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Security report for write.as

Musing Studio · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Write.as is a privacy-focused, minimal blogging platform operated by Musing Studio, founded in 2015 and based in the United States. It offers subscription-based services targeting writers who want distraction-free, anonymous, and independent publishing capabilities. The platform supports multiple blogs, custom domains, ActivityPub integration, and email subscriptions, positioning itself as a niche player in the blogging and content publishing market. Technically, the site uses a Markdown and Rich Text editor interface, is powered by open source software WriteFreely, and is hosted likely on Rackspace infrastructure. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and SEO practices. However, the security posture is weak due to the absence of a valid SSL certificate, lack of HTTPS, missing security headers, and no DMARC or DNSSEC implementation. Privacy compliance is good with a comprehensive privacy policy but lacks a cookie consent mechanism despite using analytics. Business credibility is strong with clear service offerings, transparent pricing, and consistent branding. Overall, the site is functional and trustworthy but requires urgent security improvements to protect user data and communications.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of write.as. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
40/ 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

6 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 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

    • 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

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

Keep watching write.as

This scan found 18 issues across 5 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
100
Security headers
25
Email security
50
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
40
Average
63

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

Write.as operates in the technology sector, focusing on privacy-conscious writers and independent publishers. Its subscription SaaS model offers tiered plans for individual and team users, generating revenue through monthly and yearly billing cycles. The company leverages a suite of related services under Musing Studio, including Snap.as, Submit.as, and Remark.as, creating a small ecosystem of complementary tools. The platform's competitive advantage lies in its minimalism, privacy focus, and open source foundation. Partnerships with WriteFreely and integration with federated platforms like Mastodon enhance its appeal. Growth indicators include active social media presence and continuous feature development. The company maintains transparency with no domain privacy protection and clear WHOIS data, supporting trustworthiness in the market.

Security posture

The current security maturity level of Write.as is low due to critical issues such as the absence of a valid SSL certificate and HTTPS support, which exposes users to potential data interception risks. The lack of HSTS, DMARC, DNSSEC, and CAA records further weakens the domain's security posture. While SPF is correctly configured, the absence of DMARC reduces email protection. No security headers are detected, and session resumption features are missing. The site uses Piwik/Matomo analytics with moderate user tracking but lacks a cookie consent mechanism, which may raise compliance concerns. Incident response and security policy documentation are not found, indicating limited formal security governance. Overall, the platform needs to prioritize implementing HTTPS and related security controls to safeguard user data and maintain trust.

Recommendations

  1. Obtain and deploy a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS across the entire site immediately.
  2. Implement HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) with includeSubDomains and preload directives.
  3. Publish and enforce a DMARC policy to improve email authentication and reduce phishing risks.
  4. Enable DNSSEC and add CAA records to enhance DNS security and certificate issuance control.
  5. Add essential security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  6. Introduce a cookie consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations given the use of analytics.
  7. Develop and publish a formal security policy and incident response plan accessible to users.
  8. Regularly audit and update the technology stack to avoid vulnerable libraries and improve performance.
  9. Enhance accessibility features to improve inclusivity and SEO.
  10. Maintain transparent and updated WHOIS data and consider domain protection locks to prevent unauthorized changes.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern front-end with CSS and JavaScript, including custom web fonts and a Markdown/Rich Text editor interface. It leverages open source software WriteFreely as its CMS backend. Hosting appears to be on Rackspace infrastructure with DNS managed by stabletransit.com nameservers. Performance is moderate with a page load time of 4750 ms and 33 resources loaded. SEO is supported by comprehensive meta tags including Open Graph and Twitter Cards. However, the lack of HTTPS and TLS protocols is a significant technical deficiency. No major JavaScript frameworks or CMS platforms beyond WriteFreely are detected. The site uses Piwik/Matomo for analytics, indicating a preference for privacy-respecting tools. There is room for modernization in security protocols and performance optimization.
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. 51/100Medium31 findingsView report
  2. 51/100Medium31 findingsView report
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