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Security report for webmention.io

Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 9 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

52/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Webmention.io is a specialized hosted service designed to facilitate the reception of webmentions on any web page, primarily targeting web developers and the IndieWeb community. The service offers APIs to retrieve mention counts and detailed mentions, along with JavaScript widgets to display mention counters. The website is well-structured with clear technical documentation and open source code available on GitHub, indicating transparency and community engagement. The business model revolves around providing a niche webmention infrastructure service, positioning itself as a key player within the IndieWeb ecosystem since its founding in 2013. Technically, the website employs modern web standards including HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and uses Linode as its hosting provider. The site is mobile optimized and performs well with fast loading times. The use of HTTPS is enforced, and domain security is enhanced by clientTransferProhibited status, although DNSSEC is not enabled. The technical implementation is solid but could benefit from additional security headers and enhanced accessibility features. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates good baseline practices such as HTTPS and domain transfer protection. However, it lacks published privacy, cookie, and security policies, as well as vulnerability disclosure information. No contact information or incident response channels are provided, which limits transparency and user trust. No advertising or tracking technologies are detected, indicating minimal user tracking. Overall, the security posture is adequate but could be improved with formal policies and headers. The overall risk assessment is moderate with no critical vulnerabilities detected. Strategic recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, publishing privacy and cookie policies, adding security headers, and providing clear contact and incident response information to enhance trust and compliance. The website is safe for general audiences and maintains a professional and functional presence within its niche.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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

9 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 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';…

  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

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching webmention.io

This scan found 25 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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Full report

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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
35
Email security
60
DNS health
70
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
35
Average
52

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

Webmention.io operates in the technology sector, focusing on webmention services that enable websites to receive and display mentions from other sites. Its market positioning is niche but important within the IndieWeb community, offering a hosted API service that simplifies webmention integration. The business model is service-oriented, likely subscription or usage-based, targeting web developers and site owners who want to leverage webmentions without building infrastructure. The open source nature and GitHub presence suggest community-driven development and transparency. The company appears small and independent, with no parent or subsidiaries identified. The lack of direct contact information and formal policies may limit broader market trust but aligns with a lean, developer-focused operation. Partnerships or integrations with IndieWeb and related projects enhance its ecosystem presence.

Security posture

The security maturity of Webmention.io is moderate. The site uses HTTPS and has domain transfer protections, which are positive indicators. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options reduces its defense-in-depth. No privacy or cookie policies are published, and no incident response or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are visible, which may affect compliance with GDPR and other regulations. The site does not appear to use tracking or advertising technologies, reducing privacy risks. Input sanitization is partially implemented in the sign-in form. Overall, the security posture is functional but lacks formal documentation and advanced protections. Enhancements in policy publication, header implementation, and incident response readiness are recommended to improve security culture and compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and integrity.
  2. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies to enhance transparency and GDPR compliance.
  3. Implement security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  4. Add a security.txt file or vulnerability disclosure page to facilitate responsible reporting.
  5. Provide clear contact information including security and support emails to improve trust and incident response.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Description
Webmention.io is a hosted service created to easily receive webmentions on any web page.
Key services
Receiving webmentions, API for mention counts, API for listing mentions, JavaScript widget for mention counters
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, Fetch API, jQuery (optional), WebSocket (commented out example), Manifest.json
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Input URL sanitization (adds https:// if missing)

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 niche technical service for webmention reception and API
  2. No privacy, cookie, or terms policies found on homepage
  3. No direct contact emails or phone numbers visible
  4. Open source project with GitHub link enhances trust
  5. No advertising or tracking detected
  6. Good use of HTTPS and domain security status
  7. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information present
  8. Simple, clean design focused on functionality
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built with standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript, leveraging modern APIs like Fetch and optionally jQuery. Hosting is provided by Linode, indicated by the nameservers. The site includes a manifest.json for progressive web app capabilities and uses HTTPS exclusively. Performance is fast with good mobile optimization. Accessibility is basic but could be improved. SEO is basic with meta viewport and title tags but lacks Open Graph or JSON-LD structured data. The site does not use a CMS and appears custom-built. No analytics or tracking scripts are detected, indicating minimal technical overhead and privacy-friendly design. The code includes commented-out WebSocket example code for real-time mentions, showing potential for advanced features. Overall, the technical infrastructure is modern, lightweight, and well-suited for its purpose.
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. 52/100Medium34 findingsView report
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