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Security report for ghost.org

Ghost Foundation · Technology · United Kingdom

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

79/100

Risk levelLow

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

Ghost Foundation operates Ghost.org, a leading open source publishing platform designed for creators, publishers, and businesses to build and grow independent media and subscription-based content. The platform offers a comprehensive suite of tools including website building, email newsletters, paid memberships, and a marketplace for themes and integrations. Positioned strongly in the technology sector, Ghost emphasizes independence, user funding, and open source principles, appealing to a broad audience of professional content creators and businesses. Technically, the website leverages modern technologies such as Hugo for static site generation, Cloudflare for DNS, and integrates multiple analytics and marketing tools. The site is well-optimized for performance, mobile responsiveness, and SEO, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and domain transfer protections, though improvements are recommended in DNSSEC adoption and explicit security headers. Privacy compliance is good with clear privacy and terms pages, but lacks a cookie consent mechanism and explicit incident response contacts. Overall, Ghost.org presents a professional, trustworthy, and technically sound platform with minor areas for enhancement in security and privacy transparency.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of ghost.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. 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 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

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

Keep watching ghost.org

This scan found 17 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
75
Security headers
80
Email security
85
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
79

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention ghost.org, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
11,793
Employees
0
Customers
11,790
Third parties
3
Weak passwords
9%

18 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for ghost.org.

Select it in the checkout above.

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

Ghost Foundation's market positioning as an independent, open source publishing platform differentiates it from competitors by focusing on user ownership and zero payment fees on revenue. The business model combines SaaS subscription revenue with open source community engagement. The platform targets creators, publishers, and businesses seeking modern content marketing and membership management solutions. Revenue streams include paid plans and marketplace transactions. The company demonstrates growth through active user onboarding and partnerships with notable publishers. The ecosystem includes integrations with major social, analytics, and marketing platforms, enhancing its competitive advantage. Strategic observations highlight the importance of maintaining independence, expanding integrations, and enhancing privacy and security features to sustain market leadership.

Security posture

Ghost.org exhibits a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS, domain transfer lock, and no visible sensitive data exposure. However, the absence of DNSSEC and explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy and HSTS represent areas for improvement. No vulnerability disclosures or incident response contacts are published, which could hinder rapid response to security incidents. The use of multiple third-party analytics and marketing scripts introduces moderate tracking but appears managed with privacy considerations. Overall, the platform balances security and usability well but should enhance transparency and technical controls to meet evolving compliance standards.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to protect against DNS spoofing and improve domain security.
  2. Implement and publish explicit security headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options) to harden web security.
  3. Add a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and improve user transparency.
  4. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting and incident management.
  5. Provide clear security incident response contact information to enhance trust and readiness.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Ghost Foundation
Description
Ghost is a powerful app for professional publishers to create, share, and grow a business around their content. It comes with modern tools to build a website, publish content, send newsletters & offer paid subscriptions to members.
Key services
Blogging platform, Email newsletters, Paid subscriptions, Custom themes marketplace, Integrations with third-party apps
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Hugo (static site generator), Cloudflare DNS, JavaScript, Alpine.js, Algolia (search), FirstPromoter, Ahrefs Analytics, Dub Analytics
Frameworks
Hugo
Platforms
Ghost CMS
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
FirstPromoter, Dub Analytics, Ahrefs Analytics, Algolia
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
FirstPromoter, Dub Analytics, Ahrefs Analytics
Marketing tools
FirstPromoter, Dub Analytics, Ahrefs Analytics
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and multimedia
  2. Strong branding and consistent messaging
  3. Comprehensive navigation with clear segmentation for creators, publishers, and businesses
  4. Use of modern web technologies and performance optimizations
  5. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on main site
  6. No explicit cookie consent banner detected
  7. No explicit security or incident response contact information published
  8. WHOIS data supports legitimacy and long-term operation
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using Hugo, a modern static site generator, ensuring fast load times and scalability. It uses Cloudflare for DNS management, enhancing reliability and performance. The tech stack includes Alpine.js for interactivity and integrates Algolia for search functionality. Multiple analytics and marketing tools such as FirstPromoter, Dub Analytics, and Ahrefs are employed for user insights and growth. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features. Performance is fast with preloading of fonts and videos. Technical risks include reliance on third-party scripts which require ongoing monitoring for vulnerabilities. The absence of DNSSEC and some security headers indicates moderate technical debt in security hardening.
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. 81/100Low24 findingsView report
  2. 81/100 +8Low24 findingsView report
  3. 73/100Medium21 findingsView report
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