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Security report for aic.gov.au

Australian Institute of Criminology · Government · Australia

Partial score · DNS & email only

61/100

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

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) is Australia's national government research and knowledge centre focused on crime and justice. It provides evidence-based research, publications, statistics, and grants to inform policy and practice in the justice sector. The website reflects a well-established government entity with authoritative content and a clear mission to promote justice and reduce crime. The digital infrastructure is built on Drupal 10 and GovCMS, leveraging modern web technologies and frameworks such as Bootstrap and Google Analytics for performance and user insights. The site is mobile optimized, accessible, and professionally designed, supporting a positive user experience. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and no visible vulnerabilities, though some security headers could be improved. Privacy compliance is basic with a privacy policy present but lacking explicit cookie consent mechanisms. Overall, the site is trustworthy, professional, and aligned with government standards.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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

5 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 Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • 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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google APIs

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching aic.gov.au

This scan found 11 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

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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
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
61

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

AIC holds a strong market position as the authoritative criminology research body in Australia, serving policymakers, researchers, and the public. Its business model is government-funded research and knowledge dissemination, with key services including research reports, statistical data, library services, and research grants. The organization leverages partnerships and networks such as the Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery Research Network. The website's content and structure support its role as a trusted information source. Growth indicators include regular publication updates and active engagement through social media channels. The lack of direct commercial activity aligns with its government mandate.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and anonymized IP tracking in analytics. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. However, the absence of explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and lack of a public vulnerability disclosure policy or incident response contacts represent areas for improvement. Privacy compliance could be enhanced by implementing cookie consent mechanisms and clearer GDPR alignment. Overall, the security risks are low given the nature of the site and its government affiliation, but adopting best practices would further strengthen trust and resilience.

Recommendations

  1. Implement security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Introduce a cookie consent banner or mechanism to improve privacy compliance and user transparency.
  3. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Provide clear incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  5. Regularly review and update third-party libraries and analytics configurations to minimize potential vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Australian Institute of Criminology
Description
The Australian Institute of Criminology is Australia's national research and knowledge centre on crime and justice. It promotes justice and reduces crime by undertaking and communicating evidence-based research to inform policy and practice.
Key services
Research, Publications, Statistics, Library Services, Criminology Research Grants, Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery Research Network
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, GovCMS, Google Analytics, Bootstrap 3.4.1, jQuery
Frameworks
Drupal, Bootstrap
Platforms
GovCMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS with anonymized IP tracking in Google Analytics
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure forms with CSRF tokens (Drupal standard)
  • No vulnerable libraries detected in included scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a government research institute site with authoritative content.
  2. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  3. Content is well structured and professionally presented.
  4. No privacy or security policy gaps critical enough to reduce trust significantly.
  5. No WAF or blocking detected; site fully accessible.
  6. WHOIS data is privacy protected but consistent with government domain norms.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern and stable technology stack including Drupal 10 and GovCMS, supported by Bootstrap for responsive design and Google Analytics for user tracking. The infrastructure appears well maintained with no broken elements or errors detected. Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization in loading times. Accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA roles are implemented, supporting inclusive design. SEO is well addressed through meta tags and structured navigation. The site benefits from government hosting standards, contributing to reliability and security. Opportunities exist to enhance security headers and privacy controls to align with best practices.
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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