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Security report for canberra.com.au

Canberra · Government · Australia

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

62/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The website canberra.com.au serves as the official city promotion and economic development platform for Canberra, Australia. It provides comprehensive information and resources for residents, prospective movers, students, workers, business owners, investors, and visitors. The site highlights Canberra's lifestyle, education, work opportunities, business environment, and tourism attractions, positioning the city as a vibrant and supportive community with strong government backing. The content is professionally presented with clear navigation and a consistent brand identity. Technically, the website leverages modern web technologies including React and Next.js, with DNS managed via Cloudflare and analytics through Google Tag Manager and Hotjar. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices. However, some performance optimizations could be considered to improve loading speed further. From a security perspective, HTTPS is enabled and DNS is managed by a reputable provider, but DNSSEC is not enabled. The site lacks explicit security headers and published security or incident response policies. Privacy and cookie policies are not found in the provided content, indicating potential compliance gaps. No forms or direct contact information were detected, limiting data collection risks but also reducing transparency. Overall, the website presents a low risk profile with a high level of professionalism and trustworthiness. Strategic improvements in privacy compliance, security policy publication, and DNS security would enhance the site's security posture and regulatory adherence.

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

6 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

    • High

      No SPF record found

      SPF helps prevent email spoofing

      What to do: Add SPF record: "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourmailprovider.com ~all"

  2. 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';…

  3. 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 canberra.com.au

This scan found 27 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
62
Security headers
60
Email security
40
DNS health
55
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
62

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

Canberra.com.au operates as a government-supported platform promoting Canberra as a desirable location for living, working, studying, doing business, and visiting. Its market positioning leverages Canberra's unique advantages such as proximity to government, strong education institutions, and a growing technology and business sector. The business model focuses on information dissemination and economic development facilitation rather than direct commercial transactions. Revenue streams likely derive from government funding and partnerships. The target customer segments include local residents, migrants, students (both international and domestic), business investors, and tourists. The site demonstrates growth indicators through active content updates and partnerships with related domains. The partnership ecosystem includes tourism, events, and government sites, reinforcing its authoritative role in the region.

Security posture

The website exhibits a moderate security maturity level. HTTPS is properly implemented, and DNS is managed by Cloudflare, a reputable provider. However, the absence of DNSSEC reduces DNS security. No security headers such as Content Security Policy or HSTS were detected, which are recommended best practices. The lack of published security policies and incident response contacts limits transparency and preparedness communication. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found in the analyzed content. The use of third-party analytics and tracking tools like Google Tag Manager and Hotjar introduces moderate user tracking but no direct security concerns. Compliance gaps exist due to missing privacy and cookie policies, which are critical for GDPR and other privacy regulations. Overall, the security posture is adequate but could be significantly improved with policy publication and technical hardening.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement and publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with user consent mechanisms.
  3. Add security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  4. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize privacy risks and ensure compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Canberra
Description
Canberra is presented as a city offering a high quality of life with access to art, culture, natural bushland, education, work opportunities, and business support. The website promotes Canberra as a place to live, work, study, do business, and visit, highlighting its community safety, education, migration, transport, housing, health care, and business sectors including cyber, defence, space, agri-technology, digital technology, climate action, education and research, and tourism.
Key services
Information on living in Canberra, Work and job opportunities, Study and education resources, Business support and investment facilitation, Tourism and events promotion
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Next.js, Cloudflare DNS, Google Tag Manager, Hotjar
Frameworks
Next.js
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Use of Cloudflare DNS

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager, Hotjar
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Hotjar
Marketing tools
Hotjar
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured.
  2. Content is comprehensive and targeted at multiple audiences including residents, students, workers, and businesses.
  3. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found on the homepage content provided.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools is evident.
  5. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly found in the provided content.
  6. No forms detected in the provided HTML snippet.
  7. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  8. External links mostly point to official or related Canberra and ACT government domains.
  9. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using modern JavaScript frameworks, specifically React and Next.js, indicating a contemporary and maintainable codebase. DNS is managed by Cloudflare, providing reliable and secure DNS services. The site uses Google Tag Manager and Hotjar for analytics and user behavior tracking. The content is delivered with responsive design and accessibility considerations, ensuring usability across devices and for users with disabilities. Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization in image delivery and script loading. No CMS was explicitly identified, but content management is likely handled via a headless or custom CMS. The technical infrastructure supports a professional and scalable web presence but would benefit from enhanced security configurations and privacy compliance features.
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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