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Security report for aus.social

Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0152436388 · Technology · Canada

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

76/100

Risk levelLow

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

Aus.Social operates as an independent Mastodon instance branded as 'thundertoot', providing a federated social networking platform within the fediverse. It targets general users interested in decentralized social media without ads or algorithms. The platform leverages the open-source Mastodon software, currently running version 4.5.0-alpha.1, and employs modern web technologies including React and JavaScript ES modules. Hosting and CDN services are provided via bunny.net, ensuring fast content delivery and good mobile optimization. The website design is professional and consistent with Mastodon's branding, offering clear navigation and user-friendly experience.

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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

  2. 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.

    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching aus.social

This scan found 18 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

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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
75
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
76

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 business model centers on providing a free, open social network service as part of the federated Mastodon ecosystem. It serves a niche audience seeking privacy-respecting social media alternatives. The domain is privacy protected, which is common for social platforms to safeguard registrant identity. The site shows moderate active user engagement (~2.2K active users). There is no evidence of monetization through advertising or affiliate programs. The platform maintains transparency by linking to Mastodon's official site and source code repository, reinforcing trust within the open-source community.

Security posture

Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enforced and domain transfer/update protections enabled. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers reduces defense-in-depth. No explicit security policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are published, which could hinder trust and responsiveness to security incidents. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. Overall, the security maturity is moderate but could be improved by adopting standard security headers, publishing security policies, and enabling DNSSEC.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to improve DNS integrity and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Publish explicit security and incident response policies including contact channels for abuse or security issues.
  4. Add cookie consent mechanisms to comply with GDPR and enhance privacy transparency.
  5. Provide clear contact information to improve business credibility and user trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0152436388
Description
Aus.Social is a Mastodon instance branded as 'thundertoot', an independent Mastodon server for the fediverse community.
Key services
Mastodon social networking, User profiles directory, Trending and live feeds
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Mastodon 4.5.0-alpha.1, React, JavaScript ES modules, SVG icons, WebSockets (wss)
Frameworks
Mastodon, React
Platforms
Fediverse
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Client transfer and update prohibited domain status

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
moderate

Key observations

  1. Website is a Mastodon social network instance named Aus.Social.
  2. Content is accessible and not blocked by WAF or security mechanisms.
  3. No explicit privacy or cookie consent banners found, though privacy policy is present.
  4. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly provided on the page.
  5. Uses modern JavaScript modules and React framework.
  6. Domain uses privacy protection service and is registered with Tucows Domains Inc.
  7. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy.
  8. No advertising or tracking scripts detected.
  9. Website content is safe and suitable for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern tech stack with React and ES modules, leveraging Mastodon's open-source platform. The use of bunny.net for CDN and DNS suggests a reliable hosting infrastructure. Performance is optimized with module preloading and efficient asset delivery. Accessibility is basic but functional. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and Open Graph data. No CMS detected, as Mastodon is a custom platform. The site is mobile optimized and uses SVG icons for scalability. Technical debt appears low, but security enhancements are recommended.
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

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