Skip to main content

Security report for barnstablecounty.org

Barnstable County · Government · United States

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

60/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Barnstable County's official website serves as a comprehensive portal for county government services, news, and resources for residents and visitors of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The site provides access to meeting centers, employment opportunities, public records, and environmental programs such as PFAS mitigation. It targets local citizens, government employees, and businesses, positioning itself as the authoritative source for county-related information. The business model is typical of a government entity, focusing on public service and transparency. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with a modern tech stack including Bootstrap, jQuery, and various plugins for SEO, accessibility, and user engagement. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility compliance, and SEO best practices. Analytics and tracking tools such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Lucky Orange, and ShareThis are employed for user behavior insights. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS with a good SSL configuration and employs some security best practices, though explicit security headers and policies are not fully implemented. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is basic, with a privacy policy present but lacking a cookie consent mechanism and GDPR-specific indicators. WHOIS data confirms the legitimacy of the domain as a government entity with consistent registration details. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained, with room for improvement in privacy compliance and security policy transparency. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, implementing cookie consent, publishing incident response information, and continuous monitoring of third-party scripts.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

7 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.

    • High

      Weak Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

  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

  3. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1

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

Keep watching barnstablecounty.org

This scan found 25 issues across 6 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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
27
Security headers
15
Email security
87
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
60

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

Barnstable County holds a stable market position as the official government entity for Cape Cod, providing essential public services and information. Its competitive advantage lies in its authoritative status and comprehensive service offerings including government news, public meetings, environmental programs, and employment resources. Revenue streams are typical of government funding and public service budgets. The target customer segments include local residents, businesses, visitors, and government employees. Growth indicators include active content updates, event calendars, and community engagement tools. The partnership ecosystem includes related government agencies and service providers such as the Barnstable County Retirement system and Sheriff's Office. Operationally, the county maintains a consistent brand and digital presence, leveraging modern web technologies to serve its constituents effectively.

Security posture

The website exhibits a moderate to good security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and no visible critical vulnerabilities. Security best practices such as use of security and accessibility plugins are in place, but the absence of explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represents a compliance gap. There is no published security policy or incident response contact, which limits transparency and readiness perception. Data protection practices appear sound with no exposed sensitive data. The site uses third-party analytics and tracking scripts, which should be regularly audited for vulnerabilities. Overall, the security culture is adequate for a government website but could be enhanced by formalizing policies and improving header configurations.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Add a cookie consent banner/mechanism to comply with GDPR and enhance user privacy transparency.
  3. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and plugins to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance monitoring and logging capabilities to detect and respond to security incidents promptly.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Barnstable County
Description
Barnstable County government website providing news, meetings, events, contact information, and resources for residents and visitors of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Key services
County government news and updates, Meeting Center for public meetings, Employment opportunities, Public records and guidelines, PFAS mitigation information, Open finance data, Community events calendar
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, jQuery, Bootstrap, Slick Carousel, FancyApps UI, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, GTranslate, Popup Maker, Lucky Orange, UserWay Accessibility Widget
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security and accessibility plugins
  • No visible vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Lucky Orange, ShareThis
Marketing tools
ShareThis, Lucky Orange
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally maintained government site for Barnstable County, Cape Cod.
  2. Content is comprehensive for county government services and information.
  3. Good use of modern web technologies and accessibility features.
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity.
  5. Privacy and cookie policies exist but cookie consent mechanism is missing.
  6. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  7. WHOIS data supports legitimacy and transparency.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform using Bootstrap for responsive design and jQuery for interactivity. It integrates multiple plugins for SEO (Yoast), accessibility (UserWay), event management, and analytics (Google Analytics, Lucky Orange). The site loads external resources from reputable CDNs and uses modern web fonts from Google Fonts. Performance is moderate with room for optimization, especially in script loading and caching. Accessibility features are well implemented, including ARIA roles and keyboard navigation support. SEO is supported by proper meta tags, Open Graph, and JSON-LD structured data. Technical risks include reliance on multiple third-party scripts which require ongoing maintenance to avoid vulnerabilities.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with barnstablecounty.org. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review barnstablecounty.org.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.