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Security report for cira.ca

Canadian Internet Registration Authority · Technology · Canada

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

Security score

74/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is the official registry operator for the .CA domain, managing Canada's country code top-level domain. The organization also provides cybersecurity and internet performance solutions aimed at building a better online Canada. Positioned as a national authority, CIRA serves Canadian businesses, government entities, and internet users with a focus on domain management and digital security services. The website reflects a mature and professional digital presence consistent with its authoritative role. Technically, the website is built on WordPress and leverages a modern technology stack including Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, TikTok Pixel, Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, and HubSpot for marketing and analytics. The site is well-optimized for mobile devices, has good accessibility features, and employs HTTPS with strong SSL configuration. The content is rich, well-structured, and professionally presented, supporting excellent user experience and SEO. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS and implements cookie consent mechanisms, but lacks explicit published security policies or incident response information. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. The WHOIS data is privacy protected or unavailable, which is typical for registry operators and does not detract from the site's legitimacy. Overall, the security posture is strong but could be enhanced by publishing dedicated security and vulnerability disclosure information. The overall risk assessment is low, with the site demonstrating high professionalism, strong technical implementation, and good privacy compliance. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security header implementation, publishing security policies, and establishing a vulnerability disclosure program to further strengthen trust and security culture.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of cira.ca. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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 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
    • 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

  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

      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

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

Keep watching cira.ca

This scan found 19 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

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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
60
Security headers
50
Email security
80
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
74

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

CIRA holds a unique market position as the authoritative registry for .CA domains, a critical national internet infrastructure component. Its business model combines domain registry operations with cybersecurity and internet performance services, targeting Canadian businesses, government, and internet users. The organization benefits from strong trust signals due to its official status and consistent branding. Revenue streams likely include domain registrations, renewals, and cybersecurity service subscriptions. The partnership ecosystem includes major advertising and analytics platforms, supporting effective marketing and user engagement. Growth indicators include active use of modern digital marketing tools and comprehensive content offerings. The company operates in the technology and government sectors, with a large organizational size implied by its national role.

Security posture

CIRA's website demonstrates a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS and secure cookie consent mechanisms. The absence of exposed sensitive data and use of reputable analytics and marketing tools indicate good operational security. However, the lack of a publicly available security policy, incident response contact, or vulnerability disclosure program represents a compliance gap and potential risk area. There is no evidence of outdated or vulnerable libraries. The site aligns with GDPR compliance through its privacy and cookie policies. Incident response readiness and security culture indicators could be improved by publishing dedicated security documentation and contact channels. Overall, the security maturity is good but with room for enhancement in transparency and formal security governance.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and compliance frameworks.
  2. Establish and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  3. Enhance HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  4. Provide clear incident response contact information, including security and abuse email addresses.
  5. Continue to monitor and update third-party scripts and analytics tools to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Canadian Internet Registration Authority
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Canadian Internet Registration Authority
Description
CIRA manages the .CA domain name registry and helps build a better online Canada through cybersecurity and internet performance solutions.
Key services
.CA domain registry management, Cybersecurity solutions, Internet performance solutions
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, TikTok Pixel, Hotjar, HubSpot, Microsoft Clarity, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Bing Ads, Reddit Pixel
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of HTTPS
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure cookie consent mechanism

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, HubSpot Analytics
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ads, Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, Reddit Ads
Tracking pixels
TikTok Pixel, Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Reddit Pixel, Facebook Pixel, HubSpot Analytics
Marketing tools
HubSpot
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is comprehensive, professional, and well-structured.
  3. Strong use of modern analytics and marketing technologies.
  4. No exposed sensitive information or obvious security vulnerabilities.
  5. WHOIS data is privacy protected or unavailable, which is typical for registry operators.
  6. Privacy and cookie policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant.
  7. No explicit security policy or incident response page found.
  8. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress, utilizing a modern and diverse set of analytics and marketing technologies including Google Tag Manager, TikTok Pixel, Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, HubSpot, and multiple ad network pixels. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and good accessibility features. Performance is moderate, likely influenced by the number of third-party scripts. SEO is well addressed with comprehensive meta tags and Open Graph data. No critical technical debt or deprecated technologies were detected. Hosting provider details are not explicit but the site uses HTTPS with strong SSL configuration. Opportunities exist to optimize script loading and reduce third-party dependencies to improve performance further.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 75/100Medium23 findingsView report
  2. 75/100Medium23 findingsView report
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