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Security report for vgs-sg.ch

VGS Verlagsgenossenschaft St.Gallen · Media · Switzerland

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

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

VGS Verlagsgenossenschaft St. Gallen is a small regional publishing cooperative specializing in books from St. Gallen and Eastern Switzerland. The website serves as a platform for book sales, event announcements, and cultural engagement, positioning itself as a trusted local media entity. The business model revolves around publishing, retailing books, and organizing related events, targeting readers and cultural enthusiasts in the region. Technically, the website is built on the Squarespace platform, leveraging modern JavaScript libraries and integrations such as Google reCAPTCHA and Mailchimp for security and marketing. The site is mobile-optimized with good SEO practices, though accessibility features are basic. Performance is moderate, typical for a Squarespace-hosted site. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and HSTS enabled, alongside the use of CAPTCHA to protect forms. However, the absence of a privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism indicates compliance gaps, particularly regarding GDPR. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided, which could be improved. Overall, the website is professional and trustworthy with clear business information and consistent branding. Strategic recommendations include implementing a privacy policy and cookie consent, adding security and incident response policies, and enhancing accessibility to strengthen compliance and user trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 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. 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"

    • 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';…

  2. GDPR outside view

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

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • 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

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching vgs-sg.ch

This scan found 25 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
62
Security headers
35
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
63

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

The company holds a niche market position as a regional publisher and bookseller focused on St. Gallen and the surrounding area. Its cooperative structure suggests a community-oriented approach. Revenue streams likely include book sales and event participation. The website supports this with an integrated shop and event listings. Partnerships appear limited to cultural and local entities, with no major subsidiaries or parent companies identified. Growth indicators include regular event announcements and new publications. The business maintains a clear and consistent brand identity, reinforcing its local cultural relevance.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS and HSTS, protecting data in transit. The use of Google reCAPTCHA mitigates automated abuse of forms. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. However, the lack of a published security policy, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms limits transparency and preparedness. Compliance with GDPR is partial due to missing privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the security measures are adequate for the business scale but could be enhanced to meet higher compliance and trust standards.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and make it easily accessible on the website.
  2. Implement a cookie consent banner to comply with GDPR and inform users about tracking.
  3. Create and publish a security policy including incident response procedures and contact information.
  4. Add a security.txt file or vulnerability disclosure page to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Enhance website accessibility features to improve inclusiveness and compliance with standards.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
VGS Verlagsgenossenschaft St.Gallen
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
VGS Verlagsgenossenschaft St.Gallen
Description
VGS Verlagsgenosschenaft ist auf Bücher aus St. Gallen und der Ostschweiz spezialisiert.
Key services
Publishing books, Book sales via online shop, Organizing book-related events and exhibitions
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Squarespace CMS, JavaScript libraries (YUI3, Moment.js), Google reCAPTCHA, Mailchimp integration
Frameworks
Squarespace platform
Platforms
Squarespace hosting
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced with HSTS
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA for forms
  • No exposed sensitive data detected

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Mailchimp
Marketing tools
Mailchimp
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed using Squarespace with consistent branding.
  2. Content is focused on regional book publishing and cultural events.
  3. No privacy policy or cookie consent banner found, which is a compliance gap.
  4. Contact information is clearly provided with company domain email and physical address.
  5. Security posture is good with HTTPS and HSTS enabled, but lacks explicit security policies.
  6. No signs of suspicious or malicious activity detected.
  7. Use of third-party services like Mailchimp and Google reCAPTCHA is evident.
  8. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected; content fully accessible.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Squarespace, a modern CMS platform that provides responsive design and integrated hosting. It uses JavaScript libraries such as YUI3 and Moment.js, and integrates third-party services like Google reCAPTCHA and Mailchimp for security and marketing. The site loads asynchronously and uses CDN-hosted assets for performance. While performance is moderate, it benefits from Squarespace's infrastructure. The technical stack is stable but somewhat dependent on third-party services. Opportunities exist to optimize accessibility and implement advanced SEO and analytics features to further improve user experience and business insights.
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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