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Security report for graz.social

graz.social · Technology · Austria

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Email security and 1 other check.

Security score

73/100

Risk levelMedium

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

graz.social operates as a regional Mastodon social networking server primarily serving the Graz area and its surroundings. It is managed by a non-profit association focused on promoting ethical digital culture. The platform leverages the open-source Mastodon software (version 4.4.7) and provides a community-driven social media experience within the fediverse. The website content includes user-generated posts on diverse topics, reflecting an active and engaged user base. The business model is community-centric, emphasizing privacy and ethical digital interaction rather than commercial gain. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies including React and Ruby on Rails frameworks, with modular JavaScript and SVG-based UI elements. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices evident from meta tags and structured content. Performance is moderate, with no significant technical debt or errors detected. Hosting details are not explicitly disclosed. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS with excellent SSL configuration and avoids exposing sensitive data. However, it lacks some security headers and does not provide a cookie consent mechanism or terms of service, which are areas for improvement. No vulnerabilities or malicious content were detected. Privacy compliance is basic, with a privacy policy present but no explicit GDPR compliance indicators or data protection officer contact information. Overall, graz.social presents a trustworthy and well-maintained community platform with a strong ethical focus. Strategic recommendations include enhancing privacy compliance with cookie consent, publishing terms of service, adding security headers, and providing clearer contact and incident response information to strengthen trust and security posture.

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

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 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.

    • High

      No DMARC record found

      DMARC provides email authentication and reporting

      What to do: Add DMARC record: "v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com"

  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 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
    • 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 graz.social

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.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. See sample alerts.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
52
Security headers
80
Email security
65
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
73

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

graz.social occupies a niche position as a regional Mastodon instance serving the Graz community, leveraging the decentralized fediverse model. Its competitive advantage lies in its ethical digital culture focus and community governance. The business operates as a non-profit association, likely funded by membership or donations rather than commercial revenue streams. Target customers are privacy-conscious social media users interested in decentralized platforms. Growth indicators include active user statistics and integration with the broader Mastodon ecosystem. The platform benefits from partnerships with open-source communities but no direct commercial partnerships or subsidiaries are identified. Strategic observations highlight the importance of maintaining transparency and compliance to foster community trust and long-term sustainability.

Security posture

The security maturity of graz.social is moderate to good. The site uses HTTPS exclusively, ensuring encrypted communications. No exposed credentials or sensitive data were found in the HTML content. The absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and cookie consent mechanisms represents a compliance gap. There is no visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy, which limits incident response readiness. The platform does not display contact channels for security incidents or abuse reporting. While no vulnerabilities or malware were detected, the site would benefit from formalizing security policies and improving privacy compliance to align with GDPR and NIS2 requirements. The security culture appears community-driven but could be enhanced with clearer documentation and proactive security measures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a cookie consent banner to comply with privacy regulations and improve user transparency.
  2. Publish clear terms of service to define user rights and platform policies.
  3. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to enhance protection.
  4. Create and publish a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosure and incident reporting.
  5. Provide visible contact information for security incidents and abuse reports to improve incident response readiness.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
graz.social
Description
Ein Mastodon-Server für Graz und Umland betrieben durch den Verein graz.social - Verein zur Förderung ethischer Digitalkultur: https://info.graz.social
Key services
Mastodon social networking server, Community platform for Graz region
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Mastodon 4.4.7, React, JavaScript ES modules, Rails UJS, SVG icons
Frameworks
Ruby on Rails, React
Platforms
Fediverse, Mastodon
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

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
high

Key observations

  1. Website is a Mastodon social network instance focused on Graz region
  2. Content is user-generated social posts with diverse topics
  3. No signs of malicious or suspicious content
  4. No visible contact emails or phone numbers on main page
  5. Privacy policy is present but cookie consent is missing
  6. No terms of service found
  7. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information
  8. Uses modern web technologies and latest Mastodon version
  9. No advertising or tracking detected
  10. Good mobile and accessibility support
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern technology stack featuring Mastodon 4.4.7, React for frontend components, and Ruby on Rails backend. It uses modular JavaScript with ES modules and integrates SVG icons for UI elements. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features. Performance is moderate with no broken elements detected. SEO is supported by comprehensive meta tags and Open Graph data. There is no detected CMS beyond Mastodon's built-in system. Hosting provider details are not disclosed. Technical risks are minimal but could include potential improvements in security header implementation and 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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