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Security report for wdr.de

Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) · Media · Germany

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

61/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) operates a comprehensive public broadcasting website offering news, audio, video, and cultural content primarily targeting the German-speaking population in North Rhine-Westphalia. The site features rich multimedia content, including podcasts, videos, and news articles, supported by structured data and modern web technologies. The website is professionally designed with consistent branding and good navigation, optimized for mobile and accessibility. Technically, it uses JavaScript, CSS, JSON-LD, and Akamai CDN for media delivery, ensuring moderate to good performance. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and no visible vulnerabilities, though explicit security headers and policies are not evident. Privacy compliance is limited due to the absence of visible privacy and cookie policies or consent mechanisms. Overall, the domain and content align with a legitimate, trusted public media organization.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of wdr.de. View the latest report

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

6 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 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
  • DNS records
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  • 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
80
Security headers
40
Email security
55
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
28
Average
61

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 wdr.de, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
663
Employees
0
Customers
569
Third parties
94
Weak passwords
13%

30 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 wdr.de.

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

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Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

WDR holds a leading position as a regional public broadcaster in Germany, providing a wide range of media services including news, radio, television, and online streaming. Its business model is based on public funding and broadcasting mandates. The website serves a broad audience with diverse content categories such as news, sports, culture, and consumer information. The organization benefits from strong brand recognition and trust, supported by professional content and structured metadata. The site links to multiple external media and content delivery domains, reflecting a mature digital ecosystem. No direct commercial or advertising partnerships were detected in the provided data.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS and no exposed sensitive information in the HTML content. However, the absence of explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options suggests room for improvement. No vulnerability disclosures or incident response contacts are published, which could enhance transparency and readiness. Privacy policies and cookie consent mechanisms are not found, indicating potential compliance gaps with GDPR and related regulations. Overall, the security posture is good but could be strengthened by adopting best practices in headers, policies, and disclosure.

Recommendations

  1. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with clear GDPR compliance and consent mechanisms.
  2. Implement and enforce security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Provide a publicly accessible security policy and incident response contact information (e.g., security@ or abuse@ email).
  4. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Enhance transparency by listing data protection officer contact details and compliance certifications.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)
Description
Aktuelle Nachrichten, Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW). Video- und Audio-Beiträge in der WDR-Mediathek, Hintergrund-Berichte und Interviews aus den Bereichen News, Sport, Wissen, Verbraucher, Kultur und Unterhaltung. Informationen zu allen Fernseh-Sendungen und Radio-Sendern des WDR.
Key services
News reporting, Radio broadcasting, Television broadcasting, Online media streaming, Podcasts, Cultural and educational content
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, JSON-LD structured data, HLS streaming, Akamai CDN, ARD Player
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of async scripts
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional public broadcaster site with rich multimedia content.
  2. No privacy or cookie policies explicitly found in the provided content.
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly found in the HTML content.
  4. No security or incident response policies visible.
  5. Use of modern web technologies and structured data for SEO and accessibility.
  6. No signs of adult or questionable content.
  7. No WAF or blocking detected; content fully accessible.
  8. WHOIS data limited but consistent with domain usage.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern technology stack including JavaScript, CSS, JSON-LD for structured data, and HLS streaming for media content. It leverages Akamai CDN for content delivery, ensuring scalability and performance. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices evident from meta tags and structured data. No explicit CMS was detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary content management system. Performance is moderate, with multiple preloads and async scripts to optimize loading. Technical risks are minimal, but the lack of visible security headers and privacy mechanisms could pose compliance and security challenges.
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. 62/100Medium32 findingsView report
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