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Security report for mamedev.org

MAME Development Team · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 5 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

MAMEdev.org is the official website of the MAME Development Team, an open source project dedicated to preserving vintage software through emulation. The site provides access to the MAME emulator, documentation, community forums, and development resources. The project is well-established in the emulation community with a strong focus on software preservation and open source collaboration. Technically, the website uses a classic Bootstrap and jQuery stack with a responsive design, though some modernization opportunities exist, such as updating libraries and improving mobile optimization. Security posture is moderate with no visible HTTPS or security headers data, and no cookie consent mechanism detected, indicating room for improvement in privacy compliance. The WHOIS data is unavailable due to registry restrictions, which slightly reduces transparency but does not detract from the legitimacy supported by active development and community engagement. Overall, the website is professional, content-rich, and trustworthy for its target audience.

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. 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 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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Facebook, Twitter

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

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

Keep watching mamedev.org

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.

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
95
Security headers
55
Email security
70
DNS health
85
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

The MAME project operates as an important entity in the technology sector, specifically in software emulation and preservation. It targets retro gaming enthusiasts, developers, and historians interested in vintage computing. The business model is open source, relying on community contributions and voluntary participation rather than commercial revenue streams. The project maintains a strong market position as a leading emulator with regular updates and a large user base. Partnerships are primarily community-driven with no commercial subsidiaries or parent companies identified. The website’s content and branding are consistent, supporting a credible and professional image. Growth indicators include frequent releases and active forums. The absence of direct commercial contact details aligns with the non-commercial nature of the project.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level. While no critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected, the absence of security headers and outdated JavaScript libraries present potential risks. The lack of HTTPS enforcement information is a concern, though it may be present but not confirmed from the data. Privacy compliance is basic, with privacy and legal pages present but no cookie consent mechanism. Incident response and security policies are not publicly documented. Overall, the site is secure enough for informational and community purposes but would benefit from enhanced security controls and transparency to align with best practices and regulatory requirements.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce HTTPS with HSTS to secure all communications.
  2. Add comprehensive security headers including Content Security Policy and X-Frame-Options.
  3. Update JavaScript libraries, especially jQuery, to latest secure versions.
  4. Introduce a cookie consent banner and detailed cookie policy to improve privacy compliance.
  5. Publish explicit security and incident response policies to enhance trust and preparedness.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
MAME Development Team
Description
MAME is a multi-purpose emulation framework focused on preserving decades of software history by documenting hardware and providing source code as documentation. It supports arcade games, vintage computers, consoles, and calculators.
Key services
Emulation software development, Source code distribution, Documentation and technical resources, Community forums and support
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Bootstrap 3, jQuery 1.11.0, Font Awesome 4.1.0, HTML5, CSS3
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Platforms
Windows, macOS, Linux
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
60/100
Good practices seen
  • No sensitive data exposed 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
excellent
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and navigation.
  2. No HTTPS or security headers information available from provided data.
  3. No privacy or cookie banner detected despite privacy/legal pages.
  4. No direct company contact emails or phone numbers found on main page.
  5. Strong presence of community and development resources.
  6. No advertising or tracking scripts detected.
  7. WHOIS data is unavailable due to registry restrictions or malformed query.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a traditional Bootstrap 3 and jQuery 1.11.0 stack, providing a responsive but somewhat dated user interface. The site is structured with clear navigation and includes multiple community and documentation resources. Performance is moderate with no advanced optimization detected. Accessibility and SEO are basic but functional. There is no detected CMS, suggesting a custom or static site approach. Hosting provider details are not available. Technical debt is indicated by older libraries and lack of modern security headers. Opportunities exist to modernize the tech stack, improve mobile responsiveness, and enhance security configurations to reduce risk and improve user experience.
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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