Security Review

Is eff.org legit or a scam?

Our verdict:Safe· 97/100

The official, long-established website of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a top-rated digital rights nonprofit with over three decades of verified history.

eff.orgScanned 1h ago
0
Trust score
SAFE
Heuristics 100·MT 95
View density

Analysis Summary

Threat Intelligence
0/92
All engines report clean
Domain Age
36 years old
Registered Oct 10, 1990
MT Intelligence
Safe
Low likelihood · 100% confidence
SAFE

No threats detected

All checks passed. This site appears legitimate — but always stay alert for phishing even on trusted domains.

Website Preview

Screenshot of eff.org
LIVE RENDER
eff.org

Automated page render — captured in a safe sandbox. What an ordinary visitor would see when loading the site. See full visual analysis →

Visual Screenshot Analysis

We capture a fresh screenshot of the live page and ask a vision model to look for scam visual patterns — fake trust badges, countdown timers, overlay pop-ups, and visual clones of legitimate brands.

0
/ 100
No visual red flags

No scam visual patterns detected

The screenshot shows a fully-rendered, professional website for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org) with no visual indicators of a scam or malicious intent.

Visual risk0/100

What our vision model saw

6 signals

Professional layout consistent with the Electronic Frontier Foundation brand

High-quality original graphics and typography

Functional navigation menu including About, Issues, and Tools

Presence of a legitimate 'Donate' call-to-action typical for a nonprofit

Content focuses on digital rights advocacy and policy updates

No visible urgency tactics, fake trust badges, or suspicious pop-ups

MT Intelligence

Advanced threat intelligence
MT Security Analyst
Low scam likelihoodengineMT · Guardiantrust95/100
MT AgentLive web researchVisual inspection
0%
Confidence
The domain has been registered for over 13,000 days, which aligns perfectly with the organization's founding in 1990. Our analysis shows zero flags from over 90 antivirus engines and major browser blocklists. The site is a verified 501(c)(3) nonprofit with top-tier transparency ratings from independent charity evaluators. Visual inspection confirms a professional, brand-consistent layout with no deceptive elements. The infrastructure is stable, high-traffic, and lacks any indicators of malicious intent or impersonation.
Full dossier
Analysis complete

Page Content

The website serves as a hub for digital rights advocacy, featuring legal case updates, policy whitepapers, and privacy tools like Privacy Badger. The content is high-quality, original, and consistent with a major international nonprofit.

Infrastructure

The site is hosted on a dedicated IP with a perfect reputation score and no history of abuse reports. It uses a valid SSL certificate and loads resources from trusted domains like GitHub and official government portals.

Domain History

Registered in 1995, this domain is one of the oldest active sites on the web. Its longevity and consistent ownership by the Electronic Frontier Foundation make it a benchmark for domain legitimacy.

Web Reputation

The organization maintains a 4/4 star rating from major charity aggregators and a B+ from independent financial watchdogs. It is globally recognized as an authority on cybersecurity and digital law.
Positive Signals
5
  • Domain age exceeds 35 years with consistent ownership history.
  • Zero detections across 92 antivirus engines in our network.
  • Verified 501(c)(3) nonprofit status with high transparency scores.
  • High global traffic ranking within the top 100,000 sites.
  • Endorsed by major independent charity and trust aggregators.
AI Recommendation
This site is safe to use. You can trust its downloads, donation forms, and educational resources.
Next-gen fraud intelligence
Evidence-backedCross-checked

Web Research Findings

Our live research agent queries scam-report databases, consumer-review sites, news coverage, and general web search for eff.org, then cross-checks business-registration records and look-alike domain patterns. Everything below is pulled from what it actually found.

Domain age
35 yrs
Registered Oct 1990
Business registration
Active · United States
Site traces back to an actively registered business.
Clone check
Not a clone
No well-known site's layout or branding detected here.
Typosquat check
No look-alike match
The domain doesn't resemble any well-known brand's spelling.
Web mentions
3 positive
Key findings
6 headline facts from open-web research
  • eff.org is the official website of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a leading nonprofit digital rights organization founded in 1990 in San Francisco, focused on privacy, free speech, and innovation.
  • Recognized as a legitimate 501(c)(3) nonprofit with Tax ID 04-3091431; maintains high ratings including 4/4 stars (100% score) from Charity Navigator as of 2025 and B+ from CharityWatch.
  • Actively publishes reports, litigates (e.g., against government surveillance, DMCA issues), provides tools/guides on phishing/malware avoidance, and engages in policy advocacy; no scam or fraud reports found across searches.
  • Limited user reviews exist (e.g., 4.0/5 on Trustpilot from 7 reviews); Reddit discussions are generally positive or neutral regarding its privacy and digital rights work.
  • Domain age of 13,045 days (~35+ years) aligns with founding date; no association with any detected scam families or brand impersonation.
  • EFF itself publishes extensive resources on avoiding phishing scams, malware, and fraudulent sites, reinforcing its role as a trusted authority in digital security.
Positive reviews (3)
Quotes indicating the site is legitimate.
  • Trustpilotopen

    "Do you agree with Electronic Frontier Foundation's 4-star rating? Check out what 7 people have written so far"

  • Charity Navigatoropen

    "Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has earned a 4/4 Star rating on Charity Navigator"

  • CharityWatchopen

    "Electronic Frontier Foundation | Top-Rated Charity. B+"

Business registration
Status: active · United States

US 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (Tax ID 04-3091431), founded 1990, headquartered in San Francisco, CA. High transparency ratings from Charity Navigator (4/4 stars, 100% score) and CharityWatch (B+).

Research summary
Narrative write-up from our AI analyst, grounded on the facts above
We found that eff.org is the official home of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a leading nonprofit founded in 1990. It holds a 4/4 star rating from Charity Navigator and a B+ from CharityWatch, indicating high financial health and transparency. Independent review sites show positive feedback regarding their privacy tools and advocacy work, with no scam reports or complaints found across any major consumer databases.

Antivirus Engines

Clean pass · verified
Clean across 92 engines

We cross-check every URL against our antivirus network of 92 malware and blacklist engines. None of them flagged this URL in the last scan.

0Malicious0Suspicious61Harmless92Engines
Clean
Kaspersky
Clean
Bitdefender
Clean
Microsoft
Not in pass
ESET-NOD32
Not in pass
Avira
Not in pass
Sophos
Clean
Fortinet
Clean
Google Safebrowsing
Clean
Emsisoft
Clean

No engine detections. The URL passed every antivirus and blacklist engine we queried in this scan. Stay vigilant — AV coverage is only one signal among many.

Security Scans

Blacklist Check
Not flagged on major threat lists

Checked against the major public blocklists used by browsers and security tools — no hits.

Contact Verification

We fetched the page and looked for real-world contact details. Legitimate businesses almost always publish an email on their own domain, a phone number, and a postal address. Scam shops usually don't.

What We Found
No clear contact details on the page
Emails on site's domainNone
Phone numbersNone
Postal addressNot listed
Linked social profiles6
Signal Summary
Several contact red flags
  • No contact email found anywhere on the page.
  • No phone number listed on the page.
  • No postal address visible on the page.
  • Links to 6 social profiles.

Domain & Encryption

Domain History
Age36 years old
RegistrarGandi SAS
RegisteredOct 10, 1990
ExpiresOct 9, 2026
Owner privacyVisible
Encryption Certificate
StatusValid
ProtocolTLSv1.2
IssuerLet's Encrypt · YE1
ExpiresAug 30, 2026 (62d)
Self-signedNo
Hosting & Technology
HostingUnwired
Server locationUS
Web servernginx
Platform / CMSDrupal
PopularityTop 100k worldwide

Redirect Chain

Hops
2
Cross-domain
Yes
Lookalike
No
Punycode
No
  • 1301http://eff.org/
  • 2301https://eff.org/
  • 3200https://www.eff.org/cross-domain

Server Reputation

Abuse Intelligence
Confidence score0%
Reports on file0
ISPUnwired
Usage typeFixed Line ISP

Still, stay alert

No major threat indicators — but a clean scan does not guarantee every page is safe, and phishing emails routinely spoof real domains.

  • Double-check the exact URL in your address bar

    Confirm you are actually on eff.org and not a lookalike like e-ff.org.com or an IDN homoglyph.

  • Use a password manager

    Password managers only auto-fill on the exact domain they were saved for — they refuse to fill lookalike domains, which is the single best phishing defence.

  • Discuss this site on the forum

    If you have first-hand experience with this site — good or bad — share it with the MalwareTips community.

    Open

Reputation Sources

How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.

Google Safe Browsing
Not listedCheck ↗
VirusTotal
Not listedCheck ↗
AbuseIPDB
Not listedCheck ↗

Referenced Domains

Outbound domains this page links to or loads resources from. Each links to its own security scan.

Safety FAQ

Common questions about this site, answered directly from the scan data above — so the answers always reflect the latest verdict on this page.

  • Our automated security review found no threat indicators on eff.org. The site appears legitimate based on the signals we checked, but always stay alert for phishing emails that spoof real domains.
  • eff.org passed our automated security checks with a trust score of 97/100. No antivirus engines or major blacklists flagged the site at the time of the last scan.
  • Yes. eff.org presents a valid TLSv1.2 certificate issued by Let's Encrypt · YE1, expiring in 62 days. Note that SSL only encrypts the connection — it does not guarantee that the site itself is trustworthy.
  • eff.org is 35.7 years old, registered on 10/10/1990 through Gandi SAS. Scam domains are often freshly registered — a site under 6 months old warrants extra caution.
  • No. All 92 antivirus engines in our malware network report eff.org as clean.
  • No. eff.org is not currently listed on the major browser blocklist feeds that modern browsers use.
  • eff.org resolves to an IP operated by Unwired in US (usage type: Fixed Line ISP). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad, but unusual geography for a brand's claimed country is one of many signals we weigh.
  • Yes. eff.org sits in the global top-100k on Cloudflare Radar, which means it has substantial real-world traffic. That does not automatically make it safe, but established brands almost always rank here and throwaway scam domains almost never do.

Final Verdict

0
Trust / 100
Final Verdict·eff.org
SAFE

This is the official website for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a highly respected nonprofit organization. It is a legitimate site with a 35-year history of defending digital privacy and free speech. You can safely browse this site and use its resources.

This site is safe to use. You can trust its downloads, donation forms, and educational resources.

AV engines
92
MT passes
2
Net signals
0
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This report is generated automatically by combining threat intelligence, domain signals, and an AI security analyst. It is informational, not legal advice. Always use your own judgement before sharing personal information or money online.