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Security report for inspircd.org

InspIRCd Development Team · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

62/100

Risk levelMedium

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

InspIRCd.org is the official website for InspIRCd, a modular, high-performance Internet Relay Chat (IRC) server software written in C++. The project targets IRC server administrators and developers seeking a stable, customizable, and open source IRC daemon. The website demonstrates a strong commitment to open source principles with frequent software releases, detailed documentation, and active community engagement via GitHub. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies including jQuery, Font Awesome, and Google Fonts, and is optimized for mobile devices with a clean, professional design. Security posture is moderate; while HTTPS is implied and no sensitive data is exposed, the site lacks visible security headers and formal privacy or cookie policies. The absence of WHOIS data limits domain trust verification, but the website's content quality and active development support its legitimacy. Overall, InspIRCd.org is a well-maintained technical resource with room for improvement in privacy compliance and security transparency.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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

7 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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • High

      Missing X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • 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 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

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

Keep watching inspircd.org

This scan found 25 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
15
Email security
60
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
62

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

InspIRCd operates as a small, open source software project focused on IRC server technology. Its business model revolves around free software distribution and community-driven development. The project maintains a strong market position within the niche IRC server software segment, supported by regular releases and comprehensive documentation. The target audience includes system administrators and developers requiring a customizable IRC daemon. The project leverages GitHub for code hosting and issue tracking, fostering an engaged developer community. No commercial partnerships or subsidiaries are evident. Growth indicators include recent software releases and migration of IRC channels to a new network. The absence of direct contact information and privacy policies suggests a primarily community-supported model rather than a commercial enterprise.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level. HTTPS usage is implied but not explicitly confirmed in the data. No security headers were detected, and no forms collect user data, reducing attack surface. The site publishes security advisories and fixes, indicating active vulnerability management. However, the lack of a published privacy policy, cookie policy, or security contact information represents compliance gaps, particularly regarding GDPR. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were identified in the HTML content. Incident response readiness is unclear due to missing contact channels. Overall, the security posture is adequate for an informational open source project website but could be enhanced by formalizing privacy and security policies and adding security headers.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy to improve compliance and user trust.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Add clear contact information for security incidents and general inquiries.
  4. Consider creating and publishing a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosures.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to meet modern standards and improve user experience.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
InspIRCd Development Team
Description
InspIRCd is a modular Internet Relay Chat (IRC) server written in C++ for Linux, BSD, Windows and macOS systems. It is designed to be stable, modern, lightweight, and customizable via a modular system. It is free and open source software.
Key services
IRC server software, Modular IRC daemon, Developer API, Documentation and support via GitHub and IRC
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
C++ (software language), jQuery (JavaScript library), Font Awesome (icon font), Google Fonts (Lato font), HTML5, CSS3
Platforms
Linux, BSD, Windows, macOS
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of HTTPS (implied by external links to GitHub and docs)
  • No visible forms collecting sensitive data
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and recent updates.
  2. No privacy or cookie policies are published on the site.
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers are provided on the website.
  4. No forms are present to collect user data.
  5. Security headers and SSL configuration details are not visible in the provided data.
  6. The site uses modern web technologies and is mobile optimized.
  7. The domain WHOIS data is unavailable or malformed, limiting domain trust verification.
  8. The site is focused on open source IRC server software with a technical audience.
  9. No advertising or tracking technologies detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS3, jQuery, Font Awesome, and Google Fonts. It is optimized for mobile devices and demonstrates fast performance and good SEO practices. No CMS or hosting provider information is evident. The site does not use analytics or tracking services, indicating a privacy-conscious approach. The technical infrastructure supports a clean, professional presentation suitable for a technical audience. Opportunities exist to improve security headers and accessibility compliance. The absence of WHOIS data and domain registration details suggests a need for better domain management transparency.
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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