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Security report for tietz.social

Nicole Tietz-Sokolskaya · Technology · Iceland

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The website tietz.social is a small, personal Mastodon social media server hosted and administered by Nicole Tietz-Sokolskaya. It serves a niche audience primarily consisting of the admin and her family and friends. The platform leverages the open-source Mastodon software (version 4.3.9) to provide decentralized social networking capabilities. The site is modest in content but consistent with the Mastodon ecosystem, emphasizing privacy and community over commercial interests. The domain is relatively new, registered in 2023 with privacy protection, which aligns with the personal nature of the service. Technically, the site uses standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript, with no detected CMS beyond the Mastodon platform itself. The site is moderately optimized for mobile and accessibility, though SEO and advanced accessibility features are basic. Performance is moderate, with no significant issues detected. The hosting provider is not explicitly stated, but the domain registrar is NameCheap with privacy protection enabled. No advanced security headers or cookie consent mechanisms are implemented, indicating room for improvement in security and privacy compliance. From a security perspective, the site benefits from HTTPS and domain transfer protection but lacks DNSSEC and security headers such as CSP or HSTS. There is no published security policy or incident response information, and no vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file is present. No analytics or tracking scripts were detected, suggesting minimal user tracking and a privacy-conscious approach. The overall security posture is adequate for a small personal server but could be enhanced to improve trust and compliance. Overall, tietz.social is a legitimate, small-scale Mastodon instance with a clear personal focus. It demonstrates good content quality and technical implementation for its scope but lacks comprehensive privacy and security policies. Strategic recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, adding security headers, publishing privacy and security policies, and implementing cookie consent to enhance compliance and user trust.

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

4 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
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 384-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 tietz.social

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

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

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
52
Security headers
75
Email security
70
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
70

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

tietz.social operates as a small independent Mastodon server targeting a limited audience of the admin and her family/friends. Its business model is non-commercial, focusing on decentralized social media hosting using open-source Mastodon software. The market position is niche and personal, with no evident revenue streams or commercial partnerships. The server is administered by Nicole Tietz-Sokolskaya, who provides contact via email. The domain is privacy protected, which is common for personal or small community servers. There is no indication of partnerships, subsidiaries, or parent companies. The lack of commercial content and advertising suggests a community-focused approach rather than a competitive market player. Growth indicators and strategic partnerships are not evident from the data.

Security posture

The security maturity of tietz.social is basic but functional for a small personal Mastodon instance. HTTPS is enabled, and the domain status includes clientTransferProhibited, which helps prevent unauthorized transfers. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, and no security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, or X-Frame-Options are detected, which are recommended best practices. There is no published security policy or incident response contact information, limiting transparency and preparedness for security incidents. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file is present, which could hinder responsible vulnerability reporting. The absence of analytics and tracking scripts reduces privacy risks. Overall, the security posture is adequate but could be improved by implementing standard security headers, enabling DNSSEC, and publishing security-related policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options to mitigate common web attacks.
  3. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism to enhance GDPR compliance and user trust.
  4. Create and publish a security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  5. Consider adding a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible security reporting.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Nicole Tietz-Sokolskaya
Description
Nicole Tietz-Sokolskaya's mastodon host. Open to her and family/friends.
Key services
Mastodon social media hosting
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Mastodon 4.3.9, JavaScript, CSS, HTML5
Frameworks
Mastodon
Platforms
Fediverse
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited
  • 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
moderate

Key observations

  1. Website is a Mastodon instance about page for a small personal server.
  2. Content is minimal but relevant and consistent with Mastodon platform.
  3. No commercial or advertising content detected.
  4. No cookie consent or terms of service found.
  5. Contact email provided for admin.
  6. No security policy or incident response info published.
  7. No analytics or tracking scripts detected.
  8. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Mastodon platform version 4.3.9, using standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. The site loads external resources from cdn.masto.host and links to joinmastodon.org and github.com for Mastodon-related information and source code. The site is moderately optimized for mobile devices and has basic accessibility features. Performance is moderate with no broken elements detected. SEO optimization is basic with appropriate meta tags and Open Graph tags present. The domain is registered with NameCheap and uses privacy protection services based in Iceland. No CMS beyond Mastodon is detected. Hosting provider details are not explicit. The site lacks advanced security headers and cookie consent mechanisms, indicating some technical debt in security and privacy compliance.
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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