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Security report for toot.cafe

Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Email security, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Toot Café is an independent Mastodon instance primarily serving a community interested in web design and development. It operates as a social networking platform within the fediverse, leveraging the open-source Mastodon software (version 4.4.7). The site provides features such as trending posts, hashtags, and a profiles directory, targeting users who seek decentralized social networking without ads or algorithms. The platform is administered by an individual named Nolan Lawson, indicating a small-scale community-driven operation. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including React, JavaScript ES modules, and WebSockets for real-time streaming. The presence of a manifest file suggests support for progressive web app features. While the site appears to be mobile-optimized and has a good design quality, accessibility and SEO optimizations are basic. Performance is moderate, with no major issues detected in the HTML structure or resource loading. From a security perspective, HTTPS is implied and WebSocket connections use secure protocols. However, no explicit security headers were detected in the provided data, and there is no visible cookie consent mechanism or published terms of service. WHOIS data is unavailable due to unsupported TLD WHOIS queries, which slightly reduces trustworthiness. No contact information or incident response channels are published, limiting transparency. No advertising or tracking technologies were found, indicating a privacy-conscious approach. Overall, Toot Café presents as a legitimate, community-focused Mastodon instance with good technical foundations but some gaps in security best practices and compliance documentation. Strategic improvements in security headers, privacy compliance, and transparency would enhance trust and resilience.

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

4 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. 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

  3. 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 toot.cafe

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
75
Email security
60
DNS health
85
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
58
Average
65

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

Toot Café occupies a niche within the decentralized social networking market, focusing on users interested in web design and development. Its competitive advantage lies in its community orientation and use of the Mastodon platform, which appeals to users seeking alternatives to mainstream social media. The business model is community-driven without evident monetization or advertising, relying on voluntary participation. The target customer segment is technically savvy users and developers. Growth indicators include an active user base of 155 monthly active users. The ecosystem includes links to Mastodon's official site and GitHub repository, reflecting open-source collaboration. No partnerships or subsidiaries were identified. The operation appears small and independent, with a focus on quality community engagement rather than commercial expansion.

Security posture

The security posture of Toot Café is moderate. The site uses HTTPS and secure WebSocket connections, which are fundamental security measures. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options reduces protection against common web attacks. No contact channels for security incidents or vulnerability disclosures are published, which may delay incident response. The lack of cookie consent and privacy compliance mechanisms indicates potential GDPR compliance gaps. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. Overall, the security maturity is adequate for a small community platform but requires enhancements to meet higher compliance and security standards.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to enhance protection against web attacks.
  2. Publish clear terms of service and a detailed security policy to improve transparency and user trust.
  3. Add a cookie consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations such as GDPR.
  4. Provide explicit contact information for security incidents and vulnerability disclosures to improve incident response readiness.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and SEO optimizations to improve user experience and discoverability.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Description
A Mastodon instance mostly populated by folks interested in web design and development.
Key services
Mastodon social networking, User profiles directory, Trending posts and hashtags
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Mastodon 4.4.7, React, JavaScript ES Modules, CSS, WebSockets (wss://toot.cafe), Service Worker (manifest present)
Frameworks
Mastodon, React
Platforms
Fediverse, Mastodon
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS usage implied by wss:// and site URL
  • 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 social network instance focused on web design and development community.
  2. No WHOIS registrar or registrant data available due to unsupported TLD WHOIS.
  3. Privacy policy is present but no cookie consent mechanism detected.
  4. No contact emails or phone numbers found on the page.
  5. No terms of service or security policies explicitly published.
  6. No advertising or tracking scripts detected.
  7. Site uses modern JavaScript modules and React framework.
  8. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected; site content fully accessible.
  9. Site content is safe for general audiences with no adult content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Mastodon platform version 4.4.7, utilizing React and modern JavaScript ES modules. It supports WebSocket streaming for real-time updates and includes a web app manifest for progressive web app capabilities. The design is responsive and optimized for mobile devices. Performance is moderate with no critical technical debt observed in the HTML or resource loading. However, accessibility features are basic and could be improved. SEO meta tags are present but limited. Hosting provider details are not disclosed. Overall, the technical infrastructure is modern and suitable for a community social network but could benefit from enhanced accessibility and SEO 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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 62/100Medium31 findingsView report
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