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Security report for communitybankingconnections.org

Federal Reserve System · Finance · United States

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

73/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Community Banking Connections is an official publication of the Federal Reserve System, providing supervision and regulation resources targeted at community banks. The website serves as a centralized hub for industry news, policy guidance, and outreach initiatives, positioning itself as a trusted government resource in the finance sector. The content is well-organized and professionally presented, reflecting the authoritative nature of the Federal Reserve System. Technically, the website employs a mature technology stack including ASP.NET Web Forms, jQuery, and Google Tag Manager for analytics. The site is mobile responsive and features interactive elements such as sliders and tabs, though some modern security headers and cookie consent mechanisms are absent. Performance is moderate with room for optimization, and SEO practices are basic but adequate for the target audience. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS and avoids exposing sensitive data. However, the lack of explicit security headers and absence of a vulnerability disclosure policy indicate areas for improvement. The WHOIS data is unavailable, likely due to registry privacy policies, but the domain's alignment with Federal Reserve branding and content supports its legitimacy. Overall, the site maintains a good security posture but could enhance compliance and transparency. The overall risk assessment is low given the governmental nature of the site and its professional presentation. Strategic recommendations include implementing comprehensive security headers, adding cookie consent for privacy compliance, publishing security and incident response policies, and maintaining up-to-date third-party libraries to mitigate vulnerabilities.

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

3 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

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

Keep watching communitybankingconnections.org

This scan found 20 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
85
Security headers
45
Email security
70
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
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

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

The website operates as a government publication under the Federal Reserve System, targeting community banks and regulatory professionals. Its market position is strong as an authoritative source for supervision and regulation information. The business model focuses on information dissemination rather than commercial transactions. Key services include publishing articles, hosting webinars, and providing compliance resources. The partnership ecosystem includes related Federal Reserve initiatives and consumer compliance publications. Growth indicators are stable, reflecting the ongoing need for regulatory guidance in the banking sector. The site’s operations emphasize trust, transparency, and accessibility to banking professionals.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enabled and no visible sensitive data exposure. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options reduces its defense-in-depth. There is no publicly available incident response or vulnerability disclosure information, which limits transparency. Compliance with privacy regulations is partial, lacking cookie consent mechanisms. The site’s security culture appears cautious but could benefit from formalized policies and improved technical controls. No critical vulnerabilities were detected in the content or scripts, but ongoing maintenance and security enhancements are recommended.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Add a cookie consent banner to comply with privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA.
  3. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  4. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  5. Regularly update all third-party libraries and frameworks to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Federal Reserve System
Description
Community Banking Connections is a publication by the Federal Reserve System providing supervision and regulation resources targeted at community banks.
Key services
Supervision and regulation publications, Industry news and updates, Consumer compliance resources, Webinars and outreach
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 3.6.0, jQuery UI 1.8.16, Nivo Slider, Google Tag Manager, Modernizr 2.6.1, ASP.NET Web Forms (indicated by __VIEWSTATE)
Frameworks
ASP.NET
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of HTTPS (implied by domain and Google Tag Manager usage)
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Marketing tools
Email subscription via app.e2ma.net
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a Federal Reserve System publication focused on community banking supervision and regulation.
  2. Content is well-structured with clear navigation and relevant resources.
  3. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  4. No explicit privacy or cookie consent banners detected.
  5. WHOIS data is unavailable, likely due to registry restrictions.
  6. Uses modern JavaScript libraries and Google Tag Manager for analytics.
  7. No phone numbers or physical addresses explicitly listed on the site.
  8. Contact primarily via email and feedback forms.
  9. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on ASP.NET Web Forms technology, utilizing jQuery and jQuery UI for interactive UI components, and Nivo Slider for image carousels. Google Tag Manager is used for analytics and tracking. The site is mobile responsive with CSS media queries and uses Google Fonts for typography. Performance is moderate with asynchronous loading of scripts. SEO is basic with minimal meta descriptions and keywords. Accessibility features are limited but present. There is no detected CMS, suggesting a custom or government-managed platform. Hosting details are not explicit but likely managed by a government hosting provider. Technical debt appears low, but modernization opportunities exist in adopting newer frameworks and enhancing security headers.
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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