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Security report for tenforward.social

Private by Design, LLC · Technology · United States

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

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Ten Forward is an independent Mastodon fediverse server operated by Private by Design, LLC, targeting users seeking a strongly moderated social media community. The platform is funded primarily through subscriptions and donations, with transparent funding channels including Stripe, Patreon, Ko-Fi, PayPal, and GoFundMe. The website presents a clear business model focused on community moderation and user engagement within the fediverse ecosystem. Technically, the site runs Mastodon version 4.4.2 with modern web technologies and a CDN for assets, ensuring a moderate to good performance and mobile optimization. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and domain registration protections, though improvements such as enabling DNSSEC and adding security headers are recommended. Privacy compliance is basic, with a privacy policy present but lacking cookie consent mechanisms and terms of service. Overall, the site is trustworthy, professionally presented, and safe for general audiences.

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 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 tenforward.social

This scan found 16 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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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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
80
Email security
70
DNS health
85
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
58
Average
68

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 business positions itself as a niche, community-focused Mastodon instance with a small but active user base (~172 monthly active users). Its competitive advantage lies in strong moderation and a transparent funding model relying on committed subscriptions and donations. The target audience includes users who value a safe, inclusive fediverse environment. The company leverages partnerships with payment platforms and the official Mastodon project to enhance service delivery. Growth indicators include ongoing fundraising efforts and a clear commitment to community standards. The business operates independently without subsidiaries, maintaining a focused operational scope.

Security posture

The security maturity level is moderate. HTTPS is properly implemented, and domain registration includes clientDeleteProhibited and clientTransferProhibited statuses, which protect against unauthorized domain changes. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, which is a notable gap in DNS security. The absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options reduces protection against common web attacks. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response policies are published, limiting transparency in security management. The site does not employ tracking or analytics scripts, reducing privacy risks. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a small community platform but would benefit from enhancements to DNS security and security headers.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to strengthen DNS integrity and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement and publish a comprehensive security policy and incident response plan to improve transparency and preparedness.
  3. Add standard security headers (Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options) to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  4. Introduce a cookie consent mechanism and a detailed cookie policy to enhance privacy compliance.
  5. Develop and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Private by Design, LLC
Description
Ten Forward is a fediverse server run by guinan aka packetcat aka Sadiq. It is for everyone who wants a strongly moderated community space to make their fediverse home in.
Key services
fediverse social media hosting, community moderation, subscription tiers for access
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Mastodon 4.4.2, JavaScript ES Modules, CSS with integrity hashes, Stripe (payment), Patreon, Ko-Fi
Frameworks
Mastodon
Platforms
Fediverse
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Domain status clientDeleteProhibited and clientTransferProhibited set
  • Strong moderation policies
  • No exposed sensitive data 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
high

Key observations

  1. Website is a Mastodon instance about page with clear admin and contact info
  2. Strong emphasis on community moderation and funding transparency
  3. No cookie consent or terms of service found
  4. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy detected
  5. No security headers detected in HTML but HTTPS is enforced
  6. No analytics or tracking scripts detected
  7. Content is safe and suitable for general audiences
  8. Technical stack is modern Mastodon platform with standard web technologies
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Mastodon platform version 4.4.2, utilizing modern JavaScript modules and CSS with integrity checks, indicating good technical hygiene. The use of a CDN for static assets improves load times and reliability. The site is mobile optimized and accessible with basic features, though accessibility could be improved. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and Open Graph data. Hosting appears stable with DNS managed via cloudns.net and domain registration through Porkbun LLC. Performance is moderate, with no evident technical debt or deprecated technologies. Opportunities exist to enhance security configurations and privacy features to align with best practices.
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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