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Security report for themoth.org

The Moth · Non-profit · United States

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Moth is a well-established non-profit organization specializing in the art and craft of storytelling. Founded in 1999, it operates primarily in the United States and offers a variety of services including live storytelling events, educational programs, podcasts, and community engagement. The organization maintains a strong market position as a leader in storytelling with a professional and consistent brand presence. Their website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive content and clear navigation aimed at a general audience interested in storytelling and community participation. Technically, the website leverages a modern technology stack including jQuery, Select2, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and Twilio SDK, hosted on DigitalOcean. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices, although performance is moderate. The use of multiple third-party marketing and analytics tools indicates a mature digital marketing strategy, though there is room for improvement in cookie consent and privacy compliance mechanisms. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and employs domain transfer protection, but lacks DNSSEC and some recommended security headers. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. The WHOIS data confirms the domain's legitimacy and consistency with the organization's profile. Overall, the security posture is solid but could benefit from enhanced DNS security and explicit public security policies. The overall risk assessment is low, with no signs of malicious activity or suspicious content. Strategic recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, implementing cookie consent for GDPR compliance, publishing security and incident response policies, and auditing third-party scripts regularly to maintain security and privacy standards.

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

6 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 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 themoth.org

This scan found 18 issues across 5 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
65
Security headers
20
Email security
100
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
71

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention themoth.org, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
10
Employees
0
Customers
6
Third parties
4
Weak passwords
0%

2 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for themoth.org.

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Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

The Moth operates as a non-profit entity focused on storytelling arts, education, and community engagement. Its business model revolves around live events, educational programs, media content (podcasts and radio), and membership/donation support. The organization targets a broad audience interested in storytelling, including educators, storytellers, and general listeners. Revenue streams likely include donations, event ticket sales, merchandise, and educational program fees. The presence of partner domains for donations and merchandise indicates a well-integrated ecosystem. The organization benefits from a strong brand reputation and a consistent digital presence, positioning it as a leader in its niche with growth potential through expanded educational offerings and community programs.

Security posture

The Moth's website demonstrates a moderate to good security maturity level. HTTPS is enforced, and domain transfer protection is active, reducing risks of domain hijacking. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, which is a recommended best practice to prevent DNS spoofing. The site uses multiple third-party analytics and marketing scripts, which are common but require ongoing monitoring for vulnerabilities. No explicit security or incident response policies are publicly available, which could be a compliance gap. Privacy compliance is partially addressed with a privacy policy but lacks a cookie consent mechanism. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a non-profit but can be improved by adopting additional DNS security measures, security headers, and transparent incident response processes.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing attacks.
  2. Implement a cookie consent banner/mechanism to comply fully with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  3. Publish explicit security and incident response policies on the website to improve transparency and preparedness.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and SDKs to mitigate vulnerabilities and privacy risks.
  5. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to harden the website.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Moth
Description
The Moth is an acclaimed not-for-profit organization dedicated to the art & craft of storytelling. It has presented true & first person stories worldwide.
Key services
Live storytelling events, Storytelling education programs, Podcast and radio hour storytelling, Story library access, Workshops and private engagements, Community engagement and membership
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Select2, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, Twilio SDK, AddEvent, Classy Embedded Giving SDK
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited
  • No exposed emails or credentials in HTML
  • Use of Google Tag Manager and Facebook Pixel with privacy redaction

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel
Marketing tools
Facebook Pixel, Classy Embedded Giving SDK
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally maintained non-profit storytelling platform.
  2. Content is rich with events, stories, and educational resources.
  3. Strong social media presence with verified accounts.
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  5. Use of multiple third-party analytics and marketing tools.
  6. No visible cookie consent mechanism despite GDPR compliance claims.
  7. DNSSEC not enabled, which is a minor security gap.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is hosted on DigitalOcean and uses a combination of JavaScript libraries and SDKs including jQuery, Select2, Twilio, and embedded giving SDKs from Classy. It integrates Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel for analytics and marketing. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design and accessibility considerations. Performance is moderate, likely due to multiple third-party scripts and media content. SEO is well addressed with proper meta tags and Open Graph data. There is no detected CMS, suggesting a custom or static site build. Technical risks include reliance on multiple external scripts and lack of DNSSEC. Opportunities exist to improve performance and security by optimizing scripts and enabling additional security 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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