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Security report for cpan.org

The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

64/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) is a well-established open source repository hosting over 222,000 Perl modules authored by more than 14,000 contributors. It serves as a critical resource for the Perl programming community worldwide, providing module distribution, search capabilities via metacpan.org, and mirrored content across global servers. The website reflects a mature, content-rich platform with a focus on technical resources rather than commercial services. Technically, the site employs standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript, with Google Analytics for visitor tracking. Hosting is provided by reputable providers NetActuate and Fastly, ensuring reliable content delivery. The site is moderately optimized for performance and mobile use but could improve accessibility and modern web standards compliance. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS and includes basic security practices but lacks explicit security headers and published security policies. The absence of privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms indicates partial privacy compliance. WHOIS data is unavailable, limiting domain registration trust verification, though the site's long history and hosting partners support legitimacy. Overall, CPAN is a trusted, authoritative platform for Perl developers with good content quality and business credibility. Enhancements in privacy compliance, security transparency, and technical modernization would further strengthen its posture and user trust.

Scanned

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

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

7 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 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';…

  2. 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

    • 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

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

Keep watching cpan.org

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

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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
85
Security headers
30
Email security
53
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
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

CPAN occupies a unique niche as the primary open source Perl module archive, giving it a dominant market position within the Perl developer ecosystem. Its business model is non-commercial, focusing on community-driven software distribution and resource sharing. The platform benefits from a large, active contributor base and global mirror network, ensuring high availability and broad reach. Revenue streams are not evident, consistent with its open source nature. Partnerships with hosting providers like NetActuate and Fastly enhance infrastructure reliability. Growth indicators include continuous module uploads and active community engagement. Strategic observations suggest opportunities to improve user engagement through enhanced privacy and security transparency.

Security posture

CPAN demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and minimal exposure of sensitive data. However, the lack of security headers, incident response contacts, and published security policies indicates gaps in formal security governance. The use of Google Analytics without visible cookie consent raises privacy compliance concerns under GDPR. No vulnerabilities or malware indicators were detected in the content. The absence of WHOIS data reduces domain trustworthiness from a registration perspective. Overall, CPAN would benefit from adopting recognized security frameworks, publishing incident response procedures, and enhancing privacy compliance to mitigate risks and improve user trust.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with explicit user consent mechanisms to comply with GDPR and other regulations.
  2. Publish a formal security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, and X-Frame-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  4. Improve mobile responsiveness and accessibility to broaden user reach and comply with accessibility standards.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to ensure no vulnerable libraries are included.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network
Description
CPAN is a large archive of open source Perl modules, distributions, and resources, serving the Perl programming community since 1995. It hosts over 222,455 Perl modules by 14,616 authors, mirrored globally.
Key services
Hosting Perl modules, Providing module search via metacpan.org, Mirroring Perl source and ports
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, Google Analytics (gtag.js)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS usage implied by canonical link (https://www.cpan.org/index.html)
  • No visible forms collecting sensitive data except search form

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is focused on Perl programming and open source modules.
  3. No privacy or cookie policy explicitly found, only a disclaimer page.
  4. No phone numbers or physical addresses found.
  5. Only one contact email found in meta author link.
  6. No social media links detected.
  7. No security policy or incident response information published.
  8. Google Analytics is used for tracking without visible cookie consent.
  9. Website design is functional but basic in mobile optimization and accessibility.
  10. WHOIS data is unavailable, limiting domain registration trust analysis.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a straightforward technology stack with static HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, supplemented by Google Analytics for tracking. Hosting is via NetActuate and Fastly CDN, providing reliable and performant content delivery. The site lacks a modern CMS or advanced frameworks, which limits dynamic capabilities but reduces complexity and attack surface. Performance is moderate with room for improvement in mobile optimization and accessibility. The absence of security headers and limited privacy controls represent technical debt and modernization opportunities. Overall, the infrastructure is stable but could benefit from adopting modern web standards and security best practices.
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. 62/100 −2Medium33 findingsView report
  2. 64/100Medium31 findingsView report
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