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Security report for bitlbee.org

BitlBee · Technology · N/a

High risk. 8 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

49/100

Risk levelHigh

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

BitlBee is an open-source software project that integrates multiple instant messaging protocols into IRC clients, enabling users to manage diverse chat networks through a single IRC interface. The project supports protocols such as XMPP/Jabber, Twitter, and via plugins, Facebook, Discord, Steam, and Mastodon. It targets users who prefer IRC clients and seek to consolidate their messaging platforms without running multiple clients. The project is community-driven with active development visible through GitHub commits and changelogs. Technically, the website is straightforward, built with basic HTML and CSS, linking to GitHub repositories and wikis for documentation. The site lacks advanced frameworks or CMS and shows moderate performance and basic mobile optimization. No analytics or tracking scripts are detected, indicating a privacy-conscious approach. However, the site lacks privacy and cookie policies, security headers, and explicit contact information, which are areas for improvement. From a security perspective, the project demonstrates awareness by publishing security advisories and encouraging upgrades for vulnerability fixes. However, the website itself lacks modern security headers and formalized incident response or vulnerability disclosure information. The WHOIS data is malformed or unavailable, which limits domain legitimacy verification, but the active development and community presence support the project's authenticity. Overall, BitlBee presents a niche, technically competent open-source project with room to enhance its web security posture, privacy compliance, and contact transparency to improve trust and user confidence.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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

8 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  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"

    • 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';…

  3. 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 bitlbee.org

This scan found 26 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.

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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
65
Security headers
25
Email security
60
DNS health
70
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
35
Average
49

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

BitlBee occupies a niche market segment focused on bridging instant messaging protocols with IRC clients, appealing to technically savvy users and open-source enthusiasts. Its business model is community-driven, relying on contributions and public server offerings rather than commercial revenue. The project maintains a strong presence on GitHub and related community platforms, facilitating collaboration and transparency. The lack of formal business contact details and privacy policies suggests a primarily volunteer or hobbyist operation rather than a commercial enterprise. Growth indicators include recent commits and active changelogs. The ecosystem includes related plugins and integrations, expanding protocol support. Strategic observations highlight the importance of improving website security and compliance to support broader adoption and trust.

Security posture

The security posture of the BitlBee website is moderate. While the project actively addresses security issues in its software releases and publishes advisories, the website itself lacks critical security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options. There is no visible privacy policy or cookie consent mechanism, which may expose compliance gaps with GDPR and other regulations. Incident response and vulnerability disclosure information are absent, limiting transparency for security researchers and users. The malformed WHOIS data reduces confidence in domain legitimacy verification. No active vulnerabilities or malware indicators are detected on the site. Overall, the security culture appears focused on software security but less mature in web security and compliance practices.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy on the website to improve compliance and user trust.
  2. Implement standard security headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options) to enhance web security posture.
  3. Provide clear contact information for security incidents and vulnerability disclosures, including dedicated security email addresses.
  4. Improve mobile optimization and accessibility to enhance user experience across devices.
  5. Regularly monitor and update WHOIS information to ensure domain registration transparency and legitimacy.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
BitlBee
Description
BitlBee is a software solution that integrates instant messaging protocols into IRC clients, allowing users to manage multiple IM accounts through IRC. It supports protocols like XMPP/Jabber, Twitter, and via plugins, Facebook, Discord, Steam, Mastodon, and more.
Key services
IM integration into IRC clients, Support for multiple IM protocols, Public BitlBee servers, Plugins for extended protocol support
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML, CSS, GitHub for source control, IRC protocol, libpurple plugins
Platforms
IRC clients, Linux/Unix-like OS (implied)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
65/100
Good practices seen
  • Security advisories published
  • Encouragement to upgrade for security fixes

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF detected.
  2. No privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found on the site.
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly provided on the analyzed page.
  4. Content is technical and focused on software releases, changelogs, and usage instructions.
  5. External links mostly point to GitHub, wiki, bug tracker, and related project resources.
  6. No analytics or tracking scripts detected in the HTML content.
  7. No forms or data collection mechanisms present on the analyzed page.
  8. No social media links explicitly found on this page except GitHub links.
  9. Logo image found at /style/logo.png with alt text 'BitlBee Logo'.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built with basic HTML and CSS without advanced frameworks or CMS. It links extensively to GitHub for source code and documentation, indicating a decentralized content strategy. The site lacks analytics and tracking scripts, reflecting a privacy-conscious design. Performance is moderate with no evident optimizations for mobile or accessibility beyond basic standards. The absence of security headers and privacy policies indicates technical debt in security and compliance areas. The WHOIS data is malformed, suggesting potential issues with domain registration or data retrieval. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the project's open-source nature but would benefit from modernization and enhanced security controls.
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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