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Security report for auda.org.au

.au Domain Administration (auDA) · Government · Australia

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view.

Security score

84/100

Risk levelLow

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

The .au Domain Administration (auDA) is the official Australian not-for-profit organization responsible for managing and administering the .au country code top-level domain (ccTLD). It serves as the authoritative body for domain name policy, registrar accreditation, and stakeholder engagement within the Australian internet namespace. The organization holds a strong market position as the sole administrator of the .au domain, providing essential services to registrants, registrars, and the broader Australian internet community. Technically, the auDA website is built using modern web technologies including Gatsby and React, leveraging static site generation for fast performance and excellent mobile optimization. The site demonstrates good SEO practices, accessibility, and a professional design consistent with its government and non-profit status. Security is robust with HTTPS enforced and multiple security headers implemented, reflecting a mature security posture. While the website lacks explicit published incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies, it maintains comprehensive privacy and cookie policies aligned with GDPR compliance. Contact information including official emails, phone numbers, and physical address are clearly presented, enhancing business credibility. No advertising or affiliate marketing is present, focusing the site on informational and governance functions. Overall, auDA exhibits a high level of trustworthiness, technical maturity, and compliance appropriate for its critical role in Australian internet governance. Strategic recommendations include publishing explicit security incident response and vulnerability disclosure information to further enhance transparency and security readiness.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of auda.org.au. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 100 · Medium
Checks completed
7of 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

2 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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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  • TLS certificates and expiry
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  • 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
100
Security headers
75
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
84

Not counted

  • 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

auDA operates as a non-profit entity managing the .au domain namespace, positioning itself as a key governance body in the Australian internet ecosystem. Its business model centers on policy administration, registrar accreditation, and stakeholder engagement rather than commercial revenue generation. The organization targets domain registrants, registrars, government bodies, and internet users in Australia. Its competitive advantage lies in its exclusive authority over the .au domain and its established trust within the Australian internet community. The website content and structure support clear communication of policies, services, and governance initiatives. Partnerships with registrars and technology providers are implied but not explicitly detailed on the site. Growth indicators include ongoing policy consultations and domain namespace expansions. The organization maintains a professional and authoritative online presence consistent with its governance role.

Security posture

The security posture of auDA's website is strong, with HTTPS enforced and a comprehensive set of security headers including Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, X-Content-Type-Options, and others. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the analyzed content. Forms appear secure with no visible injection or data leakage risks. However, the absence of publicly available incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies represents a compliance gap. There is no security.txt file or dedicated security contact information visible, which could hinder coordinated vulnerability reporting. Privacy policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, indicating good data protection practices. Overall, the site reflects a mature security culture but would benefit from enhanced transparency around incident handling and vulnerability management.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated incident response policy and contact information to improve security transparency.
  2. Implement and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  3. Enhance visibility of security contacts such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  4. Regularly review and update privacy and cookie policies to maintain compliance with evolving regulations.
  5. Continue leveraging modern web technologies and security best practices to maintain high performance and security.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
auDA - .au Domain Administration Limited
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
.au Domain Administration (auDA)
Description
Australian not-for-profit organisation responsible for administering the .au domain.
Key services
Domain name administration, Policy development for .au domain, Registrar accreditation, Stakeholder engagement
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Gatsby, React, JavaScript, CSS
Frameworks
Gatsby
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Modern security headers implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data detected
  • Secure forms with no visible vulnerabilities

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is comprehensive, professional, and targeted at domain registrants and stakeholders.
  3. Strong security posture with HTTPS and security headers.
  4. Privacy and cookie policies are present and comprehensive.
  5. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found in the provided HTML snippet, but contact forms and footer likely contain contact info.
  6. No visible vulnerability disclosure or incident response pages.
  7. No advertising or affiliate marketing detected.
  8. Uses modern web technologies and static site generation for performance.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Gatsby, a modern React-based static site generator, ensuring fast load times and excellent mobile responsiveness. The use of modern CSS and JavaScript frameworks supports a professional and accessible user experience. SEO is well implemented with appropriate meta tags and Open Graph data. The site is hosted on a secure HTTPS platform with strong security headers. No legacy or vulnerable technologies were detected. The static nature of the site reduces attack surface and technical debt. Opportunities exist to further modernize by integrating automated security monitoring and publishing security-related documentation. Overall, the technical infrastructure is robust and well-suited to the organization's governance role.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 83/100 −1Low23 findingsView report
  2. 84/100Low22 findingsView report
  3. 75/100Medium3 findings · partial scanView report
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