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Security report for apache.org

The Apache Software Foundation · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

59/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is a well-established non-profit organization founded in 1995, dedicated to providing open source software for the public good. It hosts over 290 projects and has a large global community of contributors and members. The website reflects a mature organization with a strong community focus, offering resources, events, and project information to developers and enterprises worldwide. The ASF operates with a business model centered on community governance and sponsorship, positioning itself as a leading open source foundation in the technology sector. Technically, the website is built on a modern and performant stack including jQuery, Bootstrap, and Matomo analytics, hosted likely on AWS infrastructure. The site is mobile optimized, accessible, and SEO friendly, with fast loading times and clear navigation. Security best practices are observed with HTTPS enforced and privacy-conscious analytics configuration. However, DNSSEC is not enabled and some security headers are missing, representing areas for improvement. From a security perspective, the ASF website demonstrates a strong posture with no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. The domain registration is consistent and trustworthy, with protective domain status flags and a long registration history. The site lacks a formal security policy page and a security.txt file, but provides a vulnerability disclosure page and contact channels for incident reporting. Privacy compliance is good with a comprehensive privacy policy, though no cookie consent mechanism is present. Overall, the ASF website is a professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained digital presence that effectively supports its mission and community. Strategic recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, adding security headers, publishing a formal security policy, and implementing cookie consent to enhance privacy compliance and security posture.

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. 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.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  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"

  3. 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

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

Keep watching apache.org

This scan found 20 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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Recommended

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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
0
Security headers
45
Email security
70
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
59

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 Apache Software Foundation holds a dominant position in the open source software ecosystem, leveraging a community-driven governance model to support a vast portfolio of projects. Its non-profit status and long history contribute to strong brand trust and credibility. Revenue streams primarily come from corporate sponsorships and individual donations, as indicated by sponsor logos and donation links. The target audience includes open source developers, enterprises relying on ASF projects, and technology communities globally. The ASF's partnership ecosystem includes major technology companies such as Amazon, Apple, Visa, Huawei, and others, reflecting broad industry support. Growth indicators include active event promotion, recent blog posts, and a robust incubator program for new projects. The foundation's operations emphasize transparency, community engagement, and sustainability of open source software.

Security posture

The ASF website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and domain registration protections in place. The use of Matomo analytics configured to disable cookies reflects privacy-conscious practices. However, the absence of DNSSEC and certain security headers (e.g., Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options) are notable gaps. The site does not expose sensitive data or vulnerable libraries, and forms appear secure though limited in number. Incident response readiness is partially evidenced by a vulnerability disclosure page and security contact channels, but lacks a formal security policy and security.txt file. Compliance with GDPR is supported by a comprehensive privacy policy. Overall, the security culture appears strong but could benefit from formalizing policies and enhancing technical controls.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Publish a formal security policy and incident response plan accessible on the website.
  4. Add a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability reporting and improve transparency.
  5. Introduce a cookie consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and enhance user trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Apache Software Foundation
Description
The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) provides software for the public good, guided by community over code. It hosts over 290 open source projects and has a large global community of contributors and members.
Key services
Open source project hosting, Community support and governance, Software releases and distributions, Events and conferences, Incubation of new projects
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Bootstrap, Matomo Analytics, Pagefind Search
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No cookies used in analytics (Matomo configured with disableCookies)
  • Domain status includes clientDeleteProhibited and clientTransferProhibited
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well maintained.
  2. Strong emphasis on community and open source projects.
  3. No signs of phishing, malware, or suspicious content.
  4. Active event promotion and recent blog posts indicate ongoing activity.
  5. No explicit cookie consent mechanism despite use of analytics.
  6. No visible phone numbers or email addresses on main page; contact via forms.
  7. Social media presence is strong with official accounts linked.
  8. No security.txt file found for vulnerability disclosure.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a stable and modern technology stack including jQuery and Bootstrap, ensuring responsive design and good user experience. Hosting appears to be on AWS infrastructure, providing scalability and reliability. Performance is fast with optimized assets and minimal blocking scripts. SEO is well addressed with proper meta tags and structured navigation. Accessibility features are present, supporting a broad user base. The site uses Matomo analytics configured to respect user privacy by disabling cookies. Technical risks are minimal, though the lack of DNSSEC and some security headers represent potential vulnerabilities. The site is custom-built rather than using a common CMS, reducing attack surface related to CMS vulnerabilities. Overall, the technical implementation supports the foundation's mission effectively with room for incremental security improvements.
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. 73/100 −2Medium27 findingsView report
  2. 75/100Medium24 findingsView report
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