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Security report for centralbankmalta.org

Central Bank of Malta · Finance · Malta

Medium risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

62/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Central Bank of Malta operates as the national central bank responsible for implementing monetary policy, ensuring financial stability, overseeing payment systems, issuing currency, and conducting economic research. The website reflects its authoritative position with comprehensive content targeting the general public, financial institutions, and government entities. It offers a range of services including publications, market data, and regulatory information, positioning itself as a key financial institution in Malta. Technically, the website is built on an ASP.NET WebForms platform with modern JavaScript libraries such as jQuery 3.6. It integrates third-party services like Cookiebot for cookie consent management, Google Analytics, and Hotjar for analytics and user behavior tracking. The site demonstrates moderate performance and basic mobile optimization, with room for improvement in accessibility and security headers. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and employs a robust cookie consent mechanism with blocking mode to comply with GDPR. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, additional security headers could enhance protection. Privacy compliance is strong, with clear policies and user consent management. Overall, the Central Bank of Malta's website is a professional, trustworthy, and compliant digital presence that effectively supports its institutional role. Strategic improvements in security headers, mobile optimization, and accessibility would further strengthen its posture.

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

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.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

  2. 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.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

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

Keep watching centralbankmalta.org

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

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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
0
Security headers
75
Email security
75
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
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

The Central Bank of Malta holds a critical position as Malta's national central bank, serving governmental and financial sectors. Its business model centers on regulatory and monetary functions, economic research, and public communication. The website's content and linked domains indicate strong partnerships with European Central Bank and reputable service providers like Deloitte Digital and Cookiebot. The bank targets a broad audience including policymakers, financial institutions, researchers, and the general public. The presence of detailed publications and economic data suggests a focus on transparency and knowledge dissemination. The absence of direct contact emails or phone numbers on the homepage implies controlled communication channels, typical for governmental entities. The bank's digital ecosystem is mature but could benefit from enhanced mobile and accessibility features to broaden reach.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS encryption and a comprehensive cookie consent mechanism that respects user privacy and GDPR requirements. The use of session cookies with anti-CSRF tokens indicates attention to secure session management. However, the lack of several recommended security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options represents an area for improvement to mitigate risks like clickjacking and MIME sniffing. No signs of malware, phishing, or exposed credentials were found. The integration of third-party analytics and tracking tools is managed with user consent, balancing functionality and privacy. The absence of a public vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file suggests an opportunity to enhance transparency and incident response readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Implement additional HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to strengthen defense against common web attacks.
  2. Enhance mobile optimization and accessibility compliance to improve user experience across devices and for users with disabilities.
  3. Publish a security.txt file or vulnerability disclosure policy to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and libraries to prevent vulnerabilities from outdated components.
  5. Consider adding clear and accessible contact information for security incidents and data protection inquiries to improve trust and compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Central Bank of Malta
Description
The Central Bank of Malta is the national central bank responsible for monetary policy, financial stability, payments oversight, market operations, currency issuance, and economic research in Malta.
Key services
Monetary policy implementation, Financial stability oversight, Payments systems regulation, Currency issuance and management, Economic research and publications
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
ASP.NET WebForms, jQuery 3.6, Cookiebot, Google Analytics, Hotjar
Frameworks
ASP.NET WebForms
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent with blocking mode
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of session cookies with anti-CSRF token

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Hotjar
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google
Tracking pixels
Cookiebot, Hotjar
Marketing tools
Hotjar
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and maintained by Deloitte Digital.
  2. Strong compliance with GDPR and cookie consent regulations.
  3. Use of multiple analytics and tracking tools with user consent.
  4. No visible security vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data.
  5. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found on homepage; contact likely via dedicated pages.
  6. No terms of service page detected.
  7. Cookie consent mechanism is comprehensive and user-friendly.
  8. Website uses ASP.NET WebForms technology stack.
  9. Social media presence is strong with official accounts linked.
  10. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a legacy ASP.NET WebForms framework supplemented with modern JavaScript libraries like jQuery 3.6. It uses Cookiebot for cookie consent management, integrating blocking mode to enforce user choices. Analytics are handled via Google Analytics and Hotjar, with scripts loaded asynchronously to optimize performance. The site includes print-specific CSS and conditional stylesheets for older Internet Explorer versions, indicating attention to cross-browser compatibility. While the site performs moderately well, improvements in mobile responsiveness and accessibility are needed. The absence of advanced frameworks or CMS suggests a custom-built solution maintained by Deloitte Digital. The technical stack is stable but could benefit from modernization to improve scalability and maintainability.
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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