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Security report for lemmy.one

Fediverse Communications LLC · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

73/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Lemmy.one is a small-scale, decentralized social media platform instance operated by Fediverse Communications LLC, based in the United States with servers hosted in Germany and Finland. It offers a federated alternative to Reddit, focusing on privacy and community-driven content aggregation. The platform is designed for users interested in open, federated social networking with a focus on privacy and minimal tracking. Technically, the site uses modern web technologies including Inferno.js and Bootstrap, with Cloudflare DNS and HTTPS for secure communications. The site is moderately performant and mobile-optimized, though some security enhancements like DNSSEC and explicit security headers could improve its posture. Security practices include strong password hashing, IP logging with retention policies, and restricted community creation to reduce spam. Privacy compliance is strong with a comprehensive privacy policy and clear legal contacts for abuse and DMCA issues. Overall, Lemmy.one presents a trustworthy and privacy-conscious platform with room for technical and security improvements.

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

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 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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: YouTube

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

  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

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Keep watching lemmy.one

This scan found 18 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
60
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
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

Lemmy.one occupies a niche market in decentralized social media, targeting privacy-conscious users and those interested in federated platforms. Its business model relies on voluntary donations rather than advertising, emphasizing user privacy and minimal tracking. The platform's small user base and restricted registration indicate a controlled growth strategy focused on quality over quantity. Partnerships with Fediverse Communications LLC and donation platforms like Ko-Fi and Patreon support its operations. The platform's competitive advantage lies in its federated nature and strong privacy stance, appealing to users disillusioned with mainstream social media. Growth potential depends on enhancing moderation tools and expanding user engagement while maintaining privacy and security standards.

Security posture

The security posture of Lemmy.one is solid but not without gaps. HTTPS is enforced, and domain registration includes protections against unauthorized transfers and deletions. The site implements strong password hashing and IP logging with defined retention policies, supporting accountability and abuse prevention. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, and explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options are not clearly present, which could expose the site to certain web-based attacks. The absence of a dedicated security policy or vulnerability disclosure page limits transparency in incident response. The site restricts community creation to admins only, reducing spam and abuse risks. Overall, the platform demonstrates a good security baseline with recommendations for further hardening.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to protect against DNS spoofing and improve domain security.
  2. Implement and publish explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Introduce CAPTCHA or other anti-bot mechanisms during user registration to reduce spam and abuse.
  4. Develop and publish a dedicated security policy and vulnerability disclosure program to enhance transparency and trust.
  5. Consider enabling community creation with robust moderation tools to foster growth while maintaining quality and security.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Fediverse Communications LLC
Description
Lemmy.one is a general-purpose instance of Lemmy, a self-hostable, decentralized alternative to Reddit and other link aggregators. It is operated by Fediverse Communications LLC, a Minnesota (USA) company, hosting servers in Germany and Finland. The site offers federated link aggregation and community discussions.
Key services
Federated link aggregation, Community discussions, Content posting and commenting
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Cloudflare DNS, Bootstrap (CSS framework), JavaScript, SSL/TLS
Frameworks
Inferno.js, Bootstrap
Platforms
Self-hosted Linux servers (in Germany and Finland)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Client transfer and delete prohibited domain status
  • Password hashing with strong one-way algorithm
  • IP logging retention policies
  • No community creation except by admins to reduce spam

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. The site is a decentralized social media platform instance with a small but active user base.
  2. Community creation is disabled for general users to reduce spam and abuse.
  3. The site has a comprehensive privacy policy and legal contact information.
  4. No explicit security policy or vulnerability disclosure page is found.
  5. The site uses HTTPS and Cloudflare DNS but lacks DNSSEC.
  6. No advertising or tracking services detected, indicating privacy focus.
  7. Content is moderated with clear rules prohibiting hate speech and illegal content.
  8. The site is accessible without WAF or security challenges.
Technical notes

Notes

Lemmy.one is built on a modern web stack using Inferno.js for frontend rendering and Bootstrap for styling, ensuring responsive and accessible design. The site is hosted on servers located in Germany and Finland, with DNS managed via Cloudflare, providing reliable DNS resolution and some protection against DDoS attacks. The use of HTTPS ensures encrypted communication, and the site includes meta tags for SEO and social sharing. Performance is moderate, with good mobile optimization and basic accessibility features. The platform is custom-built on the Lemmy software, a federated link aggregator, which is open source and privacy-focused. Technical risks include the lack of DNSSEC and incomplete security headers, which should be addressed to improve resilience and security posture.
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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