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Security report for bjs.gov

Bureau of Justice Statistics · Government · United States

Low risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

76/100

Risk levelLow

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

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is a key U.S. government agency under the Office of Justice Programs, providing authoritative criminal justice statistics and research. The website serves a broad audience including policymakers, researchers, and the public, offering extensive data, publications, and funding information. The site is well-branded, professionally designed, and consistent with government standards, reinforcing its credibility. Technically, the site is built on Drupal 10, leveraging modern web technologies and integrations such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook SDK. It demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices, although some enhancements in cookie consent and security headers could be made. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and no evident vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. However, explicit security policies and incident response information are not publicly visible, which could be improved to enhance transparency and trust. Overall, the site is a reliable and authoritative source for criminal justice data, with a high trust level and minimal risk. Strategic recommendations include enhancing privacy compliance mechanisms, publishing security policies, and reinforcing security headers.

Scanned

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

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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 Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

  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. 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

      SSL Certificate Expires Soon

      SSL certificate expires in 16 days

      What to do: Renew SSL certificate before expiration

      • NIS2 21(2)(h)
      • IR 2024/2690 9.2(c): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 9.2(c): Cryptography
      • NIST SC-17: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-17: Public Key Infrastructure Certificates

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

Keep watching bjs.gov

This scan found 17 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.

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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
85
Security headers
65
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
76

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

BJS holds a dominant position as the official U.S. government source for criminal justice statistics, supported by its affiliation with the Department of Justice. Its business model is non-commercial, focused on data dissemination, research support, and funding administration. The agency targets government entities, researchers, and the public, providing valuable datasets, publications, and program information. Partnerships with other DOJ bureaus and national archives strengthen its ecosystem. The website's comprehensive content and consistent branding reflect a mature digital presence aligned with government standards.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS, no detected vulnerable libraries, and no exposed sensitive information. Security headers are implied but not explicitly confirmed in the HTML, suggesting room for improvement. The absence of visible incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies is a gap in transparency. No signs of phishing, malware, or other threats were detected. The site follows best practices typical for government domains but could benefit from publishing explicit security and incident response documentation to enhance user trust and compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Publish explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Implement a visible cookie consent banner to comply with privacy regulations and enhance user trust.
  3. Publish incident response and vulnerability disclosure policies to improve transparency and security culture.
  4. Regularly audit and minimize third-party scripts to reduce potential attack surface.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and provide detailed accessibility statements.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Description
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is the United States' primary source for criminal justice statistics that cover a wide range of topics.
Key services
Criminal justice statistics publication, Data collection and analysis, Funding and awards for criminal justice research, Providing access to datasets and data tools
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Facebook SDK, Verint Unified Web SDK, jQuery DataTables
Frameworks
Drupal CMS
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of official .gov domain
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No vulnerable libraries detected in scripts

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Adsense
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official U.S. government website with .gov domain
  2. Comprehensive criminal justice statistics and data resources
  3. Uses modern web technologies and CMS (Drupal 10)
  4. Good SEO and accessibility practices
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious content
  6. No WHOIS data available publicly, typical for government domains
  7. No cookie consent mechanism visible
  8. Social media presence on official platforms
  9. No explicit security incident or vulnerability disclosure information found
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10, a modern and secure CMS platform, indicating a well-maintained technical infrastructure. It integrates standard analytics and marketing tools such as Google Analytics and Facebook SDK. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO metadata and structured navigation. Performance is moderate, likely due to rich content and multiple external scripts. There is no evidence of technical debt or outdated technologies. Hosting details are not explicit but the use of .gov domain suggests government-managed infrastructure with high reliability.
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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