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Is wzb.eu a Scam? Security Check Results - Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung Reviews

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Is wzb.eu Safe? Security Analysis for Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung

Check if wzb.eu is a scam or legitimate. Free security scan and reviews.

GovernmentGermanylarge
Drupal 8Matomo AnalyticsFontAwesomeBootstrap (implied by classes like btn btn-info)JavaScript
Analyzed 9/5/2025Completed 8:42:17 AM
60
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB) is a prominent German research institution specializing in social sciences. The website serves as a comprehensive portal for their research activities, publications, events, and organizational information. It targets academics, researchers, policy makers, and students interested in social research topics. The institution operates as a non-profit entity with a strong presence in the European academic landscape. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 8 CMS, leveraging Matomo analytics configured to respect user privacy via Do Not Track settings. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices, although some modern security headers are missing. The cookie consent mechanism is implemented in compliance with EU regulations. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS and has implemented privacy-conscious analytics. However, it lacks explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms. No WAF or blocking mechanisms were detected, and the domain WHOIS data aligns well with the institution's identity, indicating high legitimacy. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and well-suited for its academic audience, but could improve in transparency regarding privacy policies and security disclosures.

Detected Technologies

Drupal 8Matomo AnalyticsFontAwesomeBootstrap (implied by classes like btn btn-info)JavaScript

🧠AI Business Intelligence

Technology stack, business insights, and market analysis powered by AI.

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

WZB holds a strong market position as a leading social science research center in Germany and Europe. Its business model is non-profit, funded primarily by public and governmental sources. The institution's competitive advantage lies in its extensive research output, collaborations, and data resources. The website supports these activities by providing access to publications, project information, and events. The target customer segments include researchers, academics, policy makers, and students. The partnership ecosystem includes social media platforms and academic networks. Growth indicators are implied by the structured and comprehensive content, though no direct revenue streams are visible on the site.

Extracted Contact Information

Marketing Intelligence Data

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and privacy-respecting analytics. However, the absence of key security headers, lack of published security policies, and missing incident response contacts represent compliance gaps. There is no evidence of vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data in the provided content. GDPR compliance is partially indicated by cookie consent but lacks explicit privacy policy documentation. The security culture appears cautious but could benefit from enhanced transparency and formalized security disclosures.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Implement and publish a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service pages.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung

Description:

Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB) is a research center focused on social sciences, conducting research on social inequalities, political systems, migration, digitalization, and other social topics.

Key Services:
Social science researchPublicationsEvents and conferencesData and literature resources
Content Quality:

good

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
Drupal 8Matomo AnalyticsFontAwesomeBootstrap (implied by classes like btn btn-info)JavaScript
Frameworks:
Drupal
Performance:

moderate

Mobile:

good

Accessibility:

good

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
75/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Do Not Track respected in analytics
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Matomo
Tracking Level:minimal
Privacy Compliance:good

Advertising & Marketing

Tracking Pixels:
Matomo
Marketing Tools:
Matomo Analytics
Transparency Level:good

Website Quality Assessment

Design Quality:good
User Experience:good
Content Relevance:good
Navigation Clarity:good
Professionalism:good
Trustworthiness:high

Key Observations

1

Website is a professional academic research center site.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

35/100
Score

Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

HIGH

Forces HTTPS connections

Weak X-Content-Type-Options configuration

LOW

Current value: "nosniff, nosniff"

Missing Content-Security-Policy header

HIGH

Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

Missing X-XSS-Protection header

MEDIUM

Legacy XSS protection (deprecated but still recommended)

Missing Referrer-Policy header

LOW

Controls referrer information sent with requests

Missing Permissions-Policy header

MEDIUM

Controls browser features and APIs

Sensitive data may be cached

LOW

Cache-Control header should include "no-store" for sensitive pages

👤GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.

GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment

28/100
Score

No Cookie Policy found

HIGH

GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

No Cookie Consent Banner found

HIGH

GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

No Data Protection Officer mentioned

LOW

Large organizations may need to designate a DPO under GDPR

Privacy policy may not be GDPR compliant

MEDIUM

Privacy policy lacks explicit GDPR compliance elements

EU business without adequate privacy measures

CRITICAL

EU businesses are subject to strict GDPR requirements

GDPR Compliance Analysis

Privacy Policy85% confidence
Cookie Policy0% confidence
Contact Information Found90% confidence
phone

🛡️NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive compliance assessment.

NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive

17/100
Score

No information security framework found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity and information security measures

No vulnerability disclosure policy

MEDIUM

NIS2 encourages coordinated vulnerability disclosure

No security policy documentation found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity governance and risk management

No incident response procedures found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented incident response and business continuity plans

No business continuity planning found

MEDIUM

NIS2 emphasizes operational resilience and business continuity

No security contact information

HIGH

NIS2 requires clear incident reporting channels

No vulnerability reporting mechanism

MEDIUM

Clear vulnerability reporting supports coordinated disclosure

No NIS2 reference found

LOW

Consider explicitly mentioning NIS2 compliance efforts

📧Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation and email security assessment.

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

70/100
Score

No DKIM record found

MEDIUM

DKIM adds cryptographic signatures to emails

No BIMI Record

LOW

BIMI displays brand logos in email clients

No MTA-STS Policy

MEDIUM

MTA-STS enforces TLS for email delivery

No TLS-RPT Record

LOW

TLS-RPT provides reporting for email TLS issues

SPF
Sender Policy Framework
DKIM
DomainKeys Identified Mail
DMARC
Domain-based Message Authentication
MX Records
Mail Exchange Records
BIMI
Brand Indicators
MTA-STS
Mail Transfer Agent Security
TLS-RPT
TLS Reporting
DNSSEC
DNS Security
SPF Details
Record:
v=spf1 mx a:mail.wzb.eu a:artemis.wzb.eu ip4:83.246.65.0/24 ip4:217.64.175.0/24 ip4:94.100.128.0/20 ip4:162.55.80.16/32 mx:diw.de include:_spf.pretix.eu include:spf.crsend.com ~all
DNS Lookups:6/10
Policy:~all

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

77/100
Score

Weak Protocols Supported

HIGH

Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

OCSP Stapling Not Enabled

LOW

OCSP stapling improves performance and privacy

Certificate Transparency Not Implemented

LOW

Certificate is not logged in Certificate Transparency logs

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 3 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Protocol Support

TLSv1.3TLSv1.2TLSv1.1

OCSP Status

OCSP Stapling Disabled

📊DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment.

DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment

75/100
Score

DNSSEC Not Enabled

MEDIUM

DNSSEC is not configured for this domain

CAA Records Not Configured

LOW

Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) records not found

No DMARC Record

MEDIUM

DMARC policy not configured

Domain Registration Details

DNS Records

A Records:193.174.6.43
Name Servers:
dns-4.dfn.deDNS only
dns.wzb.euDNS only
MX Records:
10: mail.wzb.eu
SOA:Serial: 2025062296, TTL: 3600s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:42ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 mx a:mail.wzb.eu a:artemis.wzb.eu ip4:83.246.65.0/24 ip4:217.64.175.0/24 ip4:94.100.128.0/20 ip4:162.55.80.16/32 mx:diw.de include:_spf.pretix.eu include:spf.crsend.com ~all

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis.

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis

100/100
Score

Good Network Security Posture

LOW

No unnecessary services detected on common risky ports

🔧Technical Analysis

Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.

Technical Analysis

Comprehensive security assessment findings

Additional Findings

The website uses Drupal 8 CMS, a mature and widely used content management system suitable for academic institutions. The tech stack includes Matomo analytics configured to respect Do Not Track, indicating a privacy-conscious approach. The site uses modern web standards with responsive design and accessibility features. Performance is moderate, with deferred and async loading of scripts. The site lacks some modern security headers which could be added to reduce risk. No hosting provider details were found in the content. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but could be modernized with additional security and performance optimizations.
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