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Security report for toad.social

Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0165654320 · Technology · Canada

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

Security score

67/100

Risk levelMedium

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

toad.social is an independent Mastodon social media server operated by David Troy, a technology pioneer and investigative journalist focused on democracy and thoughtful discourse. The platform serves as a federated social network within the Mastodon fediverse, targeting general audiences interested in social and political topics. The website is built on Mastodon version 4.4.1, leveraging modern web technologies including React and Rails, hosted likely on AWS infrastructure. The site demonstrates good design quality, mobile optimization, and user experience with clear navigation and relevant content. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enabled and script integrity checks, though it lacks some recommended security headers and DNSSEC is not enabled. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism or terms of service found. No contact emails or phone numbers are publicly listed, which limits direct communication channels. WHOIS data shows privacy protection typical for small independent operators, consistent with the domain age and business profile. Overall, the site is trustworthy, safe, and professionally maintained but could improve in privacy and security transparency.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of toad.social. View the latest report

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 toad.social

This scan found 20 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.

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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
80
Email security
80
DNS health
70
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
58
Average
67

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 operates as a small independent Mastodon instance providing social networking services within the federated fediverse ecosystem. Its competitive advantage lies in its focus on democracy and investigative journalism themes, appealing to a niche audience valuing thoughtful participation. The business model is community-driven social media without advertising or tracking, relying on open source Mastodon software. Growth indicators include active user statistics and public admin presence. The partnership ecosystem is limited with no explicit partners or subsidiaries. Strategic observations suggest opportunities to enhance trust by adding clearer contact and security policies and improving privacy compliance.

Security posture

The website maintains a good security baseline with HTTPS enforced and use of subresource integrity for scripts and stylesheets. However, it lacks common security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options, which are recommended to mitigate common web attacks. DNSSEC is not enabled, which could improve DNS security. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. Incident response and security policy information are not publicly available, which could hinder rapid response to security incidents. Overall, the security maturity is moderate with room for improvement in headers and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement standard security headers including Content Security Policy, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to enhance protection against common web vulnerabilities.
  2. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS integrity and security.
  3. Add a cookie consent mechanism and clearly disclose cookie usage to improve privacy compliance and user trust.
  4. Publish security policy and incident response contact information to demonstrate security readiness and transparency.
  5. Provide public contact information such as support or admin emails to facilitate communication and trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0165654320
Description
Mastodon server operated by David Troy, a tech pioneer and investigative journalist addressing threats to democracy. Thoughtful participation and discussion welcome.
Key services
Social networking, Microblogging, Federated communication
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Mastodon 4.4.1, React, JavaScript ES Modules, AWS DNS, HTTPS
Frameworks
React, Rails (implied by rails-ujs)
Platforms
Fediverse, Mastodon
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of integrity attributes on scripts and stylesheets

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 social media instance focused on democracy and thoughtful discussion.
  2. No explicit privacy or cookie consent banners detected despite privacy policy presence.
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers publicly listed.
  4. Uses modern web technologies and follows good security practices but lacks some security headers.
  5. No advertising or tracking detected.
  6. Content is safe and suitable for general audiences.
  7. WHOIS data shows privacy protection but is justified given the business type.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern technology stack centered on Mastodon 4.4.1, React, and Rails frameworks, with assets served from dedicated subdomains and AWS DNS infrastructure. The site is mobile optimized and performs moderately well, with proper use of script integrity attributes enhancing security. The HTML is valid and SEO optimized with appropriate meta tags and Open Graph data. Accessibility is basic but functional. There is no evidence of technical debt or legacy technologies. Opportunities exist to improve performance further and enhance accessibility 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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 68/100Medium27 findingsView report
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