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Security report for ipfs.io

Protocol Labs, Inc. · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Protocol Labs, Inc. operates the IPFS.tech website, which promotes the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), an open-source, peer-to-peer protocol designed to create a decentralized and resilient web. The company is positioned as a leader in decentralized storage and content addressing technologies, targeting developers, researchers, and a broad technology community. The website serves as a hub for community engagement, developer resources, and showcases real-world use cases and testimonials from industry leaders. Technically, the site is built using modern frameworks such as Nuxt.js and supports multiple platforms including web, desktop, and mobile. The site demonstrates excellent design quality, mobile optimization, and SEO practices, with fast performance and clear navigation. Security posture is good with HTTPS enforced and domain transfer protections, though there is room for improvement in DNSSEC adoption and security headers. Privacy compliance is limited due to the absence of explicit privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the site is trustworthy and professional, with a strong open-source ethos and community focus.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of ipfs.io. View the latest report

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

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 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

    • 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 ipfs.io

This scan found 19 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

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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
50
Email security
85
DNS health
80
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
35
Average
63

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

IPFS.tech is a technology-focused platform operated by Protocol Labs, Inc., a US-based company founded in 2020. The business model centers on developing and promoting open protocols for decentralized data storage and sharing, fostering a robust ecosystem of developers and users. The company leverages partnerships and community contributions to maintain its market leadership in decentralized web technologies. Revenue streams are likely indirect, through ecosystem growth, developer grants, and possibly enterprise collaborations. The target audience includes developers, scientists, archivists, artists, and infrastructure providers interested in decentralized solutions. The website reflects a mature digital presence with active social media channels and extensive documentation links, supporting a growing global community. Strategic observations highlight the importance of continued compliance enhancements and security transparency to maintain trust and regulatory alignment.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security foundation with HTTPS enabled and domain transfer restrictions in place. However, the absence of DNSSEC reduces DNS security robustness. No explicit security headers were detected in the provided data, which could expose the site to certain web-based attacks. There is no publicly available security policy, incident response information, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms such as security.txt, which limits transparency and readiness for security incidents. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were identified in the content. The security score is good but could be improved by adopting additional security best practices and publishing clear security policies. Compliance with GDPR and other privacy regulations is not clearly indicated, representing a compliance gap. Overall, the security posture is adequate for the site's purpose but requires enhancements to meet higher standards.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with clear GDPR compliance statements.
  2. Enable DNSSEC to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing or cache poisoning attacks.
  3. Add standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to improve web security.
  4. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting and incident response.
  5. Provide clear contact information for security incidents and data protection officer details to improve transparency and compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Protocol Labs, Inc.
Description
Open protocols to store, verify, and share data across distributed networks.
Key services
Peer-to-peer content delivery network, Content addressing and storage, Developer tooling and SDKs, Community engagement and ecosystem building
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Go, Rust, Vue.js (implied by Nuxt.js usage), Nuxt.js
Frameworks
Nuxt.js
Platforms
Web, Desktop, Mobile, Embedded devices
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced (implied by canonical URL and site URL)
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited to prevent unauthorized transfers

Analytics and tracking

Services
Plausible
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Plausible
Marketing tools
Plausible Analytics
Transparency
good

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 no blocking detected
  2. Strong focus on decentralized web technologies and community engagement
  3. No explicit privacy or cookie policies found, which is a compliance gap
  4. Modern web technologies and frameworks used with good performance and mobile optimization
  5. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on the homepage
  6. Social media presence includes Twitter, GitHub, and YouTube
  7. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page detected
  8. WHOIS data confirms ownership by Protocol Labs, Inc. with consistent domain registration
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern technology stack including Nuxt.js, JavaScript, Go, and Rust, supporting a multi-platform ecosystem. The site is well-optimized for performance and mobile devices, with fast loading times and responsive design. SEO is well addressed with appropriate meta tags, Open Graph data, and structured JSON-LD schema. Hosting details are not explicitly disclosed, but DNS is managed via dnsimple.com and domain registration is handled by CSC Corporate Domains Inc. The site lacks a traditional CMS, indicating a custom or static site generation approach. Technical risks are minimal, but the absence of DNSSEC and security headers represents potential attack vectors. The site benefits from a strong open-source community and active development, reducing technical debt and supporting continuous improvement.
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. 69/100 +1Medium28 findingsView report
  2. 68/100Medium30 findingsView report
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