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Security report for asio.gov.au

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation · Government · Australia

Partial score · DNS & email only

59/100

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

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) is Australia's national security intelligence agency, tasked with protecting the country and its citizens from security threats including terrorism, espionage, and insider threats. The website presents a professional and comprehensive digital presence, leveraging Drupal 10 and the GovCMS platform to deliver content about its mission, leadership, careers, and protective security advice. The site is well-structured, mobile-optimized, and includes multilingual support to reach diverse audiences. Analytics are implemented via Google Tag Manager with anonymized IP tracking, reflecting a moderate user tracking approach. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and no visible vulnerabilities, though explicit security headers and a vulnerability disclosure policy are absent. WHOIS data is limited due to registry restrictions, but the .gov.au domain and content strongly indicate legitimacy as an official government entity.

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 asio.gov.au

This scan found 14 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
60
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
59

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

ASIO operates as an essential government agency within the national security sector of Australia. Its business model is non-commercial, focused on intelligence gathering and protective security services. The website targets Australian citizens, government stakeholders, and potential recruits, offering detailed information on its functions and career opportunities. The agency maintains a strong market position as the primary domestic intelligence service. The digital ecosystem includes links to national security resources and a dedicated careers portal. The absence of explicit privacy and cookie policies suggests an area for compliance improvement. The website's professional design and clear navigation support trust and engagement with its audience.

Security posture

ASIO's website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and no exposed sensitive data. The use of Google Tag Manager is configured with IP anonymization, indicating privacy-conscious analytics. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options reduces defense-in-depth. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response contacts are published, which could hinder coordinated vulnerability management. WHOIS data limitations are likely due to registry policies rather than malicious intent. Overall, the site is secure but could enhance transparency and security best practices by publishing relevant policies and headers.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with clear consent mechanisms.
  2. Add security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to strengthen browser security.
  3. Establish and publicize a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  4. Enhance contact information with direct security incident response contacts such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  5. Regularly review and update WHOIS information if possible to improve transparency and trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
Description
ASIO protects Australia and Australians from threats to their security.
Key services
Border integrity, Counter-espionage, Counter-terrorism, Protective security, Security vetting
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, GovCMS, Google Tag Manager, Slick Carousel
Frameworks
Drupal CMS
Platforms
GovCMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS with anonymized IP tracking in analytics
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via 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 professional government site for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
  2. Content is comprehensive about agency functions, leadership, careers, and resources.
  3. No privacy or cookie policy pages detected in the provided HTML snapshot.
  4. Multiple navigation menus with clear structure and multilingual support.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  6. Use of modern CMS (Drupal 10) and GovCMS platform.
  7. Google Tag Manager used for analytics and tracking.
  8. Contact information includes a national security hotline phone number and contact page link.
  9. No visible email addresses or direct security incident contacts.
  10. WHOIS data is limited and does not provide registrant details, likely due to registry policy.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10 using the GovCMS platform, a government-focused CMS solution. It employs modern front-end libraries such as Slick Carousel and integrates Google Tag Manager for analytics. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features like skip links and ARIA roles. Performance is moderate, with asynchronous loading of scripts and lazy loading of images. The site uses canonical URLs and meta viewport tags for SEO and mobile friendliness. No broken elements or errors were detected in the HTML snapshot. Hosting provider details are not explicitly stated. Overall, the technical infrastructure is modern and well-implemented, suitable for a government agency's public-facing website.
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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