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Security report for opensubtitles.org

OpenSubtitles.org · Media · N/a

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

OpenSubtitles.org operates a large, multilingual subtitle database serving millions of users worldwide. The platform offers free subtitle downloads, uploads, requests, and community forums, supported by an API and AI subtitle generation tools. The business model includes optional VIP memberships to remove advertisements. Technically, the site uses a mature stack based on jQuery and related libraries, with Google reCAPTCHA for login security and Cloudflare for hosting and performance. Security posture is moderate with HTTPS enforced and CAPTCHA protection, but lacks visible security headers and explicit cookie consent mechanisms. WHOIS data is privacy-protected, which is common for this type of service. Overall, the site is functional, well-branded, and trusted by its user base but could improve privacy compliance and security hardening.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of opensubtitles.org. View the latest report

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

8 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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • 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

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

Keep watching opensubtitles.org

This scan found 23 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
  • 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
65
Security headers
15
Email security
75
DNS health
85
Network security
100
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

OpenSubtitles.org holds a strong market position as one of the largest subtitle repositories globally, targeting movie and TV series viewers who need subtitles in various languages. Its competitive advantage lies in its extensive subtitle database, API support, and community engagement. Revenue streams likely include advertising and VIP memberships. The platform integrates with popular media players and browser extensions, enhancing user reach. Partnerships with related domains and third-party services support its ecosystem. Growth indicators include frequent subtitle uploads and active forum discussions. Strategic observations suggest focusing on improving privacy compliance and security to maintain user trust and regulatory adherence.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and Google reCAPTCHA protecting login forms. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and HSTS reduces its defense-in-depth. No public incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies were found, which may impact transparency and responsiveness. Privacy compliance is basic, lacking cookie consent mechanisms and clear GDPR indicators. The use of third-party ad and tracking scripts introduces potential privacy risks. Overall, the security posture is adequate for general use but requires enhancements to meet higher compliance and security standards.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and HSTS.
  2. Add a clear cookie consent banner and update privacy policy to reflect GDPR compliance.
  3. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to improve transparency.
  4. Conduct regular audits of third-party scripts to mitigate privacy and security risks.
  5. Enhance user trust by providing more visible business contact information and compliance details.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
OpenSubtitles.org
Description
Movie and TV Subtitles in multiple languages, thousands of translated subtitles uploaded daily. Free download from source, API support, millions of users.
Key services
Subtitle search and download, Subtitle upload, Subtitle request, Forum and community support, API support, AI subtitle generation
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, jQuery UI, jQuery Timeago, lscache, jQuery Multiselect, jQuery Agile Carousel, Google reCAPTCHA, Cloudflare Insights, PerfOps ROM3
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Google reCAPTCHA v2 implemented on login form
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Cloudflare Insights, Toplist.cz
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Revive Adserver
Tracking pixels
Cloudflare Insights, Toplist.cz
Marketing tools
Push SDK
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website provides a large database of subtitles for movies and TV series in multiple languages.
  2. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found; contact is via web form.
  3. Uses Google reCAPTCHA for login security.
  4. Includes advertising and tracking scripts, some from third-party ad networks and analytics.
  5. WHOIS data is not publicly available, indicating privacy protection.
  6. No explicit cookie consent banner detected, which may impact privacy compliance.
  7. No explicit security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy found.
  8. No explicit privacy policy page found but disclaimer page likely serves some policy functions.
  9. Site is accessible without WAF or security challenge blocking content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a traditional jQuery-based frontend with multiple plugins for UI components such as autocomplete, multiselect, and carousel. It integrates Google reCAPTCHA for bot protection and uses Cloudflare for hosting and performance optimization. The site loads asynchronously many scripts and uses caching mechanisms like lscache. While functional and moderately optimized, the site could benefit from modernization to newer frontend frameworks and improved mobile responsiveness. Performance is moderate with room for improvement in accessibility and SEO. The presence of some suspicious external scripts (e.g., bj.zolaizeblowier.com) warrants further investigation.
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. 71/100Medium28 findingsView report
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