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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

62/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) is a well-established and authoritative platform hosting a vast collection of Perl modules and distributions. It serves a global community of Perl developers by providing access to over 222,000 modules authored by more than 14,000 contributors. The website is designed primarily as an archive and distribution point, with a focus on technical content and community resources. It is hosted by reputable providers and has been operational since 1995, indicating a strong market position within the Perl programming ecosystem. From a technical perspective, the website employs standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and integrates Google Analytics for user tracking. The site is moderately optimized for performance and mobile use, with basic accessibility features. Security practices are adequate but could be improved by implementing security headers, publishing a security policy, and adding a cookie consent mechanism. The absence of WHOIS data limits transparency but does not detract significantly from the site's legitimacy given its long history and hosting arrangements. Security posture is moderate; HTTPS is implied but security headers are not evident. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is basic, with no explicit cookie or privacy policies beyond a disclaimer. The site does not provide incident response or vulnerability disclosure information, which could be enhanced to improve trust and compliance. Overall, the website is safe, professional, and trustworthy, with no adult or questionable content. Strategically, CPAN should focus on enhancing privacy compliance, publishing security and incident response policies, and improving technical security measures to maintain its leadership and trust within the developer community.

Scanned

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 24 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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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
40
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
62

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 a critical infrastructure component for the Perl programming language ecosystem. Its business model is community-driven and open, relying on contributions from authors and mirrored hosting by partners. The platform's competitive advantage lies in its comprehensive archive and long-standing reputation. Revenue streams are not evident on the site, consistent with its non-commercial nature. The target audience is specialized—Perl developers and programmers worldwide. Growth indicators include continuous module uploads and active mirroring. Partnerships with hosting providers like NetActuate and Fastly support its operational stability. The lack of commercial advertising and revenue generation aligns with its mission as a non-profit resource. Strategic observations suggest opportunities to enhance user engagement through improved privacy and security transparency.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level. HTTPS usage is present but not explicitly confirmed via headers. Security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options are absent, representing an area for improvement. No exposed credentials or vulnerable libraries were detected. The site lacks published security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms, which are important for compliance with GDPR and emerging regulations like NIS2. Data protection practices are minimal, with no cookie consent or privacy policy beyond a basic disclaimer. Incident response readiness cannot be assessed due to lack of information. Overall, the security culture appears informal but functional, suitable for a community-driven archive but requiring enhancements to meet modern compliance and security expectations.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to harden the site against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a detailed privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism to improve GDPR compliance and user trust.
  3. Establish and publicize a security policy and incident response contact information to enhance transparency and readiness.
  4. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting and remediation of security issues.
  5. Improve mobile optimization and accessibility to broaden usability and meet modern web standards.
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 Perl modules and distributions, hosting over 222,000 Perl modules written by more than 14,000 authors, mirrored on multiple servers worldwide. It has been online since October 1995.
Key services
Hosting Perl modules, Providing search via metacpan.org, Mirroring Perl distributions
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 URL (https://www.cpan.org/index.html)
  • No visible exposed sensitive data
  • No vulnerable libraries detected in scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

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 challenge.
  2. Content is focused on Perl programming modules and community resources.
  3. No privacy or cookie policy explicitly found except a disclaimer page.
  4. No phone numbers or physical addresses found.
  5. Only one contact email found in meta author link.
  6. No security policy or incident response information published.
  7. Uses Google Analytics for tracking without visible cookie consent.
  8. No visible advertising or revenue-generating content.
  9. Website design is simple but functional and consistent with technical audience.
  10. WHOIS data is unavailable or blocked, limiting domain registration transparency.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a simple, traditional web stack using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It leverages Google Analytics for user tracking and is hosted on infrastructure provided by NetActuate and Fastly CDN, which supports performance and availability. The site is moderately optimized for performance and mobile devices but lacks advanced frameworks or CMS platforms. Technical debt appears low due to the site's simplicity, but modernization opportunities exist in adopting responsive design best practices and enhancing accessibility. The absence of security headers and explicit SSL configuration details represents a technical risk that should be addressed to maintain operational security and user trust.
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. 64/100Medium31 findingsView report
  2. 64/100Medium31 findingsView report
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