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Security report for fosdem.org

FOSDEM · Technology · Belgium

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

60/100

Risk levelMedium

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

FOSDEM is a well-established, non-profit event focused on free and open source software development, held annually in Brussels, Belgium. It serves thousands of developers worldwide, providing a platform for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and community building. The website reflects this mission with clear event information, schedules, and sponsor details, targeting software developers and open source enthusiasts. Technically, the website is built using the nanoc static site generator, delivering a simple and maintainable infrastructure. The site is moderately optimized for performance and mobile devices, with good SEO practices evident through meta tags and structured content. However, there is room for improvement in accessibility and modern security practices. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS and has domain transfer protections in place, but lacks DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or Strict-Transport-Security. No privacy or cookie policies are present, which is a compliance gap especially under GDPR. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided, limiting transparency in security matters. Overall, the website is trustworthy and professional, with strong business credibility supported by long domain age and reputable sponsors. The lack of privacy and security policies lowers the compliance score, but the site poses low risk given its informational nature and minimal data collection. Strategic improvements in security headers, privacy documentation, and DNS security would enhance the site's posture and user trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
50/ 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

5 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 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

  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 fosdem.org

This scan found 21 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
62
Security headers
80
Email security
70
DNS health
60
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
50
Average
60

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

FOSDEM holds a leading position in the European open source conference market, attracting a large community of developers and sponsors from major technology companies. Its business model is community-driven and non-profit, relying on sponsorships and volunteer efforts. The event's longevity since 2001 indicates strong market presence and brand recognition. Key services include organizing developer rooms, lectures, stands, and volunteer coordination. The partnership ecosystem includes Google, Red Hat, and local academic institutions, reinforcing its credibility and reach. Growth indicators include increasing participation and expanded event features. The website supports these operations by providing schedules, news, and practical information, though it lacks direct contact emails or phone numbers, likely relying on event pages and forms for communication.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a basic to moderate security maturity level. HTTPS is enabled, and domain registration protections are in place. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers reduces defense-in-depth. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. The lack of privacy and cookie policies indicates compliance gaps with GDPR and related regulations. Incident response readiness is unclear due to missing contact channels for security issues. The minimal data collection approach reduces risk but also limits transparency. Overall, the security posture is adequate for an informational event site but should be enhanced to meet best practices and regulatory expectations.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to harden the website.
  3. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies to comply with GDPR and inform users about data practices.
  4. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  5. Consider providing explicit contact information for security incidents to improve incident response readiness.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
FOSDEM
Description
FOSDEM is a free event for software developers to meet, share ideas and collaborate, focusing on free and open source software. It is held annually in Brussels, Belgium.
Key services
Event hosting, Developer rooms, Lectures and talks, Stands for projects and companies, Volunteer coordination
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
nanoc (static site generator), CSS, HTML5
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
60/100
Good practices seen
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. No explicit privacy or cookie policies found, which is a compliance gap.
  3. No security headers detected in HTML content; security posture can be improved.
  4. Website uses a static site generator (nanoc) indicating a simple, maintainable infrastructure.
  5. Sponsors include major technology companies, enhancing trust.
  6. No analytics or tracking scripts detected, indicating privacy-conscious approach.
  7. Content is well structured and relevant to the target audience of software developers.
  8. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed; contact likely via forms or event pages.
  9. No social media links explicitly found in the provided HTML.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses nanoc, a static site generator, indicating a lightweight and maintainable infrastructure. The HTML is valid and includes appropriate meta tags for SEO and social sharing (Open Graph). The site uses CSS for styling and includes favicons and manifest files for progressive web app support. Performance is moderate, with no heavy scripts or analytics detected, which benefits privacy and speed. Mobile optimization is basic but functional. Accessibility features are minimal but present. Hosting details are not explicit but DNS records show multiple authoritative name servers, including Hurricane Electric and X-Net. The domain is registered with Key-Systems GmbH since 2001, showing a stable technical foundation. Opportunities exist to modernize security configurations and enhance user 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. 63/100Medium27 findingsView report
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