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Security report for openssl.org

OpenSSL Software Foundation Inc. · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

74/100

Risk levelMedium

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

OpenSSL.org is the official website of the OpenSSL Software Foundation Inc., a well-established organization founded in 1998 that provides open source cryptographic libraries and security tools. The site highlights key projects such as the OpenSSL Library, Bouncy Castle, and Cryptlib, targeting developers and organizations requiring robust security and privacy solutions. The website is professionally designed using the Hugo static site generator, hosted with Google Cloud DNS, and demonstrates good mobile optimization and SEO practices. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and domain transfer protections in place, though there is room for improvement in DNSSEC adoption and explicit security headers. Privacy compliance is limited as no privacy or cookie policies are present, and no contact or incident response information is provided. Overall, the site is trustworthy and authoritative within the cryptographic software industry.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
50/ 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

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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • 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

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

Keep watching openssl.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
30
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
Average
74

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

OpenSSL holds a leading position in the cryptographic software market, offering essential open source libraries widely used across industries. Its business model centers on open source development supported by a foundation structure. The target audience includes developers, security professionals, and organizations needing encryption tools. The website ecosystem includes multiple related partner domains representing various facets of the OpenSSL community and corporate structure. The absence of direct contact information and formal privacy policies suggests a focus on technical users familiar with open source projects rather than general consumers. The long domain age and consistent registration data reinforce the organization's legitimacy and stability.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enabled and domain transfer restrictions. However, the lack of DNSSEC and missing security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represent areas for enhancement. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files were found, limiting transparency for security researchers. The minimal use of tracking pixels indicates a low privacy risk, but the absence of privacy and cookie policies reduces compliance with GDPR and related regulations. Incident response contact channels are not published, which could delay handling of security issues. Overall, the security posture is solid but could benefit from formalized policies and improved header configurations.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to strengthen DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies including consent mechanisms to improve GDPR compliance.
  3. Add explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  4. Create and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  5. Provide clear contact information for security incidents and general inquiries to enhance trust and responsiveness.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
OpenSSL Software Foundation Inc.
Description
OpenSSL provides security and privacy tools, including the OpenSSL Library, Bouncy Castle, and Cryptlib, focusing on cryptographic software and libraries.
Key services
OpenSSL Library, Bouncy Castle, Cryptlib
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Hugo static site generator, FontAwesome icons, Google Cloud DNS
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

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

Analytics and tracking

Services
transpond.io
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
transpond.io
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website uses HTTPS with valid SSL
  2. No privacy or cookie policies found
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed
  4. No forms detected on the main page
  5. Use of modern static site generator Hugo
  6. External links mostly to related OpenSSL projects and foundations
  7. Minimal tracking via transpond.io pixel
  8. No social media links found
  9. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page found
  10. No explicit security headers detected in HTML content
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using the Hugo static site generator, which provides fast performance and good mobile responsiveness. Hosting is managed via Google Cloud DNS, ensuring reliable DNS resolution. The site uses modern CSS and FontAwesome for icons, contributing to a professional appearance. SEO is well addressed with proper meta tags and RSS feed availability. No CMS vulnerabilities or outdated libraries were detected. The site lacks some accessibility features but maintains basic standards. Overall, the technical infrastructure is modern, performant, and stable with opportunities to improve security header implementation 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

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