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Security report for cosocial.ca

CoSocial Community Cooperative · Technology · Canada

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

Security score

64/100

Risk levelMedium

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

CoSocial is a cooperative social media platform operating a Mastodon instance primarily targeting Canadian users. Founded in 2022, it offers decentralized social networking services with a focus on community and privacy. The platform leverages the open-source Mastodon software and is hosted on DigitalOcean, providing a modern and federated social media experience. The website content is user-generated posts typical of Mastodon instances, with no adult or explicit content detected. The platform positions itself as a community-driven alternative to mainstream social media, emphasizing cooperative governance and Canadian user engagement. Technically, the site uses modern JavaScript frameworks and maintains a moderate performance profile with good mobile optimization. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enabled and domain transfer protection, but lacks DNSSEC and security headers, which are recommended for improvement. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism or terms of service clearly found. Contact information and incident response details are not explicitly provided, which could impact user trust and compliance. Overall, CoSocial presents a trustworthy and community-focused social media platform with room for enhancement in security and privacy transparency.

Scanned

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

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 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 cosocial.ca

This scan found 22 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
72
Security headers
75
Email security
65
DNS health
80
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
53
Average
64

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

CoSocial operates as a small cooperative entity in the technology sector, specifically within decentralized social media. Its market position is niche, serving Canadian users seeking alternatives to centralized platforms. The cooperative business model suggests member-driven governance and community focus. Revenue streams are likely based on cooperative membership fees or donations rather than advertising, as no ad networks or tracking tools were detected. The platform benefits from the Mastodon ecosystem, enabling federation with other instances and expanding its reach. Partnerships or subsidiaries are not evident from the data. Growth indicators include active user statistics and ongoing content activity. Strategic observations highlight the importance of enhancing privacy compliance and security posture to strengthen user trust and regulatory alignment.

Security posture

The security maturity of CoSocial is moderate. HTTPS is properly implemented, and domain registration includes clientTransferProhibited status, reducing risk of unauthorized transfers. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, which could expose the domain to DNS spoofing attacks. The absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and others reduces protection against common web vulnerabilities. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided content. The lack of a published security policy or incident response contacts limits transparency and preparedness for security incidents. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent or terms of service. Recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, adding security headers, publishing security and incident response policies, and implementing cookie consent mechanisms to improve compliance and security culture.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Publish a comprehensive security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  4. Add a cookie policy and consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations like GDPR.
  5. Enhance contact information availability to improve user trust and support.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
CoSocial Community Cooperative
Description
A co-op run social media server for all Canadians. More info at https://blog.cosocial.ca
Key services
Mastodon social media hosting, Federated social networking
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Mastodon 4.3.7, JavaScript, React, DigitalOcean hosting
Frameworks
Mastodon
Platforms
Fediverse
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • 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 instance focused on Canadian users.
  2. Content is user-generated social media posts with no adult or suspicious content.
  3. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found on the explore page.
  4. Privacy policy is present but cookie policy and terms of service are not clearly found.
  5. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page detected.
  6. Uses DigitalOcean for hosting with standard Mastodon tech stack.
  7. No advertising or tracking scripts detected in the provided HTML.
  8. No security headers detected in the HTML content; DNSSEC not enabled.
  9. WHOIS data shows privacy protection but domain age and status are consistent with legitimate use.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Mastodon platform version 4.3.7, utilizing modern JavaScript and React frameworks. Hosting is provided by DigitalOcean, a reputable cloud provider. The site includes multiple favicon sizes and Apple touch icons, indicating attention to cross-device compatibility. Performance is moderate, with preloading of locale scripts and chunked JavaScript for efficient loading. Accessibility features are basic but present, including ARIA labels and keyboard navigability. SEO optimization is basic, with meta tags and Open Graph tags properly configured. No CMS beyond Mastodon is detected. No advertising or tracking scripts are present, indicating a privacy-conscious approach. Technical risks include missing DNSSEC and security headers, which should be addressed to reduce attack surface and improve security posture.
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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