps API
Frameworks
Liferay, AUI (Alloy UI)
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of nonce in inline scripts
  • Consent management for cookies and tracking
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Matomo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Marketing tools
Usercentrics Consent Management
Transparency
good

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 challenge.
  2. Content is rich, professional, and relevant to the machinery industry.
  3. Strong GDPR and privacy compliance with consent management.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  5. No suspicious or malicious indicators found.
  6. WHOIS data is privacy protected, limiting registrant transparency.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Liferay CMS platform, utilizing a combination of JavaScript libraries including jQuery, React, and Clay UI components. It integrates Google Tag Manager, Matomo Analytics, and Usercentrics for consent management, reflecting a modern and privacy-conscious technical stack. The site is responsive and optimized for mobile devices, with good accessibility features and SEO practices. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization in script loading and resource management. The use of Google Maps API and Podigee podcast player indicates integration of third-party services to enrich content. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional and scalable web presence suitable for an industry association.
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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