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Security report for spore.social

Project Mushroom · Technology · Iceland

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

64/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Spore.social is an independent Mastodon-based social networking platform operated by Project Mushroom, focusing on community engagement around justice and social action. The platform leverages the open-source Mastodon software (version 4.4.2) and provides a federated social media experience within the fediverse. The website is well-structured with good content quality and consistent branding, targeting a general audience interested in social justice and community discourse. Technically, the site uses modern web technologies including React and ES modules, with good mobile optimization and moderate performance. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enforced and domain transfer protection, but lacks DNSSEC and explicit security policies. Privacy compliance is partial, with a basic privacy policy present but no cookie consent or terms of service found. Overall, the platform appears legitimate and trustworthy for its niche, though improvements in security and compliance documentation are recommended.

Scanned

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

3 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. 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 Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1

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

Keep watching spore.social

This scan found 21 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
72
Security headers
75
Email security
70
DNS health
70
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
58
Average
64

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

Spore.social positions itself as a small but active independent Mastodon server within the federated social media ecosystem. Its business model revolves around providing a community platform without ads or algorithms, appealing to users seeking open and decentralized social networking. The platform's key services include content sharing, user interaction, and community building around justice themes. The site shows moderate user engagement with 166 active users reported. The use of privacy protection for domain registration is consistent with small community platforms. No direct revenue streams or partnerships are evident from the data. The platform benefits from the open-source Mastodon ecosystem and maintains a transparent presence with links to source code and Mastodon resources.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS and has domain status set to clientTransferProhibited, which protects against unauthorized domain transfers. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, which is a recommended security enhancement to prevent DNS spoofing. No advanced security headers were detected in the HTML content, and there is no public security or incident response policy. The absence of cookie consent mechanisms and terms of service indicates partial privacy compliance. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were identified. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could be improved by enabling DNSSEC, adding security headers, and publishing clear security and incident response policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing attacks.
  2. Implement and publish comprehensive security policies including incident response and data protection.
  3. Add a cookie consent mechanism to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  4. Publish terms of service to clarify user rights and platform policies.
  5. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Project Mushroom
Description
A community platform for justice and action.
Key services
Federated social networking, Community engagement, Content sharing
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Mastodon 4.4.2, React, JavaScript ES Modules, CSS, HTML5
Frameworks
Mastodon, React
Platforms
Fediverse, Mastodon
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status

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-based federated social media platform focused on community and justice action.
  2. Content is user-generated posts with social and political themes.
  3. No direct company contact information or security policies published.
  4. Privacy policy is present but basic; no cookie consent detected.
  5. No terms of service found on the explored page.
  6. No advertising or tracking scripts detected.
  7. Site uses HTTPS and modern JavaScript modules.
  8. Domain uses privacy protection but is registered with a reputable registrar.
  9. No signs of WAF or content blocking.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Mastodon 4.4.2, utilizing React and modern JavaScript ES modules, indicating a contemporary and modular front-end architecture. The site uses CSS and HTML5 with responsive design for mobile optimization. Hosting details are limited, but the domain is registered via NameCheap with privacy protection. Performance is moderate, with no major issues detected in the HTML content. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and Open Graph data. Accessibility is basic but could be enhanced. No CMS detected, as Mastodon is a standalone platform. The technical stack is appropriate for a federated social media service, but there is room for improvement in security and privacy features.
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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