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Security report for disasterassist.gov.au

Australian Government - Department of Home Affairs · Government · Australia

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view.

Security score

77/100

Risk levelLow

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

Disaster Assist is an official Australian Government website managed by the Department of Home Affairs, providing critical information and assistance related to natural disasters across Australia. The platform offers users the ability to find declared disaster areas, apply for disaster recovery payments, and access emergency preparedness resources. It serves a broad audience including affected residents, emergency management professionals, and the general public. Technically, the website is built on Microsoft SharePoint, leveraging modern web technologies such as jQuery and Google Tag Manager for analytics and user interaction. The site demonstrates good digital maturity with mobile optimization, accessibility features, and a structured navigation system. Performance is moderate, consistent with SharePoint-based government portals. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS, employs standard security headers, and uses secure form submission practices. However, it lacks explicit cookie consent mechanisms and does not publicly disclose a dedicated security policy or vulnerability disclosure program. The WHOIS data is privacy-protected, typical for government domains, and the domain is highly trustworthy given its .gov.au status and consistent branding. Overall, Disaster Assist presents a secure, professional, and trustworthy government service portal with room for improvement in privacy compliance and security transparency.

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

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.

    • 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

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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
65
Email security
70
DNS health
90
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
77

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 Disaster Assist website occupies a strong market position as the official Australian Government disaster assistance portal. Its competitive advantage lies in its authoritative content, government backing, and integration with multiple government agencies and emergency services. The business model is service-oriented, focusing on public service delivery rather than revenue generation. The target customer segments include disaster-affected individuals, emergency responders, and policy makers. Growth indicators include ongoing updates to disaster declarations and integration with new emergency management agencies such as the National Emergency Management Agency. The partnership ecosystem is robust, linking to multiple government departments and trusted organizations like the Red Cross. Strategic observations highlight the importance of maintaining high trust and security standards given the sensitive nature of disaster assistance.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and secure form handling. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. However, the absence of a publicly accessible security policy, incident response contact, or vulnerability disclosure program represents a compliance gap. The site appears GDPR compliant through linked privacy policies but lacks explicit cookie consent mechanisms. Incident response readiness cannot be fully assessed due to missing contact channels. Overall, the security culture appears strong but could benefit from enhanced transparency and user communication regarding security practices.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a clear cookie consent banner to enhance GDPR compliance and user privacy transparency.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page with clear contact information for security issues.
  3. Establish and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Add explicit contact details for general and security-related inquiries to improve user trust and support.
  5. Regularly review and update technical components to maintain performance and security standards.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Australian Government - Department of Home Affairs
Description
Disaster Assist is a government website providing information and assistance related to natural disasters in Australia. It helps users find declared disaster areas, apply for disaster recovery payments, and access related emergency management resources.
Key services
Disaster area mapping, Disaster recovery payment applications, Information on disaster arrangements, Emergency preparedness resources, Links to related government agencies
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Microsoft SharePoint, jQuery, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Slick Carousel
Frameworks
SharePoint Framework
Platforms
Microsoft SharePoint Online
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security headers
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure form submission with anti-forgery tokens

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. Official Australian Government disaster assistance website.
  2. Uses Microsoft SharePoint as CMS platform.
  3. Content is comprehensive and relevant to disaster assistance.
  4. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed on the homepage.
  5. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page.
  6. Privacy and cookie policies are linked via parent government domain.
  7. Good security posture with HTTPS and security headers.
  8. No WAF or blocking detected; site fully accessible.
  9. No adult or questionable content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Microsoft SharePoint, a robust enterprise CMS platform commonly used by government entities. It uses modern JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and Slick Carousel for UI enhancements, and integrates Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for user behavior tracking. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with proper meta tags for SEO. Performance is moderate, typical for SharePoint-hosted sites. Technical risks include reliance on SharePoint which may limit customization and performance tuning. There is no evidence of outdated or vulnerable libraries. The site uses standard security headers and HTTPS, indicating good technical hygiene. Opportunities exist to improve privacy compliance and security transparency through additional technical implementations.
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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