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Security report for archive.is

Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

67/100

Risk levelMedium

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

archive.is is a web archiving service established in 2012, providing users with the ability to capture and preserve snapshots of web pages permanently. The service targets general internet users, researchers, journalists, and archivists seeking to maintain historical records of web content. The website currently presents a CAPTCHA security check page, indicating the presence of a Web Application Firewall or bot mitigation mechanism that restricts direct access to the main content. This limits the ability to fully analyze the website's content and business details. Technically, the site uses standard HTML5 and JavaScript technologies, including Google reCAPTCHA v2 for security. The domain is hosted by Hetzner Online GmbH and uses multiple related archive domains as name servers, which supports its legitimacy. However, the absence of privacy policies, contact information, and security headers reduces the overall trust and compliance posture. The domain registration data is consistent with a legitimate long-standing service, but the lack of detailed registrant information is noted. Overall, the website's security posture is moderate due to HTTPS and CAPTCHA usage but lacks advanced security headers and policies. The content quality and business credibility are limited due to the blocking mechanism and minimal visible information.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of archive.is. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
50/ 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

7 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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • 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 Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • 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

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

Keep watching archive.is

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
75
Security headers
20
Email security
70
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
Average
67

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 archive.is, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
494
Employees
0
Customers
453
Third parties
41
Weak passwords
32%

5 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 archive.is.

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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

archive.is operates in the technology sector as a niche web archiving service. Its business model appears to be a free service aimed at preserving web content for public access. The service has a moderate market position as an alternative to other archiving platforms. The target audience includes researchers, journalists, and general users interested in web preservation. The domain's age and related domains indicate a stable presence in the market. However, the lack of disclosed business information, contact details, and policies limits transparency and may impact user trust. There is no evidence of monetization through advertising or affiliate programs. The partnership ecosystem includes related archive domains used as name servers, suggesting a network of similar services. Growth indicators and revenue streams are not discernible from the current content.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS and Google reCAPTCHA v2 to mitigate automated access and bots, which are positive security measures. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options indicates gaps in defense-in-depth strategies. The CAPTCHA challenge page restricts access, which may protect against abuse but also limits user experience and transparency. No incident response or security policy information is available, and no vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files are found. The domain registration is consistent and long-standing, supporting legitimacy. Overall, the security maturity is moderate but could be improved by implementing additional security headers, enabling DNSSEC, and providing clear security policies and incident response contacts.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement essential security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to protect against common web attacks.
  3. Publish privacy, cookie, and terms of service policies to improve compliance and user trust.
  4. Provide clear contact information including security incident response contacts to enhance transparency and readiness.
  5. Review and improve CAPTCHA integration to balance security with user accessibility and experience.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Generic detected. The website content is a security check page with CAPTCHA challenge indicating a WAF or bot mitigation mechanism is active, blocking direct access to normal content. These observations may be incomplete. For a fuller analysis, contact guard@offseq.com.

Business

Description
archive.is is a web archiving service that allows users to take snapshots of web pages and preserve them permanently.
Key services
web page snapshot archiving, permanent URL generation for archived pages
Content quality
basic
Branding
moderate

Technology

Stack
HTML5, JavaScript, Google reCAPTCHA v2
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
poor

Security

Observed score
55/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA v2 for bot mitigation

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

Design
basic
User experience
basic
Content relevance
basic
Navigation
poor
Professionalism
basic
Trustworthiness
moderate

Key observations

  1. Website is currently behind a CAPTCHA security check page, limiting content accessibility.
  2. No privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies are found on the page.
  3. No contact information or business details are disclosed on the page.
  4. Use of Google reCAPTCHA v2 indicates bot mitigation but no advanced security headers detected.
  5. WHOIS data shows a long-standing domain with consistent related domains.
  6. Website content is minimal and focused on security check rather than business information.
  7. No analytics or advertising scripts detected beyond CAPTCHA related scripts.
  8. No social media or external contact links found in the HTML content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a basic technology stack with HTML5, JavaScript, and Google reCAPTCHA v2. Hosting is provided by Hetzner Online GmbH, a reputable provider. The site lacks a CMS or advanced frameworks, indicating a lightweight or custom-built platform. Performance is moderate with no explicit indicators of optimization or degradation. Mobile optimization and accessibility are basic, with no advanced features detected. SEO optimization is poor due to minimal meta tags and lack of structured data. The presence of multiple related archive domains as name servers suggests a distributed infrastructure for redundancy. The CAPTCHA challenge page indicates active bot mitigation but also introduces friction for legitimate users. There is an opportunity to modernize the technical implementation by adopting modern frameworks, improving SEO, and enhancing accessibility.
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. 67/100 +4Medium28 findingsView report
  2. 63/100Medium31 findingsView report
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