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Security report for cendi.gov

CENDI · Government · United States

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

67/100

Risk levelMedium

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

CENDI is a US government interagency group comprising senior Scientific and Technical Information managers from 14 federal agencies. The organization focuses on improving productivity in federal research and development through collaboration and shared resources. The website serves as an informational portal highlighting member agencies, working groups, and access to federated scientific research tools such as Science.gov. The site is positioned as a trusted government resource with a clear mission to support federal STI management. Technically, the website is built with standard HTML5 and CSS3, with Google Analytics integrated for traffic monitoring. The site is mobile responsive and has a moderate performance profile. Hosting and domain registration are consistent with government standards, using a .gov domain and registrar get.gov. However, some modern security best practices such as DNSSEC and security headers are not implemented, representing areas for improvement. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS with a good SSL configuration and has domain transfer protections in place. The presence of a Vulnerability Disclosure Program link indicates a proactive security posture. However, the absence of explicit security headers and cookie consent mechanisms suggests incomplete compliance with modern security and privacy standards. No critical vulnerabilities or suspicious content were detected. Overall, the website is a credible and professional government resource with a solid business and technical foundation. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, implementing cookie consent for privacy compliance, enabling DNSSEC, and publishing detailed security and incident response policies to further strengthen trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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. 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 Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • 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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

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

Keep watching cendi.gov

This scan found 23 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.

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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
72
Security headers
45
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
67

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

CENDI operates as a niche government interagency collaboration platform focused on scientific and technical information management. Its market position is unique as a federal government entity supporting 14 agencies, providing a centralized coordination point for STI managers. The business model is non-commercial, emphasizing collaboration and information sharing rather than revenue generation. Key services include managing working groups, supporting federated search tools like Science.gov, and facilitating interagency communication. The organization benefits from strong partnerships with major federal agencies such as USDA, DOE, NASA, and others, enhancing its influence and reach. Growth indicators are stable given the long domain age and established federal presence. The partnership ecosystem is robust, with direct links to multiple federal agency websites. Strategic observations suggest opportunities to modernize technical infrastructure and enhance privacy compliance to maintain leadership in government STI management.

Security posture

The security posture of the CENDI website is moderate to good. HTTPS is enforced with a valid SSL certificate, and domain transfer protections are active, reducing risk of unauthorized domain changes. The presence of a Vulnerability Disclosure Program link demonstrates awareness and commitment to security transparency. However, the lack of DNSSEC and missing security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security represent gaps that could expose the site to certain attack vectors like clickjacking or man-in-the-middle attacks. No forms or input fields on the homepage reduce attack surface, but contact forms on other pages should be reviewed for secure implementation. Privacy compliance is partial, with no cookie consent mechanism detected. Incident response contact details are not published, limiting transparency. Overall, the site is secure for its informational purpose but would benefit from implementing additional security best practices and compliance measures.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Add a cookie consent banner and detailed cookie policy to comply with privacy regulations.
  4. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to enhance transparency and trust.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and analytics tools to minimize vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
CENDI
Description
CENDI (Commerce, Energy, NASA, Defense Information Managers Group) is an interagency group of senior Scientific and Technical Information (STI) managers from 14 United States federal agencies focused on improving productivity of U.S. federal research and development efforts through collaborative agency participation.
Key services
Collaboration among federal STI managers, Support of federated scientific research search tools (Science.gov), Working groups and member coordination
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, Google Analytics
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status serverTransferProhibited
  • Vulnerability Disclosure Program link

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a US government interagency collaboration platform.
  2. Content is focused on scientific and technical information management.
  3. No forms detected on the homepage; contact form likely on /contact.shtml.
  4. No explicit privacy or cookie banners found on homepage.
  5. Google Analytics is used for traffic analysis.
  6. No social media links detected.
  7. No security headers detected in provided data; potential improvement area.
  8. Domain uses HTTPS with good SSL configuration.
  9. WHOIS data shows privacy protection but domain is a .gov domain indicating government ownership.
  10. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a simple, clean HTML5 and CSS3 structure with inline styles for layout and responsiveness. Google Analytics is integrated asynchronously for visitor tracking. No CMS or advanced frameworks detected, indicating a lightweight and maintainable site. Hosting appears stable with DNS managed by UltraDNS and domain registered via get.gov, consistent with government standards. Mobile responsiveness is well addressed through media queries. Performance is moderate, with no heavy scripts or large assets detected. Accessibility is basic but could be improved with ARIA roles and semantic HTML enhancements. SEO is basic with meta description present but no Open Graph or JSON-LD structured data found. Overall, the technical implementation is solid but could benefit from modernization and enhanced security controls.
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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