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Security report for fsfe.org

Free Software Foundation Europe · Non-profit · Germany

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

60/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a well-established non-profit organization founded in 2001, dedicated to promoting software freedom and empowering users to control technology. The organization operates primarily in Germany and serves a broad audience including software users, developers, and policy makers. FSFE offers advocacy, educational materials, community engagement, and events to support its mission. The website reflects a professional and consistent brand image with excellent content quality and user experience. Technically, the website uses a modern but modest technology stack including jQuery, Modernizr, and Bootstrap. It is mobile-optimized and accessible with good SEO practices. However, some security enhancements such as enabling DNSSEC and adding security headers could improve the overall security posture. The site uses HTTPS but lacks a cookie consent mechanism despite having a privacy policy. From a security perspective, FSFE demonstrates a solid baseline with HTTPS and domain transfer protection. The absence of DNSSEC and security.txt files, as well as no explicit security or incident response policies published, represent areas for improvement. No vulnerabilities or suspicious content were detected. The WHOIS data is consistent and supports the legitimacy of the organization. Overall, FSFE's website is trustworthy, professional, and aligned with its mission. Strategic recommendations include enhancing domain security with DNSSEC, implementing security headers, publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy, and adding cookie consent to improve privacy compliance.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of fsfe.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

3 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 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 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 fsfe.org

This scan found 23 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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  • 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
45
Email security
55
DNS health
80
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
53
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

FSFE holds a strong market position as a leading European non-profit advocating for free software. Its competitive advantage lies in its long history, community engagement, and policy influence. The business model is donation-based with additional revenue from merchandise sales. Target customers include free software users, developers, and advocates. Growth indicators include active events, podcasts, and multilingual content. The organization maintains partnerships with sister organizations globally, enhancing its ecosystem and reach. Operationally, FSFE focuses on transparency, community support, and educational outreach, positioning itself as a trusted authority in software freedom advocacy.

Security posture

FSFE's security maturity is moderate with HTTPS enforced and domain transfer protection enabled. The lack of DNSSEC and security headers reduces resilience against DNS spoofing and certain web attacks. No incident response or security policy information is publicly available, which may hinder rapid response to security events. Data protection practices appear adequate with a comprehensive privacy policy, but cookie consent is missing. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. Overall, FSFE demonstrates a responsible security culture but should formalize and publish more security policies and technical controls to enhance trust and compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to protect against DNS spoofing and improve domain security.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Publish a security policy and incident response information to improve transparency and preparedness.
  4. Add a cookie consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and inform users about data collection.
  5. Consider publishing a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosure and improve security communication.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Free Software Foundation Europe
Description
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to control technology. It promotes software freedom, enabling rights to use, understand, adapt, and share software, supporting fundamental rights like freedom of speech, press, and privacy.
Key services
Advocacy for software freedom, Community engagement and support, Educational materials and campaigns, Events and podcasts, Merchandise sales
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 3.5.1, Modernizr, Bootstrap 3.0.3
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
excellent

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well maintained.
  2. Strong focus on free software advocacy and community involvement.
  3. Multiple language support available.
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  5. No cookie consent mechanism detected despite privacy policy presence.
  6. No explicit security policy or incident response information found.
  7. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a lightweight and proven technology stack including jQuery 3.5.1, Modernizr, and Bootstrap 3.0.3, ensuring compatibility and responsiveness. The site is mobile-optimized with good accessibility and SEO practices. Performance is moderate, likely due to the use of minified CSS and scripts. No CMS was detected, suggesting a custom or static site approach which can reduce attack surface but may increase maintenance effort. Hosting provider details are not disclosed. Technical debt appears low, but modernization opportunities include upgrading Bootstrap to a newer version and enhancing security configurations.
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. 56/100Medium33 findingsView report
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