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Security report for acma.gov.au

Australian Communications and Media Authority · Government · Australia

Partial score · DNS & email only

64/100

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

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is the national government agency responsible for regulating communications and media services in Australia. It oversees broadcasting, telecommunications, internet services, and spectrum management, ensuring compliance with legislation and protecting consumer interests. The ACMA operates as a large government entity with a clear mandate and a strong market position as the authoritative regulator in its sector. The website reflects this status with professional design, comprehensive content, and clear communication channels. Technically, the ACMA website is built on Drupal 10 and hosted on the GovCMS platform, a government-specific content management system. It employs modern web technologies including Google Tag Manager and Font Awesome for icons. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and SEO-friendly, providing a good user experience. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and includes a Content Security Policy header, demonstrating good security hygiene. However, additional security headers could be implemented to further harden the site. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is addressed with clear privacy and cookie policies, though GDPR compliance is not explicitly indicated, which is typical for Australian government sites. Overall, the ACMA website is trustworthy, professional, and well-maintained, with a strong alignment between its domain registration and organizational identity. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy, and improving privacy compliance transparency to align with international standards.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

  2. 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

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Keep watching acma.gov.au

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  • 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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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
80
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
64

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

ACMA holds a critical regulatory role within the Australian government, overseeing communications and media sectors. Its competitive advantage lies in its statutory authority and comprehensive regulatory framework. The business model is government-funded, focusing on compliance enforcement, consumer protection, and spectrum management. Revenue streams are primarily from government appropriations and licensing fees. Target customers include Australian citizens, businesses, and media operators. The agency has a broad partnership ecosystem with government bodies and industry stakeholders. Growth indicators include expanding digital communications oversight and adapting to emerging technologies. Operationally, ACMA maintains a high level of professionalism and transparency, supporting its mandate effectively.

Security posture

The ACMA website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and a Content Security Policy in place. The absence of additional security headers such as X-Frame-Options and Strict-Transport-Security suggests room for improvement. No incident response or security policy pages were found, indicating potential gaps in public security communication. No vulnerabilities or sensitive data exposures were detected. Privacy policies are comprehensive but lack explicit GDPR compliance statements. The site uses tracking technologies responsibly with IP anonymization. Overall, the security culture appears solid but could benefit from enhanced transparency and additional technical controls.

Recommendations

  1. Implement additional HTTP security headers including X-Frame-Options, X-XSS-Protection, and Strict-Transport-Security to strengthen defense against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a formal vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  3. Enhance privacy compliance transparency by including GDPR-related information and data retention policies.
  4. Develop and publish an incident response policy or contact channel to improve security communication and readiness.
  5. Optimize website performance and loading times to improve user experience and SEO rankings.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Australian Communications and Media Authority
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Australian Communications and Media Authority
Description
The ACMA is the Australian Government agency responsible for regulating communications and media services, including broadcasting, internet, radio communications, and telecommunications.
Key services
Regulation of broadcasting and telecommunications, Spectrum management, Consumer protection in communications, Compliance and enforcement
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, GovCMS, Google Tag Manager, Font Awesome
Frameworks
Drupal
Platforms
GovCMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Content Security Policy present
  • IP anonymization in Google Analytics

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, LinkedIn Insight
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
LinkedIn Insight Tag
Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
excellent
Navigation
good
Professionalism
excellent
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is an official Australian government regulatory agency site
  2. Content is comprehensive and professionally presented
  3. Uses modern CMS and tracking technologies
  4. Security posture is good with HTTPS and CSP header
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity
  6. WHOIS data is privacy protected but consistent with government domain management
  7. Contact information and policies are clearly available
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10 using the GovCMS platform, indicating a modern and government-tailored CMS environment. It integrates Google Tag Manager and LinkedIn Insight for analytics and marketing. Font Awesome is used for iconography. The site is mobile responsive and accessible, with proper meta tags and SEO optimizations. Performance is moderate, with potential for improvement in load times. Security headers are minimal but include a Content Security Policy. The hosting provider is not explicitly identified but likely government-managed infrastructure. Overall, the technical infrastructure is robust and suitable for a government regulatory agency.
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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