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Security report for mstdn.social

Private by Design, LLC · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The website mstdn.social is an independent Mastodon instance operated by Private by Design, LLC, a US-based organization. It provides a general-purpose federated social networking platform with a 500 character limit, welcoming all languages and users. The platform is part of the broader Mastodon ecosystem, which is open source and decentralized, targeting users interested in privacy-respecting social media alternatives. The website demonstrates a moderate to high level of digital maturity, employing modern web technologies such as Ruby on Rails and React, with WebSocket support for real-time streaming. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and domain registration protections in place, although DNSSEC is not enabled and explicit security policies are not published. Privacy compliance is supported by the presence of privacy and terms of service pages, but lacks a cookie consent mechanism. Overall, the site is trustworthy, professional, and safe for general audiences.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of mstdn.social. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 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

2 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 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

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Keep watching mstdn.social

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
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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
95
Security headers
80
Email security
55
DNS health
80
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
58
Average
68

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

Private by Design, LLC operates mstdn.social as a medium-sized technology entity focused on decentralized social networking. The business model revolves around providing a free, open-source platform for federated microblogging, leveraging the Mastodon software. The target audience includes privacy-conscious users and communities seeking alternatives to centralized social media. The platform's market position is as one of many independent Mastodon servers, contributing to the federated fediverse ecosystem. The company maintains transparency in domain registration and hosting, with no suspicious patterns detected. There is no evidence of monetization through advertising or affiliate programs on the site. The ecosystem includes links to official Mastodon resources and related federated instances, but no direct business partnerships or subsidiaries are identified.

Security posture

The security posture of mstdn.social is generally strong. The site enforces HTTPS and uses domain status flags to prevent unauthorized domain transfers or deletions. Hosting is provided by Hetzner, a reputable provider. Security headers are likely implemented, although explicit details are not fully visible in the provided data. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. However, the absence of published security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms represents a compliance gap. DNSSEC is not enabled, which could improve DNS security. The site does not appear to use tracking or analytics scripts that could introduce privacy risks. Overall, the site demonstrates good security hygiene but could enhance transparency and incident readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page with clear contact channels.
  3. Implement a cookie consent mechanism to improve GDPR compliance and user privacy transparency.
  4. Establish and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Provide clear contact information for security and abuse reporting to build trust and facilitate communication.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Private by Design, LLC
Description
A general-purpose Mastodon server with a 500 character limit. All languages are welcome.
Key services
federated social networking, microblogging, content sharing
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Ruby on Rails, React, WebSocket (streaming API), SVG icons, CSS modules
Frameworks
Mastodon (Ruby on Rails based)
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Domain status clientDeleteProhibited and clientTransferProhibited
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

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
high

Key observations

  1. Website is a Mastodon social network instance with active user content.
  2. Content is publicly accessible without blocking or WAF challenges.
  3. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found on the main page.
  4. Privacy and terms of service pages are present and accessible.
  5. No cookie consent mechanism detected despite GDPR compliance claims.
  6. No explicit security policy or incident response information published.
  7. Website uses modern web technologies and is mobile optimized.
  8. Hosting is with a reputable provider (Hetzner).
  9. No advertising or tracking scripts detected in the provided HTML.
  10. Content is safe for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern technology stack centered on the Mastodon platform, which is Ruby on Rails based with React for frontend components. The site leverages WebSocket for real-time streaming APIs and uses SVG icons and CSS modules for UI consistency. Hosting is on Hetzner, indicating reliable infrastructure. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. SEO is well addressed with proper meta tags and Open Graph data. There is no evidence of a traditional CMS, indicating a custom or platform-specific content management approach. The site does not include advertising or tracking scripts, which benefits privacy but may limit marketing insights. Technical risks are minimal, but the lack of DNSSEC and explicit security documentation are areas for 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. 66/100Medium26 findingsView report
  2. 66/100Medium24 findingsView report
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