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Security report for theforest.link

Other · Canada

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

56/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Forest website is a small-scale creative project launched in 2021, designed to offer users an unpredictable and exploratory web experience. It encourages users to 'walk the forest' of the internet and includes a link to a tree planting initiative, reflecting a creative and environmentally conscious theme. The site is simple, with minimal content and no commercial business model or extensive services. Technically, the site uses modern HTML5 and CSS3 with custom variable fonts and is hosted on Hover.com. It is mobile-optimized and performs well with a clean, consistent design. Security posture is basic; the domain is privacy protected and has domain status flags to prevent unauthorized changes, but lacks DNSSEC and security headers. No privacy or cookie policies are present, and no contact or incident response information is provided, limiting compliance and trust signals. Overall, the site is safe, free of adult or questionable content, and accessible without WAF or blocking mechanisms.

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

7 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  2. 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 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';…

  3. 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 theforest.link

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.

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

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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
65
Email security
40
DNS health
70
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
50
Average
56

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 website operates as a niche creative project rather than a traditional business, targeting general internet users interested in novel web experiences. It does not appear to generate revenue or have a formal business structure. The domain is registered with privacy protection, which is common for small projects. The site links to personal websites of the creators and an external tree planting form, indicating a community or environmental engagement focus. There are no partnerships, subsidiaries, or commercial affiliations evident. The business model is non-commercial and content-driven, with a focus on user engagement through exploration rather than transactions.

Security posture

Security maturity is low to moderate. The domain registration includes privacy protection and domain status locks, which are positive indicators. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers reduces the overall security posture. No HTTPS enforcement or SSL configuration details are available from the data, which is a critical unknown. The site does not collect user data via forms, reducing exposure to input-based vulnerabilities. There are no visible incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies, which limits preparedness for security events. Compliance with GDPR or other privacy regulations is not demonstrated due to missing policies. Overall, the site is low risk but would benefit from improved security controls and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to protect users.
  3. Add a privacy policy and cookie policy to improve transparency and compliance with privacy regulations.
  4. Provide clear contact information and consider adding an incident response or vulnerability disclosure page to build trust.
  5. Verify and enforce HTTPS across the site to ensure secure communications.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Description
The website aims to provide an unpredictable and exploratory web experience, encouraging users to 'get lost on the web' through curated links and interactive buttons such as 'Walk the forest' and 'Plant a tree'. It is a creative project rather than a traditional business.
Key services
Curated web exploration, Link to tree planting initiative
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, Custom Fonts (Inter variable font)
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
50/100
Good practices seen
  • Domain status includes clientUpdateProhibited and clientTransferProhibited to prevent unauthorized changes

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

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 small creative project focused on web exploration.
  2. No privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found.
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers provided.
  4. No security or incident response policies visible.
  5. Minimal external linking, mostly to related personal or project sites.
  6. No analytics or advertising detected.
  7. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected.
  8. Domain uses privacy protection but with legitimate registration details.
  9. No adult or questionable content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built with clean, modern HTML and CSS, using a variable font for typography. It is responsive and optimized for mobile devices, with smooth scrolling and a visually appealing button grid layout. The hosting provider is Hover.com, inferred from the nameservers. No CMS or JavaScript frameworks are detected, indicating a lightweight static site. Performance is likely fast due to minimal content and no heavy scripts. SEO is basic with meta description and title tags but lacks advanced SEO markup like Open Graph or JSON-LD structured data. Accessibility is basic, with no ARIA roles or landmarks detected. The site does not use analytics or tracking scripts, enhancing privacy but limiting marketing insights.
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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