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Security report for arc.gov.au

Australian Research Council · Government · Australia

Partial score · DNS & email only

63/100

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

The Australian Research Council (ARC) is a key Australian government entity responsible for administering national research funding programs and evaluating research excellence. The website serves as a comprehensive portal for researchers, universities, and government stakeholders to access funding schemes, grant management tools, and research evaluation systems. The ARC maintains a strong market position as a trusted government agency supporting research and innovation in Australia. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 10 and GovCMS, leveraging modern frameworks like Bootstrap and integrating Google Analytics and Tag Manager for analytics. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and professionally designed, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure consistent with government standards. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced, multi-factor authentication for critical systems, and a published security vulnerability disclosure policy. However, the absence of security headers and cookie consent mechanisms indicates areas for improvement in compliance and defense-in-depth. The WHOIS data is privacy protected but consistent with government domain norms, supporting legitimacy. Overall, the ARC website is a high-quality, trustworthy government resource with minor gaps in privacy compliance and security headers. Strategic enhancements in these areas would further strengthen its security posture and user trust.

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

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

Keep watching arc.gov.au

This scan found 12 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

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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
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
63

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

ARC operates as a government funding agency with a focus on research excellence and impact. Its competitive advantage lies in its authoritative role in funding allocation and research evaluation across Australia. The business model is primarily government-funded, targeting academic and research institutions. The website ecosystem includes partner services like RMS, SEER, and Data Portal, enhancing its service delivery. Growth indicators include ongoing funding announcements and strategic policy publications. The ARC's operations are tightly integrated with government frameworks, ensuring stable market presence and influence.

Security posture

The ARC website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and multi-factor authentication for sensitive systems. The presence of a security vulnerability disclosure policy indicates proactive security management. However, the lack of security headers such as Content Security Policy and HSTS reduces defense-in-depth. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. The absence of direct incident response contact emails and cookie consent mechanisms are compliance gaps. Overall, the security maturity is good but could benefit from enhanced header policies and privacy compliance measures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Deploy a cookie consent banner to comply with privacy regulations and improve user transparency.
  3. Publish direct security incident response contact information such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  4. Add a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosures.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and analytics tools to ensure no vulnerabilities or privacy issues.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Australian Research Council
Description
The Australian Research Council (ARC) is a Commonwealth entity within the Australian Government established as an independent body supporting the research sector to produce excellent and impactful outcomes for Australia’s economic, social, environmental and cultural benefit.
Key services
National Competitive Grants Program administration, Research funding schemes, Research evaluation (ERA, EI, SEER), Grant management services, Data portal and research insights
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, GovCMS, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Bootstrap, FontAwesome
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Platforms
GovCMS (Australian government hosting platform)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Multi-factor authentication for RMS and SEER systems
  • Security Vulnerability Disclosure Policy published
  • Anonymize IP in Google Analytics

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Marketing tools
Monsido (accessibility and content monitoring)
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally maintained Australian government research funding portal.
  2. Content is comprehensive, well-structured, and targeted at researchers and institutions.
  3. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  4. Security policies and vulnerability disclosure are publicly available.
  5. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found; contact is via web forms.
  6. No cookie consent mechanism detected, which may be a compliance gap.
  7. WHOIS data is privacy protected or unavailable, common for government domains.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern and robust technical stack based on Drupal 10 and GovCMS, supported by Bootstrap for responsive design. Integration with Google Analytics and Tag Manager enables effective user tracking and analytics. The site is hosted on a government platform ensuring reliability and compliance. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. Technical debt appears low with current technologies, but improvements in security headers and privacy compliance are recommended to reduce risk and enhance user trust.
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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