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Security report for fedigroups.social

FediGroups · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

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

FediGroups operates a closed Mastodon server under the domain fedigroups.social, providing decentralized social media services within the fediverse ecosystem. The website serves as an informational about page, highlighting the server's administration and user base. The service targets users interested in federated social networking, leveraging the open-source Mastodon platform. The business model is focused on community-driven social media hosting rather than commercial advertising or broad public registration. Technically, the website is built on Mastodon version 4.4.4, utilizing modern web technologies including React and ES modules. The site is mobile-optimized and presents a clean, professional design with good navigation. However, some technical improvements could enhance accessibility and SEO. The hosting provider and domain registration details are not disclosed, and the WHOIS data is unavailable due to TLD restrictions. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and does not expose sensitive data or vulnerable libraries. However, it lacks important security headers and cookie consent mechanisms, which are recommended for improved security posture and privacy compliance. No incident response or security policy information is published, which could be enhanced to build user trust. The privacy policy is present but basic, and no terms of service or vulnerability disclosure policies are found. Overall, the website is safe, professional, and trustworthy for its intended audience, with moderate technical and security maturity. Strategic recommendations include implementing security headers, publishing terms of service and security policies, adding cookie consent for GDPR compliance, and improving accessibility features to strengthen the platform's credibility and user confidence.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 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

4 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

  3. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • High

      Weak SPF Policy

      SPF record has permissive policy allowing any server to send email

      What to do: Use -all or ~all qualifier for better email security

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

Keep watching fedigroups.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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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
72
Security headers
90
Email security
70
DNS health
60
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
58
Average
65

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

FediGroups positions itself as a niche independent Mastodon server within the decentralized social media market. Its competitive advantage lies in providing a closed, curated environment for Mastodon users, differentiating from open public instances. The business model appears community-focused without evident monetization or advertising, relying on user engagement and administration transparency. The presence of an active user base (173 active users) indicates a modest but engaged community. The partnership ecosystem is limited, with external links primarily to Mastodon official resources. Growth potential depends on federated network effects and community trust. Strategic observations suggest opportunities to enhance compliance and security posture to attract privacy-conscious users.

Security posture

The current security maturity level is moderate. HTTPS is enforced, and no obvious vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data are present. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security reduces the overall security posture. The lack of published incident response contacts and security policies indicates limited preparedness for security incidents. GDPR compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file is found, limiting transparency. The security culture appears basic but could be improved with formalized policies and enhanced technical controls.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to mitigate common web attacks.
  2. Publish clear terms of service and security policy documents to improve legal compliance and user trust.
  3. Add a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  4. Establish and publicize incident response contact channels such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  5. Enhance website accessibility features and SEO optimization to improve user experience and discoverability.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
FediGroups
Description
This is a closed server, running the FediGroups service. For more details see https://about.fedigroups.social
Key services
Mastodon social media hosting, FediGroups service
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Mastodon 4.4.4, React, JavaScript ES Modules, SVG, CSS, HTML5
Frameworks
Mastodon
Platforms
Fediverse
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

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
moderate

Key observations

  1. Website is a Mastodon instance about page with clear admin contact
  2. No WHOIS data available due to TLD restrictions
  3. No terms of service or cookie consent found
  4. Privacy policy present but basic
  5. No advertising or tracking detected
  6. No security headers detected in HTML source
  7. Uses modern web technologies and Mastodon platform
  8. Content is safe and suitable for general audiences
Technical notes

Notes

The website leverages Mastodon 4.4.4, a modern open-source federated social media platform built with Ruby on Rails backend and React frontend. The front-end uses ES modules, SVG icons, and responsive CSS, indicating a contemporary tech stack. Performance is moderate with no evident loading issues. The site lacks some advanced SEO and accessibility features but maintains a clean and consistent design. Hosting details are not disclosed, and WHOIS data is unavailable due to TLD restrictions. No CMS beyond Mastodon is detected. Technical risks include missing security headers and incomplete privacy compliance 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

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