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Security report for puredns.org

Spaceship, Inc. · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

66/100

Risk levelMedium

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

PureDNS is a small technology company providing a free, secure, and privacy-respecting DNS service that supports modern encrypted DNS protocols including DNS over HTTPS, TLS, QUIC, Tor, and DNSCrypt. The service targets general internet users who prioritize privacy and security in their DNS queries. The website is well designed, mobile optimized, and provides comprehensive setup guides for multiple platforms and devices. The business model is donation-based, with multiple donation channels prominently displayed. Technically, the site leverages Cloudflare DNS infrastructure and modern web technologies such as PicoCSS and Google Adsense for monetization. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and support for encrypted DNS protocols, though DNSSEC is not enabled and some security headers are missing. Privacy compliance is basic with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism despite use of Google Adsense ads. No contact emails or phone numbers are provided, and no formal security or incident response policies are published. Overall, the domain registration details are consistent with the business and website content, indicating legitimacy and trustworthiness.

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

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 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

  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 256-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 puredns.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
45
Email security
60
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
66

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

PureDNS occupies a niche market segment focused on privacy-conscious DNS services. Its competitive advantage lies in supporting a broad range of modern encrypted DNS protocols and providing easy-to-follow setup instructions across many platforms. The donation-based revenue model suggests a community-supported approach rather than commercial monetization. The presence of open source code on GitHub and transparent donation links enhance credibility. The company appears to be a small independent entity founded in 2020, with no parent or subsidiary companies identified. Partnerships are limited to donation platforms and open source communities. Growth indicators include media coverage and active social media presence. Strategic observations include the need to improve privacy compliance and formalize security policies to enhance trust and regulatory alignment.

Security posture

The security maturity of PureDNS is moderate to high. The service enforces HTTPS and supports multiple encrypted DNS protocols, protecting users from eavesdropping and tampering. The domain status clientTransferProhibited adds a layer of domain security. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, which could improve DNS integrity. The website lacks explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options, which are recommended best practices. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy is published, limiting transparency for security researchers. Incident response contact information is absent, which could delay handling of security incidents. Privacy compliance is basic, with no cookie consent mechanism despite use of Google Adsense ads that may track users. Overall, the security posture is good but could be enhanced by adopting additional security headers, enabling DNSSEC, and publishing formal security and incident response policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS integrity and security.
  2. Implement and display a cookie consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations.
  3. Publish a formal security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  4. Add recommended security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options.
  5. Consider GDPR compliance enhancements including explicit statements and data handling disclosures.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Spaceship, Inc.
Description
PureDNS offers a free, secure, and fast DNS service with support for DNS over HTTPS, TLS, QUIC, and Tor to enhance browsing privacy and security.
Key services
DNS over HTTPS, DNS over TLS, DNS over QUIC, DNS over Tor, DNSCrypt, Plain DNS
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Cloudflare DNS, PicoCSS, Google Adsense, Google Fonts, DNSCrypt, Knot Resolver, Stubby, Unbound, cloudflared, socat
Frameworks
PicoCSS
Platforms
Web, Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, macOS, Tor
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of HTTPS with valid certificates
  • Support for encrypted DNS protocols (DoH, DoT, DoQ, DNSCrypt, Tor)
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited
  • No logging or tracking of DNS queries (privacy-respecting claim)

Analytics and tracking

Services
ReflexAPI
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Adsense
Tracking pixels
Google Analytics (via api-scout.reflexapi.net)
Marketing tools
Google Adsense, Google Funding Choices
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website offers a free, privacy-focused DNS service with modern encrypted DNS protocols.
  2. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly provided on the site.
  3. Privacy policy and terms of service pages are present but basic.
  4. No cookie consent mechanism detected despite use of Google Adsense ads.
  5. Technical documentation and setup guides are comprehensive and detailed.
  6. Use of Cloudflare DNS infrastructure and modern web technologies.
  7. Donation-based funding model with multiple donation platforms linked.
  8. No explicit security policy or incident response information found.
  9. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy detected.
  10. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern and lightweight CSS framework (PicoCSS) and is hosted with Cloudflare infrastructure, ensuring fast performance and global availability. It supports a wide range of DNS protocols and provides detailed configuration instructions for multiple platforms and clients, demonstrating technical maturity. The site integrates Google Adsense for monetization and uses a minimal set of external scripts, including analytics from ReflexAPI. The site is mobile optimized and accessible with good SEO practices including meta tags and Open Graph data. There is no detected CMS, indicating a custom or static site approach. Technical risks are low, but the absence of DNSSEC and some security headers represent areas for improvement. Overall, the technical implementation is solid and well suited for the service offered.
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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