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Security report for intensedebate.com

Automattic Inc. · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

66/100

Risk levelMedium

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

IntenseDebate is a feature-rich commenting system designed to enhance user engagement on blogs and websites, supporting platforms such as WordPress, Tumblr, and Blogger. Owned by Automattic Inc., the service offers threaded comments, social media login integration, email notifications, and spam filtering via Akismet. The website presents a professional and consistent brand image aligned with its parent company, targeting bloggers and website owners seeking to improve community interaction. Technically, the site leverages modern web technologies including JavaScript and CSS, integrates with social platforms, and is hosted under Automattic's infrastructure with good mobile optimization and SEO practices. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and domain protections in place, though there is room for improvement in DNSSEC and explicit security policies. Privacy compliance is strong, referencing comprehensive policies hosted on Automattic's domain, and cookie consent mechanisms are implemented. Overall, the site is trustworthy, safe, and well-positioned within its niche.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of intensedebate.com. 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

6 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 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

  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

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

Keep watching intensedebate.com

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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Recommended

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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
52
Security headers
30
Email security
70
DNS health
90
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
66

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 intensedebate.com, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
35,701
Employees
0
Customers
35,701
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
9%

9 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 intensedebate.com.

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

The business operates within the technology sector, focusing on SaaS solutions for comment management and community engagement. Its market position is supported by integration with major blogging platforms and social media, leveraging Automattic's brand and infrastructure. Revenue likely derives from service subscriptions or platform integrations. The target audience includes bloggers, website owners, and online communities seeking enhanced commenting features. The partnership ecosystem includes Akismet for spam filtering and social media platforms for login capabilities. The company demonstrates stable growth indicators with a domain age of over 17 years and consistent branding. Strategic observations suggest opportunities to expand security transparency and incident response readiness to further strengthen market trust.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and domain status flags preventing unauthorized changes. Use of Akismet for spam filtering and reply-by-email moderation reduces exposure to spam and abuse. However, the absence of DNSSEC and explicit security policies or incident response contacts indicates gaps in security transparency. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is well addressed through comprehensive policies and cookie consent mechanisms. The security culture appears aligned with industry best practices but could benefit from publishing a security.txt file and formal incident response procedures to enhance trust and readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement and publish security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to harden web security.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  4. Add a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to improve compliance and user experience for all users.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Automattic Inc.
Description
IntenseDebate is a feature-rich comment system for WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger and many other website platforms that enhances and encourages conversation on blogs or websites.
Key services
Comment threading, Email notifications, Reply-by-email moderation, User profiles and reputation scores, Social login (Facebook, Twitter), Spam filtering with Akismet, Multiple admin management
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, Akismet spam filter, Facebook Connect, Twitter Sign-In, Gravatar integration
Platforms
WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • ClientDelete/Transfer/Update prohibited domain status
  • Use of Akismet for spam filtering
  • Reply-by-email moderation to reduce web interface exposure

Analytics and tracking

Services
a8c-analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
a8c-analytics
Marketing tools
a8c-analytics
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is focused on a commenting system product with clear feature descriptions.
  3. Strong association with Automattic, a well-known technology company.
  4. Privacy and cookie policies are comprehensive and linked to parent company site.
  5. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on the homepage.
  6. Use of modern web technologies and integrations with social media platforms.
  7. No explicit security policy or incident response information published.
  8. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  9. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript, with integrations for social login (Facebook, Twitter) and spam filtering (Akismet). It supports multiple blogging platforms and is hosted by Automattic, leveraging their DNS and infrastructure. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and SEO practices. The site uses analytics scripts for user behavior tracking with privacy compliance mechanisms in place. Technical debt appears low, but opportunities exist to modernize security headers and improve accessibility. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the business goals effectively with room for incremental improvements.
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. 66/100Medium31 findingsView report
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