Is ar.al Safe? Security Analysis for Small Technology Foundation
Check if ar.al is a scam or legitimate. Free security scan and reviews.
AI Summary
Aral Balkan's website serves as a personal and professional platform highlighting his activism, design, and development work focused on small technology as an alternative to big tech and surveillance capitalism. The site represents the Small Technology Foundation, a small independent non-profit based in Ireland, advocating for digital rights, personhood, and democracy. The website offers rich content including blog posts, talks, and tools like Kitten and Domain, targeting technologists and activists interested in privacy and decentralized technology. Technically, the site is built with Hugo and Site.js, featuring modern web standards, good mobile optimization, and accessibility. Security posture is moderate with HTTPS implied but lacks explicit security headers and formal policies. Privacy compliance is weak due to absence of privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the site is trustworthy, professional, and content-rich but would benefit from enhanced privacy and security disclosures.
Detected Technologies
🧠AI Business Intelligence
Technology stack, business insights, and market analysis powered by AI.
Business Intelligence
Market & Strategic Analysis
The Small Technology Foundation operates as a niche non-profit focused on privacy-respecting technology development and advocacy. Its business model centers on open-source tool development and public engagement through talks and media. The foundation maintains a consistent brand and transparent presence with a long domain history supporting credibility. The target audience includes privacy-conscious developers and activists. The foundation's partnership ecosystem includes its own domains and code repositories but no major commercial partnerships are evident. Growth indicators include ongoing content updates and active public speaking engagements.
Extracted Contact Information
Marketing Intelligence Data
Email Addresses (2)
Security Posture Analysis
Comprehensive Security Assessment
The website demonstrates a basic to moderate security maturity level. HTTPS is used, but no explicit security headers are detected in the provided data. There are no visible forms collecting sensitive data, reducing attack surface. However, the absence of privacy and cookie policies indicates compliance gaps with GDPR and related regulations. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided, which limits transparency in security management. The site does not appear to use tracking or analytics services, which reduces privacy risks. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a personal/non-profit site but could be improved with formal policies and security headers.
Strategic Recommendations
Priority Actions for Security Improvement
Publish and link to a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy to improve GDPR compliance.
✨Observations
AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.
AI-Enhanced Website Analysis
Business Insights
Small Technology Foundation
Aral Balkan’s personal web site. Covers small technology as an alternative to big tech and surveillance capitalism, human rights in the digital age (cyborg rights), personhood, and democracy. The site owner is an activist, designer, and developer, co-founder of Small Technology Foundation, a tiny independent two-person not-for-profit based in Ireland advocating for and building small technology to protect personhood and democracy.
excellent
consistent
Technical Stack
moderate
good
good
good
Security Assessment
- HTTPS usage implied by og:url
- No visible forms collecting sensitive data
- No exposed credentials or sensitive data in HTML
Analytics & Tracking
Advertising & Marketing
Website Quality Assessment
Key Observations
Website is a personal and professional blog of Aral Balkan, co-founder of Small Technology Foundation.
🛡️Security Headers
HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.
Security Headers
HTTP security headers analysis
Weak Strict-Transport-Security configuration
LOWCurrent value: "max-age=15552000; includeSubDomains"
Missing X-Frame-Options header
HIGHPrevents clickjacking attacks
Missing X-Content-Type-Options header
MEDIUMPrevents MIME type sniffing
Missing Content-Security-Policy header
HIGHControls resources the browser is allowed to load
Missing X-XSS-Protection header
MEDIUMLegacy XSS protection (deprecated but still recommended)
Missing Referrer-Policy header
LOWControls referrer information sent with requests
Missing Permissions-Policy header
MEDIUMControls browser features and APIs
Sensitive data may be cached
LOWCache-Control header should include "no-store" for sensitive pages
👤GDPR Compliance
Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.
GDPR Compliance
Privacy and data protection assessment
No Cookie Policy found
HIGHGDPR requires clear information about cookie usage
No Cookie Consent Banner found
HIGHGDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies
No Data Protection Officer mentioned
LOWLarge organizations may need to designate a DPO under GDPR
Privacy policy may not be GDPR compliant
MEDIUMPrivacy policy lacks explicit GDPR compliance elements
GDPR Compliance Analysis
🛡️NIS2 Compliance
Network & Information Security Directive compliance assessment.
NIS2 Compliance
Network & Information Security Directive
No information security framework found
HIGHNIS2 requires documented cybersecurity and information security measures
No vulnerability disclosure policy
MEDIUMNIS2 encourages coordinated vulnerability disclosure
No security policy documentation found
HIGHNIS2 requires documented cybersecurity governance and risk management
No incident response procedures found
HIGHNIS2 requires documented incident response and business continuity plans
No security contact information
HIGHNIS2 requires clear incident reporting channels
No vulnerability reporting mechanism
MEDIUMClear vulnerability reporting supports coordinated disclosure
No NIS2 reference found
LOWConsider explicitly mentioning NIS2 compliance efforts
Critical sector without clear security compliance
HIGHDetected sectors: energy, transport, health, digital
📧Email Security
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation and email security assessment.
Email Security
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation
No DMARC reporting
LOWDMARC aggregate reports not configured
No DKIM record found
MEDIUMDKIM adds cryptographic signatures to emails
No BIMI Record
LOWBIMI displays brand logos in email clients
No MTA-STS Policy
MEDIUMMTA-STS enforces TLS for email delivery
No TLS-RPT Record
LOWTLS-RPT provides reporting for email TLS issues
SPF Details
DMARC Details
🏆SSL/TLS Security
Certificate validity and encryption analysis.
SSL/TLS Security
Certificate validity and encryption analysis
Weak Protocols Supported
HIGHServer supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1
OCSP Stapling Not Enabled
LOWOCSP stapling improves performance and privacy
Certificate Transparency Not Implemented
LOWCertificate is not logged in Certificate Transparency logs
SSL Certificate Expires Within 90 Days
MEDIUMSSL certificate expires in 88 days
Partial SSL/TLS Assessment
LOWCompleted 3 of 4 security checks due to time constraints
Protocol Support
OCSP Status
📊DNS Health
DNS configuration and security assessment.
DNS Health
DNS configuration and security assessment
DNSSEC Not Enabled
MEDIUMDNSSEC is not configured for this domain
CAA Records Not Configured
LOWCertificate Authority Authorization (CAA) records not found
Weak SPF Policy
HIGHSPF record has permissive policy allowing any server to send email
DNS Records
DNSSEC Status
DNS Performance
SPF Analysis
⚡Network Security
Port scanning and network exposure analysis.
Network Security
Port scanning and network exposure analysis
Service Exposed: SSH
MEDIUMPort 22 (SSH) is publicly accessible - SSH - Secure but can be brute-forced
🔧Technical Analysis
Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.
Technical Analysis
Comprehensive security assessment findings