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Security report for chaos.social

chaos.social e.V. · Technology · Germany

Medium risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view.

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

chaos.social is a community-driven Mastodon instance operated by chaos.social e.V., a German non-profit organization founded in 2017. The platform serves as a social networking hub within the Fediverse, targeting users interested in decentralized social media and the Chaos community. The website offers features typical of Mastodon instances, including public timelines, user profiles, and explore functionalities. The business model is non-commercial and community-focused, emphasizing open-source principles and federated social networking. Technically, the site runs Mastodon version 4.3.9, leveraging modern web technologies such as JavaScript, SVG, and WebSockets for real-time updates. The infrastructure appears moderately performant with good mobile optimization and basic accessibility features. Hosting is likely self-managed or via a VPS, with domain registration handled by INWX GmbH in Germany. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and has domain transfer protections but lacks DNSSEC and common security headers like CSP or HSTS. No cookie consent mechanism or detailed privacy compliance features are present, which could be improved to meet GDPR standards better. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies are published, indicating room for maturity in security governance. Overall, chaos.social presents a trustworthy and legitimate platform with consistent domain registration and community alignment. Strategic improvements in security headers, privacy compliance, and transparency policies would enhance its security posture and user trust.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of chaos.social. 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

2 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

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Keep watching chaos.social

This scan found 19 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
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  • 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
95
Security headers
85
Email security
65
DNS health
80
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
53
Average
70

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

chaos.social operates as an independent Mastodon server within the decentralized Fediverse ecosystem, targeting technology-savvy users and members of the Chaos community. Its non-profit status and community orientation differentiate it from commercial social networks. The platform's competitive advantage lies in its open-source foundation, community governance, and alignment with privacy-conscious users. Revenue streams are likely minimal or donation-based, focusing on sustaining infrastructure costs. The user base is medium-sized with approximately 6,000 active users monthly, indicating a stable community presence. Partnerships or subsidiaries are not evident, reflecting a focused operational scope. Growth indicators include active user engagement and continuous platform updates. The ecosystem includes links to Mastodon.org and GitHub, reinforcing open-source collaboration.

Security posture

The security maturity of chaos.social is moderate. HTTPS is enforced, and domain registration includes clientTransferProhibited status, reducing domain hijacking risks. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options weakens defense-in-depth. No explicit security or incident response policies are published, limiting transparency and preparedness communication. The lack of a cookie consent mechanism and GDPR compliance indicators suggests potential compliance gaps. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the analyzed content. Overall, the platform demonstrates basic security hygiene but would benefit from enhanced security controls and formalized policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers including CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism to enhance GDPR compliance.
  4. Develop and publish a security policy and incident response plan accessible to users.
  5. Consider adding a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
chaos.social e.V.
Description
chaos.social – a Fediverse instance for & by the Chaos community
Key services
Mastodon social networking, Fediverse participation, User profile directory, Public timelines and explore features
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Mastodon 4.3.9, Ruby on Rails (implied by Mastodon), JavaScript, SVG, CSS, WebSockets (wss://chaos.social)
Frameworks
Mastodon
Platforms
Fediverse
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited

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
high

Key observations

  1. Website is a Mastodon social network instance for the Chaos community
  2. Content is publicly accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges
  3. No cookie consent mechanism detected despite GDPR relevance
  4. Privacy policy is present but basic, no terms of service found
  5. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers visible on the page
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy found
  7. Site uses modern Mastodon platform version 4.3.9
  8. No advertising or tracking services detected
  9. Good domain registration legitimacy and consistency
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Mastodon 4.3.9, a mature open-source federated social networking platform. The tech stack includes modern JavaScript, CSS, and SVG assets, with WebSocket support for real-time features. The site is mobile-optimized and provides a good user experience with clear navigation and branding consistency. Hosting details are limited but the domain registrar is INWX GmbH, a reputable German registrar. Performance is moderate, with no major issues detected. SEO is basic but sufficient for the platform's community focus. Accessibility features are present but could be improved. The absence of advanced analytics or tracking tools aligns with privacy-conscious design. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but could benefit from enhanced security configurations and privacy features.
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. 73/100Medium24 findingsView report
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