diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7b82d0add..68b744c09 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@
   - Fix to avoid schema download if not configured #2530.
 
 #### Experts
+- `intelmq.bots.experts.securitytxt`:
+  - Added new bot (PR#2538 by Frank Westers and Sebastian Wagner)
 
 #### Outputs
 - `intelmq.bots.outputs.cif3.output`:
diff --git a/docs/dev/release.md b/docs/dev/release.md
index 914e31523..3c8da229e 100644
--- a/docs/dev/release.md
+++ b/docs/dev/release.md
@@ -30,8 +30,6 @@ These apply to all projects:
 
 - `intelmq/version.py`: Update the version.
 
-Eventually adapt the default log levels if necessary. Should be INFO for stable releases.
-
 ### IntelMQ API
 
 -   `intelmq_api/version.py`: Update the version.
diff --git a/docs/user/bots.md b/docs/user/bots.md
index 433fe98ef..56edbd158 100644
--- a/docs/user/bots.md
+++ b/docs/user/bots.md
@@ -3524,6 +3524,56 @@ to true.
 (optional, boolean) Query for IPs at `https://stat.ripe.net/data/maxmind-geo-lite/data.json?resource=%s`. Defaults to
 true.
 
+---
+
+### SecurityTXT <div id="intelmq.bots.experts.securitytxt.expert" />
+
+SecurityTXT is an initiative to standardize how websites publish their abuse contact information.
+It is standardized in [RFC 9116 "A File Format to Aid in Security Vulnerability Disclosure"](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc9116/).
+Refer to the linked document RFC for more information on `security.txt`.
+This bot looks for `security.txt` files on a URL or IP, retrieves the primary contact information out of it and adds this to the event.
+
+**Requirements**
+
+To use this bot, you need to install the required dependencies:
+
+```bash
+pip3 install -r intelmq/bots/experts/securitytxt/REQUIREMENTS.txt
+```
+
+**Module:** `intelmq.bots.experts.securitytxt.expert`
+
+**Parameters**
+
+**`url_field`**
+
+The field in the event that contains the URL/IP on which to look for the the security.txt file. Default: `source.reverse_dns`
+
+**`contact_field`**
+
+The field in the event in which to put the found contact details. Default: `source.abuse_contact`
+
+**`only_email_address`** (bool)
+
+Contact details can be web URLs or email addresses. When this value is set to True, it only selects email addresses as contact information.
+Default: `true`
+
+**`overwrite`** (bool)
+
+Boolean indicating whether to override existing data in contact_field.
+Default: `true`
+
+**`check_expired`** (bool)
+
+Boolean indicating whether to check if the security.txt has expired according to its own expiry date.
+Default: `false`
+
+**`check_canonical`** (bool)
+
+Boolean indicating whether to check if the url is contained in the list of canonical urls.
+Default: `false`
+
+
 ---
 
 ### Sieve <div id="intelmq.bots.experts.sieve.expert" />
diff --git a/intelmq/__init__.py b/intelmq/__init__.py
index 0fb77e825..b5a6154b0 100644
--- a/intelmq/__init__.py
+++ b/intelmq/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2014 Tomás Lima
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2014 Tomás Lima, 2015-2020 nic.at GmbH, 2024 Institute for Common Good Technology
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
 
@@ -29,7 +29,12 @@
     VAR_STATE_PATH = os.path.join(ROOT_DIR, "var/lib/bots/")
 
 
-DEFAULT_LOGGING_LEVEL = "INFO"
+if isinstance(__version_info__[-1], str) and __version_info__[-1][0].lower() in ('a', 'b', 'd'):
+    # for alpha, beta and dev instances, set default log level to DEBUG, for others, including RCs, use INFO
+    DEFAULT_LOGGING_LEVEL = "DEBUG"
+else:
+    DEFAULT_LOGGING_LEVEL = "INFO"
+
 HARMONIZATION_CONF_FILE = os.path.join(CONFIG_DIR, "harmonization.conf")
 RUNTIME_CONF_FILE = os.path.join(CONFIG_DIR, "runtime.yaml")
 old_runtime_conf_file = pathlib.Path(RUNTIME_CONF_FILE).with_suffix('.conf')
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/experts/securitytxt/REQUIREMENTS.txt b/intelmq/bots/experts/securitytxt/REQUIREMENTS.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3b93c2981
--- /dev/null
+++ b/intelmq/bots/experts/securitytxt/REQUIREMENTS.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2022 Frank Westers, 2024 Institute for Common Good Technology
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
+
+wellknown-securitytxt
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/experts/securitytxt/__init__.py b/intelmq/bots/experts/securitytxt/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/experts/securitytxt/expert.py b/intelmq/bots/experts/securitytxt/expert.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..94f2815cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/intelmq/bots/experts/securitytxt/expert.py
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2022 Frank Westers, 2024 Institute for Common Good Technology
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
+
+from typing import Optional
+
+import requests
+
+from intelmq.lib.bot import ExpertBot
+from intelmq.lib.exceptions import MissingDependencyError
+
+try:
+    from securitytxt import SecurityTXT
+except (ImportError, ModuleNotFoundError):
+    SecurityTXT = None
+
+
+class SecurityTXTExpertBot(ExpertBot):
+    """
+    A bot for retrieving contact details from a security.txt
+    """
+    """
+    url_field: The field where to find the url which should be searched
+    contact_field: Field in which to place the found contact details
+
+    only_email_address: whether to select only email addresses as contact detail (no web urls)
+    overwrite: whether to override existing data
+    check_expired / check_canonical: whether to perform checks on expiry date / canonical urls.
+    """
+    url_field: str = "source.reverse_dns"
+    contact_field: str = "source.abuse_contact"
+
+    only_email_address: bool = True
+    overwrite: bool = True
+    check_expired: bool = False
+    check_canonical: bool = False
+
+    def init(self):
+        if SecurityTXT is None:
+            raise MissingDependencyError('wellknown-securitytxt')
+
+    def process(self):
+        event = self.receive_message()
+
+        try:
+            self.check_prerequisites(event)
+            primary_contact = self.get_primary_contact(event.get(self.url_field))
+            event.add(self.contact_field, primary_contact, overwrite=self.overwrite)
+        except NotMeetsRequirementsError as e:
+            self.logger.debug("Skipping event (%s).", e)
+        except ContactNotFoundError as e:
+            self.logger.debug("No contact found: %s Continue.", e)
+
+        self.send_message(event)
+        self.acknowledge_message()
+
+    def check_prerequisites(self, event) -> None:
+        """
+        Check whether this event should be processed by this bot, or can be skipped.
+        :param event: The event to evaluate.
+        """
+        if not event.get(self.url_field, False):
+            raise NotMeetsRequirementsError("The URL field is empty.")
+        if event.get(self.contact_field, False) and not self.overwrite:
+            raise NotMeetsRequirementsError("All replace values already set.")
+
+    def get_primary_contact(self, url: str) -> Optional[str]:
+        """
+        Given a url, get the file, check it's validity and look for contact details. The primary contact details are
+        returned. If only_email_address is set to True, it will only return email addresses (no urls).
+        :param url: The URL on which to look for a security.txt file
+        :return: The contact information
+        :raises ContactNotFoundError: if contact cannot be found
+        """
+        try:
+            securitytxt = SecurityTXT.from_url(url)
+            if not self.security_txt_is_valid(securitytxt):
+                raise ContactNotFoundError("SecurityTXT File not valid.")
+            for contact in securitytxt.contact:
+                if not self.only_email_address or SecurityTXTExpertBot.is_email_address(contact):
+                    return contact
+            raise ContactNotFoundError("No contact details found in SecurityTXT.")
+        except (FileNotFoundError, AttributeError, requests.exceptions.RequestException):
+            raise ContactNotFoundError("SecurityTXT file could not be found or parsed.")
+
+    def security_txt_is_valid(self, securitytxt: SecurityTXT):
+        """
+        Determine whether a security.txt file is valid according to parameters of the bot.
+        :param securitytxt: The securityTXT object
+        :return: Whether the securitytxt is valid.
+        """
+        return (not self.check_expired or not securitytxt.expired) and \
+               (not self.check_canonical or securitytxt.canonical_url())
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def is_email_address(contact: str):
+        """
+        Determine whether the argument is an email address
+        :param contact: the contact
+        :return: whether contact is email address
+        """
+        return 'mailto:' in contact or '@' in contact
+
+
+class NotMeetsRequirementsError(Exception):
+    pass
+
+
+class ContactNotFoundError(Exception):
+    pass
+
+
+BOT = SecurityTXTExpertBot
diff --git a/intelmq/tests/bots/experts/securitytxt/__init__.py b/intelmq/tests/bots/experts/securitytxt/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/intelmq/tests/bots/experts/securitytxt/test_expert.py b/intelmq/tests/bots/experts/securitytxt/test_expert.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cf01285ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/intelmq/tests/bots/experts/securitytxt/test_expert.py
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2022 Frank Westers
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
+
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+"""
+Testing the SecurityTXT Expert Bot
+"""
+
+import unittest
+
+import requests_mock
+
+import intelmq.lib.test as test
+from intelmq.bots.experts.securitytxt.expert import SecurityTXTExpertBot
+
+EXAMPLE_INPUT_IP = {"__type": "Event",
+                    "source.ip": "192.168.123.123"}
+
+EXPECTED_OUTPUT_IP = {"__type": "Event",
+                      "source.ip": "192.168.123.123",
+                      "source.account": 'test@test.local'}
+
+EXAMPLE_INPUT_FQDN = {"__type": "Event",
+                      "source.fqdn": "test.local"}
+
+EXPECTED_OUTPUT_FQDN = {"__type": "Event",
+                        "source.fqdn": "test.local",
+                        "source.abuse_contact": 'test.local/whitehat'}
+
+EXPECTED_OUTPUT_FQDN_NO_CONTACT = {"__type": "Event",
+                                   "source.fqdn": "test.local"}
+
+@requests_mock.Mocker()
+@test.skip_exotic()
+class TestSecurityTXTExpertBot(test.BotTestCase, unittest.TestCase):
+    """
+    A TestCase for the SecurityTXT Expert Bot
+    """
+
+    @classmethod
+    def set_bot(cls):
+        cls.bot_reference = SecurityTXTExpertBot
+
+    def test_ip(self, m: requests_mock.Mocker):
+        self._run_generic_test(securitytxt_url=f"https://{EXAMPLE_INPUT_IP['source.ip']}/.well-known/security.txt",
+                               securitytxt=f"Contact: {EXPECTED_OUTPUT_IP['source.account']}",
+                               input_message=EXAMPLE_INPUT_IP,
+                               output_message=EXPECTED_OUTPUT_IP,
+                               config={'url_field': 'source.ip', 'contact_field': 'source.account',
+                                       'only_email_address': False},
+                               m=m)
+
+    def test_fqdn(self, m: requests_mock.Mocker):
+        self._run_generic_test(securitytxt_url=f"https://{EXAMPLE_INPUT_FQDN['source.fqdn']}/.well-known/security.txt",
+                               securitytxt=f"Contact: {EXPECTED_OUTPUT_FQDN['source.abuse_contact']}",
+                               input_message=EXAMPLE_INPUT_FQDN,
+                               output_message=EXPECTED_OUTPUT_FQDN,
+                               config={'url_field': 'source.fqdn', 'contact_field': 'source.abuse_contact',
+                                       'only_email_address': False},
+                               m=m)
+
+    def test_only_email_address_true(self, m: requests_mock.Mocker):
+        self._run_generic_test(securitytxt_url=f"https://{EXAMPLE_INPUT_FQDN['source.fqdn']}/.well-known/security.txt",
+                               securitytxt=f"Contact: {EXPECTED_OUTPUT_FQDN['source.abuse_contact']}",
+                               input_message=EXAMPLE_INPUT_FQDN,
+                               output_message=EXPECTED_OUTPUT_FQDN_NO_CONTACT,
+                               config={'url_field': 'source.fqdn', 'contact_field': 'source.abuse_contact',
+                                       'only_email_address': True},
+                               m=m)
+
+    def test_expired(self, m: requests_mock.Mocker):
+        self._run_generic_test(securitytxt_url=f"https://{EXAMPLE_INPUT_FQDN['source.fqdn']}/.well-known/security.txt",
+                               securitytxt=f"Contact: {EXPECTED_OUTPUT_FQDN['source.abuse_contact']}\nExpires: 1900-12-31T18:37:07.000Z",
+                               input_message=EXAMPLE_INPUT_FQDN,
+                               output_message=EXPECTED_OUTPUT_FQDN_NO_CONTACT,
+                               config={'url_field': 'source.fqdn', 'contact_field': 'source.abuse_contact',
+                                       'only_email_address': False, 'check_expired': True},
+                               m=m)
+
+    def test_not_expired(self, m: requests_mock.Mocker):
+        self._run_generic_test(securitytxt_url=f"https://{EXAMPLE_INPUT_FQDN['source.fqdn']}/.well-known/security.txt",
+                               securitytxt=f"Contact: {EXPECTED_OUTPUT_FQDN['source.abuse_contact']}\nExpires: 3000-12-31T18:37:07.000Z",
+                               input_message=EXAMPLE_INPUT_FQDN,
+                               output_message=EXPECTED_OUTPUT_FQDN,
+                               config={'url_field': 'source.fqdn', 'contact_field': 'source.abuse_contact',
+                                       'only_email_address': False, 'check_expired': True},
+                               m=m)
+
+    def _run_generic_test(self, m: requests_mock.Mocker, config: dict, securitytxt_url: str, securitytxt: str,
+                          input_message: dict, output_message: dict):
+        self.sysconfig = config
+        self.prepare_bot()
+        m.get(requests_mock.ANY, status_code=404)
+        m.get(securitytxt_url, text=securitytxt)
+        self.input_message = input_message
+        self.run_bot()
+        self.assertMessageEqual(0, output_message)