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Security report for metacpan.org

pair Networks, Inc. d/b/a pair Domains · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and DNS health.

Security score

72/100

Risk levelMedium

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

MetaCPAN is a specialized search engine dedicated to the Perl programming community, providing comprehensive search capabilities for CPAN modules, distributions, and authors. Established in 2010, it serves as a critical resource for developers seeking Perl packages and related information. The platform is supported by sponsors and integrates modern authentication methods such as OAuth via GitHub and Google, enhancing user convenience and security. Technically, MetaCPAN employs modern web technologies including ES modules, CSS, SVG graphics, and FontAwesome icons. The site is hosted behind Cloudflare DNS and CDN services, ensuring fast performance and good mobile optimization. SEO and accessibility features are well implemented, contributing to a positive user experience. However, some security headers are missing, and DNSSEC is not enabled, representing areas for improvement. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and avoids exposing sensitive data. The absence of explicit privacy and cookie policies, as well as vulnerability disclosure mechanisms, indicates gaps in compliance and transparency. Google Tag Manager is used for analytics, but no cookie consent mechanism is present, which may raise privacy concerns under GDPR. The domain registration is consistent and long-standing, supporting the legitimacy of the site. Overall, MetaCPAN is a trustworthy and professionally maintained resource with strong technical foundations but would benefit from enhanced privacy compliance and security policy disclosures. Strategic improvements in these areas would strengthen user trust and regulatory adherence.

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: Google Analytics

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

  2. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • High

      Weak SPF Policy

      SPF record has permissive policy allowing any server to send email

      What to do: Use -all or ~all qualifier for better email security

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

Keep watching metacpan.org

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
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  • 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
100
Security headers
80
Email security
70
DNS health
45
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
72

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

MetaCPAN occupies a niche market position as the primary search engine for CPAN, the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network. Its competitive advantage lies in its focused service for Perl developers, offering fast and relevant search results for modules and distributions. The business model is community and sponsor-supported, providing free access to users. The target audience includes Perl programmers, open source contributors, and software developers. Growth is supported by partnerships with sponsors and integration with popular platforms like GitHub. The ecosystem includes related domains such as cpan.org and perl.org, reinforcing its central role in the Perl community. The platform's transparency about sponsors and open access model supports sustainable operations and community trust.

Security posture

MetaCPAN demonstrates a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS and secure login options via OAuth providers. The use of Cloudflare for DNS and CDN adds resilience and performance benefits. However, the absence of DNSSEC and missing security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Content-Type-Options reduce the overall security hardening. No explicit security or incident response policies are published, and no vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files are present, limiting transparency and readiness for security incidents. Privacy compliance is weak due to missing privacy and cookie policies and lack of consent mechanisms, which could expose the site to regulatory risks. Overall, the security posture is solid but could be significantly improved with better policy disclosures and technical security headers.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with GDPR compliance details.
  3. Implement and display a cookie consent mechanism to inform users and obtain consent.
  4. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  5. Create and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to improve transparency and incident response readiness.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
pair Networks, Inc. d/b/a pair Domains
Description
MetaCPAN is a search engine for CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network), providing users with the ability to search Perl modules, distributions, authors, and related resources.
Key services
CPAN module search, Author and distribution lookup, API access, Mirroring CPAN content
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript (ES Modules), CSS, SVG, FontAwesome icons
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure login options via OAuth (GitHub, Google)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager)
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a specialized search engine for Perl modules and distributions.
  2. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service pages found in homepage HTML.
  3. Login uses OAuth via GitHub and Google, indicating modern authentication practices.
  4. Sponsors are prominently displayed, indicating community and commercial support.
  5. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on homepage.
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy detected.
  7. Use of Google Tag Manager indicates some user tracking but no explicit cookie consent banner found.
  8. No DNSSEC enabled on domain, which is a security improvement opportunity.
  9. Website is well structured with keyboard shortcuts and accessibility considerations.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses modern web standards including ES modules for JavaScript, CSS for styling, and SVG for scalable graphics. It leverages Cloudflare for DNS and CDN services, contributing to fast load times and good mobile responsiveness. The site includes accessibility features such as keyboard shortcuts and semantic HTML elements. SEO is supported by meta tags, canonical links, and structured JSON-LD data. However, no CMS or major web frameworks are detected, indicating a custom or lightweight implementation. Google Tag Manager is used for analytics, but no advanced marketing or retargeting tools are present. Overall, the technical infrastructure is robust and well-optimized for performance and usability, with opportunities to enhance security headers and privacy compliance.
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. 72/100Medium28 findingsView report
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