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Security report for freebsd.org

The FreeBSD Project · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Email security and 1 other check.

Security score

75/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The FreeBSD Project is a long-established open source operating system initiative powering servers, desktops, and embedded platforms. It benefits from a large, active community and is supported by The FreeBSD Foundation. The website reflects a mature project with comprehensive documentation, security advisories, and community engagement. Technically, the site is built using modern static site generation (Hugo), with good performance, accessibility, and SEO practices. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and published security advisories, though explicit security headers and incident response contact details could be improved. Privacy compliance is good with a clear privacy policy and minimal user tracking via plausible.io analytics. The absence of WHOIS data transparency slightly reduces trust but does not detract from the overall legitimacy and professionalism of the project.

Scanned

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

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

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. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

  3. 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 SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
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  • 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
75
Security headers
80
Email security
60
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
75

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

FreeBSD holds a strong position in the technology sector as a foundational open source operating system with a broad user base including enterprises and embedded device manufacturers. Its business model relies on community contributions and foundation support rather than commercial sales. The project maintains a robust ecosystem with extensive documentation, release engineering, and security updates. Partnerships, notably with the FreeBSD Foundation, reinforce its sustainability. The website's clear navigation and content quality support user engagement and developer onboarding. Growth indicators include recent releases and active community events.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and regular security advisories published. However, the lack of explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HSTS, and X-Frame-Options is a gap. No direct contact channels for incident response or security policy pages were found, which could hinder rapid communication in case of security events. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the content. Privacy compliance is evident but could be enhanced with cookie consent mechanisms. Overall, the security maturity is good but can be improved with additional controls and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to strengthen browser security.
  2. Add a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply fully with privacy regulations and improve user transparency.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to facilitate vulnerability reporting and response.
  4. Improve WHOIS data transparency by ensuring registrar and registrant information is correctly published and accessible.
  5. Enhance contact information availability on the website to improve trust and user support.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The FreeBSD Project
Description
FreeBSD is an operating system used to power modern servers, desktops, and embedded platforms. It has been developed by a large community for over thirty years and is known for advanced networking, security, and storage features.
Key services
Operating system development, Release engineering, Documentation, Community support, Security advisories
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, Hugo static site generator
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Security advisories published
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
plausible.io
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
plausible.io
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and navigation.
  2. No WAF or blocking detected.
  3. WHOIS data unavailable or malformed, limiting domain registration insights.
  4. Strong presence of security advisories and community engagement.
  5. No explicit cookie consent mechanism found.
  6. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on main site.
  7. Use of privacy policy page with GDPR compliance indications.
  8. Use of minimal analytics with privacy-respecting plausible.io.
  9. No visible advertising or affiliate marketing.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern static site generator (Hugo) producing clean HTML5 and CSS, resulting in fast load times and good mobile optimization. The use of plausible.io analytics indicates a privacy-conscious approach to user tracking. Navigation is clear and content is well structured, supporting excellent user experience. No CMS vulnerabilities or outdated libraries were detected. Hosting provider details are not explicit, but the site is served over HTTPS with a valid certificate. Opportunities exist to add security headers and cookie consent mechanisms to improve compliance and 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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 75/100Medium29 findingsView report
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