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Security report for accesshub.gov.au

Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts · Government · Australia

Partial score · DNS & email only

57/100

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

Access Hub is an Australian government website managed by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts. It provides information and services to assist Australians who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have speech impairments to connect via phone and online communication methods. The platform prominently features the National Relay Service and related accessible communication services. The website is built on Drupal 10 and GovCMS, indicating a government-managed content management system with a focus on accessibility and usability. The site includes multimedia content such as videos with transcripts and accessibility tools like ReadSpeaker. Security-wise, the site uses HTTPS and anonymizes IP addresses in analytics, but lacks visible security headers and explicit privacy or cookie policies on the homepage. WHOIS data is not publicly available due to auDA policies, but the domain is a gov.au domain, which is a strong legitimacy indicator. Overall, the site is trustworthy, professionally designed, and serves an essential government function.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 100 · Medium
Checks completed
6of 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

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  2. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  3. 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 accesshub.gov.au

This scan found 15 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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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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
0
Email security
60
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
57

Not counted

  • Security headers: did not complete in this scan.
  • 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

The website positions itself as a key government resource for accessible communication services, targeting Australians with hearing and speech impairments. It offers a variety of services including Auslan interpreting, video relay, captioning apps, and SMS relay. The business model is a government service provision, funded and operated by a federal department. The site demonstrates a consistent branding aligned with government standards and provides subscription options for news and alerts, indicating ongoing engagement with its user base. The presence of external links to related government services and social media channels supports a well-integrated service ecosystem. The lack of direct contact emails or phone numbers on the homepage suggests centralized contact management, typical for government sites.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS and uses Google Analytics with IP anonymization, reflecting basic security and privacy awareness. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options is a gap that could be addressed to enhance protection against common web attacks. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. The site lacks published incident response or vulnerability disclosure information, which is recommended for transparency and security maturity. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a government informational site but could be improved with additional headers and published policies.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with consent mechanisms to improve privacy compliance.
  2. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance security posture.
  3. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and incident response contact information to increase transparency and trust.
  4. Include clear contact information such as official emails and phone numbers for user support and inquiries.
  5. Regularly review and update analytics and tracking practices to ensure compliance with evolving privacy regulations.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts
Description
Information and services you can use to make a phone call and connect online. You can access and learn about the National Relay Service here, as well as other ways to connect.
Key services
National Relay Service information, Services for Auslan users, Services for d/Deaf English users, Services for hard of hearing, Services for speech communication difficulties, Guides for organisations and hearing people, News and alerts subscription
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, GovCMS, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, ReadSpeaker webReader
Frameworks
Drupal CMS, GovCMS
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Anonymize IP in Google Analytics

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
high

Key observations

  1. Website is a government platform for accessible communication services in Australia.
  2. Content is well structured and targeted to people with hearing and speech impairments.
  3. Uses Drupal 10 and GovCMS, indicating a government-managed CMS.
  4. Includes multiple accessible features such as ReadSpeaker and clear navigation.
  5. No explicit privacy or cookie policies found on the homepage content.
  6. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in the visible content.
  7. WHOIS data is not publicly available due to auDA policy.
  8. External links mostly to government or trusted domains.
  9. Google Analytics and Tag Manager used for analytics and tracking.
  10. No signs of WAF blocking or security challenge pages.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern CMS (Drupal 10) and GovCMS platform tailored for Australian government sites, ensuring compliance with accessibility and security standards. It integrates multimedia content with transcripts and accessibility tools like ReadSpeaker, enhancing user experience for the target audience. The site loads multiple external scripts for analytics and tracking, including Google Analytics and Tag Manager, which are industry standards. Performance appears moderate with mobile optimization and responsive design in place. The site could benefit from improved security headers and explicit privacy and cookie policies. No hosting provider details were discernible from the HTML content.
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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