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Security report for clinicaltrials.gov

ClinicalTrials.gov · Healthcare · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

73/100

Risk levelMedium

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

ClinicalTrials.gov is a U.S. government-operated website providing a comprehensive database of clinical trials and study results worldwide. It serves researchers, healthcare professionals, patients, and the general public by offering authoritative and up-to-date information on clinical research. The site is well-established, with a domain age dating back to 2000, and is managed by the National Library of Medicine under the NIH, ensuring high credibility and trustworthiness. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including Angular framework, Google Fonts, Google Maps API, and integrates Google Analytics and Tag Manager for user tracking and analytics. The site is hosted on Google Cloud infrastructure, providing reliable performance and good mobile optimization. Accessibility and SEO features are implemented at a basic to good level. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS with strong SSL configuration and uses domain status protections such as serverTransferProhibited. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, and explicit security policies or incident response contacts are not published. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analyzed content. Overall, the website demonstrates a strong business credibility and technical maturity appropriate for a government health information service. Recommendations include publishing clear privacy and cookie policies with GDPR compliance details, enabling DNSSEC, and providing vulnerability disclosure information to enhance transparency and security posture.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of clinicaltrials.gov. View the latest report

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

5 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

      Weak Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1
    • High

      SSL Certificate Expires Soon

      SSL certificate expires in 24 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 clinicaltrials.gov

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.

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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
62
Security headers
60
Email security
70
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
73

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention clinicaltrials.gov, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
1,827
Employees
0
Customers
1,791
Third parties
36
Weak passwords
10%

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for clinicaltrials.gov.

Select it in the checkout above.

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

ClinicalTrials.gov holds a dominant position as the primary U.S. government source for clinical trial registration and results reporting. Its business model is non-commercial, focusing on public service and regulatory compliance. The platform supports a wide range of stakeholders including researchers, healthcare providers, and patients, facilitating transparency and access to clinical research data. The use of a .gov domain and long domain age reinforce its authoritative status. The site leverages partnerships with federal agencies and integrates Google services for enhanced functionality. Growth indicators include continuous updates and expansions of clinical trial data coverage. Strategic observations suggest maintaining government compliance and enhancing user engagement through improved privacy and security disclosures.

Security posture

The security posture of ClinicalTrials.gov is robust with mandatory HTTPS, strong SSL configuration, and domain transfer protections. The absence of DNSSEC is a minor gap. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive information were found. However, the lack of published security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms limits transparency and may hinder rapid incident handling. The use of Google Analytics and Tag Manager introduces moderate user tracking, which should be balanced with privacy compliance. Overall, the site aligns well with government security standards but could improve by formalizing security governance documentation and disclosure.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies including GDPR compliance details.
  3. Implement and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file.
  4. Provide clear security incident response contacts and procedures.
  5. Review and minimize user tracking to align with privacy best practices.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
ClinicalTrials.gov
Description
ClinicalTrials.gov is a database of privately and publicly funded clinical studies conducted around the world. It provides information about clinical studies to the public, researchers, and healthcare professionals.
Key services
Clinical trial registration, Clinical study results reporting, Searchable database of clinical studies
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Angular (implied by _ngcontent attributes), Google Fonts, Google Maps API, Material Icons, Font Awesome 6, PrimeNG, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics
Frameworks
Angular
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Domain status serverTransferProhibited
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google APIs with keys

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
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 U.S. government clinical trials registry and results database.
  2. Content is comprehensive and authoritative for clinical research.
  3. No privacy or cookie policies explicitly found in provided HTML.
  4. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly found in provided content.
  5. Uses modern web technologies and Google services for maps and analytics.
  6. No signs of WAF or content blocking detected.
  7. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  8. WHOIS data shows privacy protection but domain is .gov and legitimate.
  9. No adult or questionable content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern Angular framework with integration of Google Fonts, Material Icons, Font Awesome, and PrimeNG UI components. It uses Google Maps API for location services and Google Analytics/Tag Manager for analytics. Hosting is on Google Cloud, ensuring scalability and performance. The site is mobile optimized and accessible with semantic HTML and ARIA attributes. SEO is basic but present with meta tags and robots directives. No major technical debt or outdated libraries were detected. Opportunities exist to enhance SEO and accessibility further and to adopt DNSSEC for DNS security.
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. 77/100Low22 findingsView report
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