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Security report for oldbytes.space

oldbytes.space · Technology · France

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Email security and 1 other check.

Security score

67/100

Risk levelMedium

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

OldBytes.space is a niche Mastodon instance dedicated to retrocomputing enthusiasts and related communities. It operates as a small, community-driven social media platform within the fediverse, leveraging Mastodon Glitch Edition software. The instance is hosted on dedicated servers by Hetzner with media assets hosted separately on Wasabi, indicating a technically sound infrastructure. The website content is well organized, providing clear information about the community, rules, and donation options. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enabled and domain transfer protections, but lacks DNSSEC and published security policies. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism. Overall, the domain registration is stable and trustworthy, supporting the legitimacy of the service.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

4 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

  2. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

  3. 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 384-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

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

Keep watching oldbytes.space

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

€25per month

  • 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
85
Email security
75
DNS health
75
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
53
Average
67

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 instance targets retrocomputing enthusiasts and general Mastodon users interested in decentralized social media. Its business model is donation-based, supporting hosting and operational costs. The market position is niche but stable, with a small active user base (~358 monthly active users). The admin is transparent and active, fostering an inclusive community with clear rules against hate speech and spam. The platform leverages open-source Mastodon software, contributing to the decentralized social media ecosystem. No partnerships or subsidiaries are evident, and the service is self-contained. Growth potential depends on community engagement and continued funding via donations.

Security posture

The security maturity is moderate. HTTPS is enforced, and domain status flags prevent unauthorized transfers or deletions. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, which could expose DNS spoofing risks. No advanced security headers were detected in the HTML content, and there is no published security or incident response policy. Logging is minimal and limited to standard server and application logs with no retention policy beyond Debian defaults. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. The absence of cookie consent and privacy compliance mechanisms is a compliance gap. Incident response contact channels are not published, limiting transparency in case of security events.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement and publish a comprehensive security policy including incident response procedures and contact channels.
  3. Add a cookie consent mechanism to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  4. Deploy security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to harden web security.
  5. Consider publishing data protection officer contact information or privacy compliance officer details to improve trust and compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
oldbytes.space
Description
Mastodon instance oriented around Retrocomputing and related themes. Hosted on dedicated server with media hosted separately. Community focused on retro tech and inclusivity.
Key services
Decentralized social media hosting, Community platform for retrocomputing topics
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Mastodon Glitch Edition, Ruby on Rails, Node.js, Puma web server, Sidekiq, MinIO, Hetzner dedicated server hosting, Wasabi media hosting
Frameworks
Ruby on Rails
Platforms
Mastodon, Fediverse
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited and clientDeleteProhibited
  • No sensitive data exposed in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a Mastodon instance focused on retrocomputing community.
  2. Content is well structured and informative about the instance and its rules.
  3. No privacy or cookie consent banners detected, which may impact compliance.
  4. No explicit security policy or incident response information published.
  5. No advertising or tracking scripts detected, indicating privacy-conscious approach.
  6. WHOIS data shows domain is stable and registered with a reputable registrar.
  7. Hosting is done on dedicated servers with media hosted separately for performance.
  8. Admin contact email is provided clearly on the about page.
  9. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website runs on a modern Mastodon Glitch Edition stack, utilizing Ruby on Rails, Node.js, Puma, and Sidekiq, hosted on dedicated Hetzner servers with media assets on Wasabi. The site is mobile optimized and uses modern web technologies with modulepreload and integrity attributes for scripts, indicating attention to performance and security. SEO is supported with proper meta tags and Open Graph data. Accessibility is basic but present. No CMS is detected, and the site appears custom-built for Mastodon. Performance is moderate, likely limited by the dedicated server resources and media hosting setup. Technical debt appears low, but improvements in security headers and privacy compliance are recommended.
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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