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Security report for bitsoffreedom.nl

Bits of Freedom · Non-profit · Netherlands

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Bits of Freedom is a well-established Dutch non-profit organization dedicated to advocating for internet freedom, privacy, and digital rights. The organization actively engages in legal actions against major technology companies, public campaigns, and educational efforts to protect online communication freedoms. Their website reflects a professional and consistent brand presence, targeting a general audience interested in digital rights and internet freedom. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern plugins and frameworks, offering good performance and mobile optimization. Security posture is strong with HTTPS and security headers, though explicit security policies and incident response contacts are absent. Overall, the domain registration and WHOIS data align with the organization's claims, supporting legitimacy and trustworthiness.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
33/ 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

4 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.

    • Critical

      EU business without adequate privacy measures

      EU businesses are subject to strict GDPR requirements

      What to do: Implement comprehensive GDPR compliance including privacy policy, cookie consent, and data protection measures

    • 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

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Keep watching bitsoffreedom.nl

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.

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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
65
Security headers
80
Email security
75
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
33
Average
71

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

Bits of Freedom holds a strong market position as a leading digital rights NGO in the Netherlands, with a history dating back to 1998. Their business model relies on donations and public support, facilitated through an integrated donor platform. The organization maintains partnerships with related advocacy sites and campaigns, enhancing their ecosystem. Their content strategy includes legal updates, podcasts, and campaigns, which supports community engagement and growth. The website's clear navigation and professional design contribute to a positive user experience and effective communication of their mission.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, presence of key security headers, and secure form handling. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. However, the absence of a dedicated security policy page, incident response contact channels, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms indicates room for improvement in transparency and readiness. The use of Matomo analytics respects privacy better than many alternatives, aligning with their advocacy mission. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be enhanced by formalizing policies and communication channels.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a clear cookie consent mechanism to comply fully with privacy regulations.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and commitments.
  3. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Provide explicit incident response contact channels such as security@ or abuse@ emails.
  5. Consider publishing data protection officer contact information to enhance GDPR compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Bits of Freedom
Description
Bits of Freedom komt op voor internetvrijheid door de online grondrechten op communicatievrijheid en privacy te beschermen.
Key services
Advocacy for internet freedom, Legal actions against big tech, Public campaigns, Educational content, Donor engagement
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, WooCommerce, jQuery, Easy Video Player, MailPoet, LazySizes, Foundation Sites
Frameworks
Foundation
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security headers
  • Secure forms with validation

Analytics and tracking

Services
Matomo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Matomo (piwik.js)
Marketing tools
MailPoet
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional non-profit advocacy organization focused on digital rights
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and updated with recent legal cases
  3. Strong social media and community engagement
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity
  5. Good security posture with room for improvement in explicit security policies
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by WordPress CMS with WooCommerce for e-commerce capabilities and uses modern JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and Plyr for media playback. The Foundation framework is used for responsive design, ensuring good mobile optimization. Performance is moderate with lazy loading implemented for images. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and Open Graph data. The site uses Matomo for analytics, reflecting a privacy-conscious approach. Hosting provider details are not explicit in the HTML. Overall, the technical infrastructure is modern and well-maintained, supporting the organization's digital presence effectively.
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. 61/100Medium20 findings · partial scanView report
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