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Security report for buddypress.org

DNStination Inc. · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

66/100

Risk levelMedium

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

BuddyPress.org is a mature open source community platform that integrates tightly with the WordPress ecosystem, offering features such as user profiles, groups, activity streams, notifications, friendships, and private messaging. It targets a broad audience including creators, small businesses, enterprises, and governments, positioning itself as a leading community software solution. The website is professionally designed, content-rich, and well-structured, providing a positive user experience and clear navigation. Technically, it is built on WordPress with BuddyPress and bbPress plugins, leveraging modern web technologies and JavaScript libraries like jQuery. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices in place. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and domain registration protections, though improvements can be made by enabling DNSSEC and adding security headers. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but lacking a cookie consent mechanism. Contact information is limited to a contact form, with no direct emails or phone numbers published. Overall, the site is trustworthy and credible, with a strong community focus and active support forums.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of buddypress.org. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

6 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 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

  3. 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 Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1

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

Keep watching buddypress.org

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.

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

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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
37
Security headers
30
Email security
85
DNS health
90
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
66

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

BuddyPress.org operates within the technology sector as an important entity providing open source community platform software. Its business model revolves around software distribution and community engagement rather than direct sales. The project benefits from strong partnerships with WordPress.org and bbPress.org, enhancing its ecosystem reach. The target customers range from individual creators to large enterprises and government entities, indicating a versatile market approach. The site demonstrates consistent branding and high content quality, supported by GPL licensing and active developer resources. Growth indicators include frequent forum activity and ongoing software releases. The absence of direct contact emails suggests a community-driven support model rather than traditional corporate sales channels.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS, ensuring encrypted communications. Domain registration includes protective statuses preventing unauthorized transfers or deletions, enhancing domain security. However, the absence of DNSSEC leaves the domain vulnerable to DNS spoofing attacks. No explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options were detected, which could mitigate certain web-based attacks. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found in the HTML content. The lack of a published security policy or incident response contacts limits transparency in security management. Overall, the security posture is good but could be improved by adopting additional best practices and publishing clear security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to strengthen DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement and publish a comprehensive security policy including incident response procedures and contact channels.
  3. Add standard security headers (Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options) to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  4. Introduce a cookie consent mechanism to comply with GDPR and improve privacy compliance.
  5. Publish direct contact information for security incidents to improve trust and responsiveness.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
DNStination Inc.
Description
Fun & flexible software for online communities, teams, and groups
Key services
Community platform software, User profiles, Groups, Activity streams, Notifications, Friendships, Private messaging
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, PHP, jQuery, bbPress, BuddyPress plugin
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Domain status includes clientDeleteProhibited, clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-established open source community platform site
  2. Content is rich and professionally presented
  3. No signs of blocking or WAF interference
  4. No explicit privacy cookie consent mechanism found
  5. WHOIS data supports legitimacy and long-term operation
  6. Uses WordPress CMS with BuddyPress and bbPress plugins
  7. Active community support forums present
  8. No direct company contact emails or phone numbers found, only contact form
  9. Social media presence includes X (Twitter) link
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform using BuddyPress and bbPress plugins, indicating a mature and widely supported technology stack. JavaScript libraries such as jQuery are used for interactivity. The site loads external resources from trusted domains including WordPress.org and Google Tag Manager. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. The site uses canonical URLs and meta tags for SEO optimization. Hosting details are not explicitly stated but domain registration is managed by MarkMonitor Inc., a reputable registrar. The site does not use DNSSEC, which is a technical gap. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid with room for modernization in security headers and privacy mechanisms.
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. 70/100 +4Medium27 findingsView report
  2. 66/100 −2Medium29 findingsView report
  3. 68/100Medium24 findingsView report
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