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Is fediscience.org a Scam? Security Check Results - FediScience e.V. Reviews

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Is fediscience.org Safe? Security Analysis for FediScience e.V.

Check if fediscience.org is a scam or legitimate. Free security scan and reviews.

TechnologyGermanysmall
Mastodon 4.3.4JavaScriptCSSHTML5Liberapay (donation platform)+1 more
Analyzed 9/4/2025Completed 11:45:32 PM
64
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

FediScience.org is a specialized social networking platform for scientists and researchers, operated by the registered non-profit association FediScience e.V. in Germany. The platform leverages the Mastodon open-source software to provide a decentralized and community-driven environment focused on scientific communication. The target audience includes PhD students, professors, and researchers both within and outside academia. The business model is community-supported with voluntary donations via Liberapay and Patreon, reflecting a non-commercial, mission-driven approach. The platform holds a niche position within the fediverse, emphasizing inclusivity and scientific discourse.

Detected Technologies

Mastodon 4.3.4JavaScriptCSSHTML5Liberapay (donation platform)Patreon (donation platform)

🧠AI Business Intelligence

Technology stack, business insights, and market analysis powered by AI.

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

The organization maintains a clear market position as a dedicated social network for the scientific community, differentiating itself through its focus on publishing scientists and active researchers. Its competitive advantage lies in its community moderation, transparent governance, and alignment with open-source principles. Revenue streams are primarily donation-based, supporting infrastructure and moderation costs. The partnership ecosystem includes open-source Mastodon and donation platforms like Liberapay and Patreon. Growth indicators include an active user base of approximately 915 monthly active users and ongoing community engagement. Strategic observations suggest opportunities to enhance compliance and security posture to strengthen trust and scalability.

Extracted Contact Information

Marketing Intelligence Data

Email Addresses (1)

s*****@fediscience.org

Phone Numbers (1)

081*******

Company Registration

Legal Name:

FediScience e.V.

Registration Number:

VR 240410

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The security maturity of fediscience.org is moderate. The site uses HTTPS and has domain transfer protections in place, but lacks DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security. There is no visible security policy or incident response contact information, which could hinder timely vulnerability reporting and mitigation. The absence of a cookie consent mechanism indicates partial GDPR compliance gaps. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. Overall, the platform demonstrates basic security hygiene but would benefit from enhanced security controls and formalized policies to improve resilience and compliance.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Enable DNSSEC on the domain to protect against DNS spoofing and improve domain integrity.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

FediScience e.V.

Description:

fediscience.org is a social network for scientists run by FediScience e.V., an international association dedicated to promoting scientific communication.

Key Services:
Decentralized social networking for scientistsCommunity moderation and supportPublishing and discussion platform for scientific topics
Content Quality:

good

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
Mastodon 4.3.4JavaScriptCSSHTML5Liberapay (donation platform)Patreon (donation platform)
Frameworks:
Mastodon
Platforms:
FediverseMastodon
Performance:

moderate

Mobile:

good

Accessibility:

basic

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
70/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enabled (implied by wss:// and https:// URLs)
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics & Tracking

Tracking Level:minimal
Privacy Compliance:basic

Advertising & Marketing

Transparency Level:poor

Website Quality Assessment

Design Quality:good
User Experience:good
Content Relevance:good
Navigation Clarity:good
Professionalism:good
Trustworthiness:high

Key Observations

1

Website is a Mastodon instance dedicated to scientists and researchers.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

75/100
Score

Weak X-XSS-Protection configuration

LOW

Current value: "0"

Weak Referrer-Policy configuration

LOW

Current value: "same-origin"

Missing Permissions-Policy header

MEDIUM

Controls browser features and APIs

Sensitive data may be cached

LOW

Cache-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

53/100
Score

No Cookie Policy found

HIGH

GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

No Cookie Consent Banner found

HIGH

GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

No Data Protection Officer mentioned

LOW

Large organizations may need to designate a DPO under GDPR

Privacy policy may not be GDPR compliant

MEDIUM

Privacy policy lacks explicit GDPR compliance elements

GDPR Compliance Analysis

Privacy Policy85% confidence
Cookie Policy0% confidence
Contact Information Found90% confidence
emailphone

🛡️NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive compliance assessment.

NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive

17/100
Score

No information security framework found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity and information security measures

No vulnerability disclosure policy

MEDIUM

NIS2 encourages coordinated vulnerability disclosure

No security policy documentation found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity governance and risk management

No incident response procedures found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented incident response and business continuity plans

No business continuity planning found

MEDIUM

NIS2 emphasizes operational resilience and business continuity

No security contact information

HIGH

NIS2 requires clear incident reporting channels

No vulnerability reporting mechanism

MEDIUM

Clear vulnerability reporting supports coordinated disclosure

No NIS2 reference found

LOW

Consider explicitly mentioning NIS2 compliance efforts

📧Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation and email security assessment.

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

75/100
Score

DMARC not enforcing

MEDIUM

DMARC policy is set to "none"

No BIMI Record

LOW

BIMI displays brand logos in email clients

No MTA-STS Policy

MEDIUM

MTA-STS enforces TLS for email delivery

No TLS-RPT Record

LOW

TLS-RPT provides reporting for email TLS issues

SPF
Sender Policy Framework
DKIM
DomainKeys Identified Mail
DMARC
Domain-based Message Authentication
MX Records
Mail Exchange Records
BIMI
Brand Indicators
MTA-STS
Mail Transfer Agent Security
TLS-RPT
TLS Reporting
DNSSEC
DNS Security
SPF Details
Record:
v=spf1 include:mailservers.webling.ch include:_spf-eu.ionos.com include:spf.m1234.de ~all
DNS Lookups:3/10
Policy:~all
DKIM Selectors Found
Selector:s1(1440-bit rsa)
DMARC Details
Policy:none
Aggregate Reports:support@fediscience.org

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

95/100
Score

SSL Certificate Expires Within 90 Days

MEDIUM

SSL certificate expires in 51 days

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 2 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Certificate Details

Subject:fediscience.org
Issuer:R10
Valid Until:10/26/2025 (51 days)
SANs:fediscience.org

OCSP Status

OCSP Stapling Disabled

📊DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment.

DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment

75/100
Score

DNSSEC Not Enabled

MEDIUM

DNSSEC is not configured for this domain

CAA Records Not Configured

LOW

Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) records not found

Domain Delete Lock Not Enabled

LOW

Domain can be deleted without additional verification

DMARC Policy Set to None

LOW

DMARC is configured but not enforcing any policy

Domain Registration Details

Domain Age
5 years(mature)
Expiry Risk
low(282 days)
Protection Level
basicDNSSEC OFF

DNS Records

A Records:144.76.90.220
AAAA Records:2a01:4f8:192:20cb::2
Name Servers:
ns1058.ui-dns.org
ns1062.ui-dns.biz
ns1086.ui-dns.de
ns1088.ui-dns.com
MX Records:
10: mx00.ionos.de
10: mx01.ionos.de
SOA:Serial: 2017060120, TTL: 600s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:32ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 include:mailservers.webling.ch include:_spf-eu.ionos.com include:spf.m1234.de ~all

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis.

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis

40/100
Score

Service Exposed: SSH

MEDIUM

Port 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

Additional Findings

The website is built on the Mastodon platform version 4.3.4, utilizing modern web technologies including JavaScript and CSS. Hosting is provided by IONOS SE, a reputable registrar and hosting provider. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization and basic accessibility features. Performance is moderate, with proper meta tags and SEO optimizations in place. The absence of a traditional CMS indicates a custom deployment of Mastodon. Technical risks include lack of DNSSEC and missing security headers, which could be addressed to reduce attack surface. Overall, the infrastructure is adequate for the community size but could be modernized with enhanced security and privacy features.
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