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Security report for verbraucherzentrale.nrw

Verbraucherzentrale Nordrhein-Westfalen · Non-profit · Germany

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Verbraucherzentrale Nordrhein-Westfalen is a prominent non-profit consumer protection organization serving the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The website offers extensive consumer advice, educational resources, legal support, and various projects focused on energy, environment, digital world, and health. It maintains a strong market position as a trusted regional consumer advocate with a large network of local advisory offices and online services. Technically, the site is built on Drupal 10 with modern web technologies, optimized for mobile and accessibility, and integrates analytics and marketing tools such as Matomo and Newsletter2Go. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS usage and no visible sensitive data exposure, though security headers and explicit cookie consent mechanisms could be improved. WHOIS data is privacy protected, which is typical and justified for such an organization. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained, serving a broad audience including consumers, educators, and vulnerable groups.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

4 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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

  2. GDPR outside view

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

    • 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

  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 Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1

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Keep watching verbraucherzentrale.nrw

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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
55
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
69

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 verbraucherzentrale.nrw, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
5
Employees
0
Customers
5
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
20%

1 subdomain 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 verbraucherzentrale.nrw.

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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 organization operates as a non-profit entity focused on consumer rights and education, with a diversified portfolio of services including direct consumer advice, legal actions, educational materials, and public awareness projects. Its revenue streams likely include government funding, donations, and sales from its online shop. The target audience spans general consumers in NRW, educators, students, seniors, and refugees. The website's extensive project partnerships and social media presence indicate a mature ecosystem and strong community engagement. The business model emphasizes public service and advocacy rather than commercial profit, positioning it as an essential regional institution.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security maturity level. HTTPS is enforced, and no sensitive data leaks are evident in the HTML. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, or X-Frame-Options suggests room for improvement. The use of third-party scripts like Matomo and Newsletter2Go introduces potential risk vectors that should be regularly audited. No incident response or security policy information is publicly available, which could be enhanced to improve transparency and readiness. Overall, the security posture aligns with a public service organization but would benefit from adopting additional best practices.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options) to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Introduce a clear cookie consent banner/mechanism to comply fully with GDPR and improve user transparency.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to build trust and preparedness.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and libraries to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance WHOIS transparency if possible, or provide clear organizational information on the website to offset privacy protection.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Verbraucherzentrale Nordrhein-Westfalen
Description
Die Verbraucherzentrale NRW ist eine Verbraucherberatungsorganisation, die Informationen, Beratung und Unterstützung zu Verbraucherthemen wie Geld & Versicherungen, Digitale Welt, Lebensmittel, Energie, Umwelt & Haushalt, Reise & Mobilität sowie Verträge & Reklamation anbietet.
Key services
Verbraucherberatung vor Ort und online, Bildungsangebote für Schulen und Pädagog:innen, Juristische Verfahren und Verbandsklagen, Informationsportale und Projekte zu Verbraucherthemen, Online-Shop für Ratgeber und Publikationen
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, lazysizes (lazy loading images), Matomo Tag Manager, Newsletter2Go, Modernizr, Responsive design scripts
Frameworks
Drupal CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of HTTPS (implied by canonical URLs)
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of anti-bot form elements

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Marketing tools
Newsletter2Go
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 and professionally designed
  2. Content is comprehensive and well-structured for consumer advice
  3. Multiple service offerings including education, legal, and advisory
  4. Strong presence of social media and external project links
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious content
  6. No explicit security headers detected in provided data
  7. No cookie consent banner detected despite GDPR compliance
  8. WHOIS data is privacy protected or unavailable, common for non-profits
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by Drupal 10, a modern and robust CMS, ensuring scalability and security. It uses lazy loading for images to optimize performance and integrates Matomo for analytics, which respects privacy better than many alternatives. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices evident in meta tags and structured navigation. However, no explicit hosting provider information is found, and performance is moderate, suggesting potential for optimization. The technical stack is well-chosen for a public service organization, balancing functionality, security, and user experience.
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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