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Security report for withknown.com

Known, Inc. · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 3 other checks.

Security score

51/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Known, Inc. operates with a focus on providing an open source social publishing platform that enables individuals and groups to collaboratively publish blog posts, photos, and media on their own sites with syndication to social networks. The company targets users interested in decentralized and multi-author blogging solutions, leveraging the Indieweb movement. The website positions Known as a niche player in the social publishing technology sector with a small but consistent presence since 2014. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including Bootstrap, jQuery, Google Fonts, and Google Analytics, hosted on AWS infrastructure. The site is mobile responsive and well-structured, though some accessibility features are basic. SEO practices are adequately implemented with proper meta tags and Open Graph data. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS and has domain transfer protections but lacks DNSSEC and important security headers such as Content-Security-Policy. No explicit security or incident response policies are published. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism. Tracking via Google Analytics is active without visible user consent. Overall, the website is professional and trustworthy with moderate security posture and privacy compliance. Strategic improvements in security headers, DNSSEC, and privacy consent would enhance trust and compliance.

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

8 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 withknown.com

This scan found 24 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

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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
62
Security headers
20
Email security
65
DNS health
65
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
53
Average
51

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

Known, Inc. occupies a specialized niche in the open source social publishing market, appealing to users who value content ownership and decentralized social interactions. Its open source business model supports community engagement and multi-author collaboration, with potential revenue from premium features or services. The company benefits from media recognition and a clear brand identity. Growth opportunities exist in expanding privacy compliance and security features to meet evolving regulatory demands. Partnerships with Indieweb and developer communities strengthen its ecosystem. The absence of physical contact details suggests a primarily digital-first operation.

Security posture

The security maturity of the website is moderate. HTTPS is enforced, and domain transfer protections are in place, which are positive indicators. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options represents gaps that could expose users to risks like clickjacking or content injection. No incident response or security policy documentation is available, limiting transparency. The use of Google Analytics without cookie consent may pose privacy compliance risks under GDPR. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the content. Enhancing security headers and privacy mechanisms is recommended to improve the security posture.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement essential security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Add a cookie policy and consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and improve user trust.
  4. Publish a formal security policy and incident response contact information to enhance transparency and preparedness.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize privacy risks and ensure compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Known, Inc.
Description
Known is a collaborative social publishing engine that allows users to post blog posts, status updates, photos, and media to their own site and syndicate to social networks. It supports multi-author sites and is open source.
Key services
Social publishing engine, Multi-author blogging, Content syndication, Open source software
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Bootstrap, jQuery, Google Analytics, Google Fonts, Font Awesome
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
65/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
moderate

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is focused on open source social publishing software.
  3. Clear legal and privacy pages exist but cookie policy and consent are missing.
  4. No phone numbers or physical addresses found; contact primarily via email and forms.
  5. Uses modern web technologies and responsive design.
  6. Security headers and DNSSEC could be improved.
  7. Google Analytics and Tag Manager used for tracking with no visible cookie consent.
  8. WHOIS data supports legitimacy and domain age matches business claims.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a solid technical foundation using Bootstrap for responsive design and jQuery for interactivity. Google Fonts and Font Awesome enhance visual appeal. Hosting on AWS DNS infrastructure suggests reliable uptime and scalability. Performance is moderate with asynchronous loading of analytics scripts. SEO is supported by comprehensive meta tags and Open Graph data. However, the lack of DNSSEC and security headers indicates technical debt in security hardening. Accessibility is basic, suggesting room for improvement in compliance with standards such as WCAG. Overall, the technical stack is modern but could benefit from enhanced security and privacy 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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