Skip to main content

Security report for apertis.org

Collabora Limited · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

58/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Apertis is an open source GNU/Linux distribution and infrastructure platform primarily targeting automotive and embedded device markets. It is developed and maintained by Collabora Limited, a reputable company in the open source ecosystem. Apertis emphasizes security, modularity, and production readiness, offering extensive software management, testing frameworks, and resilient upgrade capabilities. The platform also provides tools and cloud services to optimize development and reliability. The website reflects a mature and professional project with frequent releases and commercial support options. Technically, the website is built using modern web technologies including Hugo static site generator, Bootstrap, jQuery, and FontAwesome. It is well-structured, mobile-optimized, and SEO-friendly. The site uses HTTPS exclusively, indicating good baseline security. However, some security best practices such as explicit security headers and cookie consent mechanisms are not evident. The WHOIS data is unavailable due to privacy protection, but the domain appears legitimate and consistent with the business identity. Security posture is solid with no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. The absence of a published security policy or vulnerability disclosure page is a minor gap. Contact information is limited to an email address, with no phone numbers or incident response contacts. Privacy compliance is good with a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of use clearly linked. No advertising or tracking beyond minimal service monitoring is present, supporting user privacy. Overall, Apertis presents a trustworthy and professional open source platform with strong technical foundations and a clear focus on security and modularity. Strategic improvements in security headers, cookie consent, and incident response transparency would further enhance trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 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. 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 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 apertis.org

This scan found 23 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.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
85
Security headers
25
Email security
70
DNS health
70
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
58
Average
58

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

Apertis operates in the niche market of open source operating systems and infrastructure for automotive and embedded devices. Its competitive advantage lies in its focus on security, modularity, and production readiness, supported by a strong testing framework and commercial support offerings. The business model combines open source distribution with paid support services, targeting developers, OEMs, and integrators in transportation and technology sectors. Frequent releases aligned with Debian and Linux kernel LTS versions indicate a commitment to stability and innovation. The partnership ecosystem includes public repositories and issue tracking on GitLab, but no explicit external business partners are listed. Growth indicators include ongoing releases up to 2025 and active community engagement. The company behind Apertis, Collabora Limited, is well-known in open source circles, lending credibility and stability to the project.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and no visible exposure of sensitive information. The use of automated and manual testing frameworks for the platform itself indicates a strong internal security culture. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and lack of a published vulnerability disclosure or incident response policy are areas for improvement. No security certifications or compliance frameworks are mentioned. Privacy policy is comprehensive and GDPR compliant, but cookie consent mechanisms are missing. Incident response contact channels are not provided, which could delay handling of security issues. Overall, the security posture is good but could be enhanced by formalizing security policies and improving transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  2. Add a clear cookie policy and consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and enhance user trust.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy and vulnerability disclosure page with contact information for incident reporting.
  4. Provide incident response contact channels such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses to facilitate timely communication.
  5. Consider obtaining and displaying relevant security certifications or compliance attestations to strengthen trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Collabora Limited
Description
Apertis is a versatile Open Source GNU/Linux distribution, based on Debian, and a feature-rich infrastructure. Originally tailored to automotive use cases, it has grown to be a fit for a wide variety of electronic devices with security and modularity as two of its primary strengths. Apertis provides extensive software management (from source code to signed binary packages in repositories), a complete testing framework including hardware-in-loop, and resilient upgrade capabilities. Beyond an operating system, it offers tools and cloud services to optimise development and increase reliability.
Key services
Open Source GNU/Linux distribution, Software management and packaging, Testing framework including hardware-in-loop, Resilient upgrade capabilities, Tools and cloud services for development optimization, Commercial support
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
GNU/Linux, Debian, Bootstrap 3.3.7, jQuery, FontAwesome, KaTeX, Fuse.js, Mark.js
Frameworks
Hugo static site generator
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced (implied by https URLs)
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
UptimeRobot (for service status monitoring)
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is comprehensive, well-structured, and professionally presented.
  3. Strong focus on open source software for automotive and embedded systems.
  4. No explicit cookie policy or consent mechanism found.
  5. WHOIS data is unavailable or malformed, likely due to privacy protection.
  6. No direct contact phone numbers found; only email contact present.
  7. No social media links detected on the site.
  8. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page found.
  9. Use of modern web technologies and frameworks.
  10. No advertising or tracking scripts detected beyond service monitoring.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern and robust technical stack featuring the Hugo static site generator, Bootstrap 3.3.7 for responsive design, jQuery for scripting, and FontAwesome for icons. It uses CDN-hosted libraries for performance and reliability. The site is mobile-optimized with good accessibility and SEO practices evident in meta tags and structured navigation. Performance is moderate, likely due to multiple external resources but remains acceptable. No CMS vulnerabilities or outdated libraries are detected. The site lacks explicit hosting provider information. Technical debt appears low with a clean and well-maintained codebase. Opportunities exist to improve security headers and implement cookie consent scripts to modernize compliance and security posture.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with apertis.org. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review apertis.org.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.