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Security report for ecfr.gov

National Archives and Records Administration · Government · United States

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

77/100

Risk levelLow

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

The website www.ecfr.gov is an official U.S. government platform managed by the National Archives and Records Administration, providing continuous online access to the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR). It serves legal professionals, government employees, researchers, and the general public by offering authoritative and up-to-date federal regulatory information. The site is positioned as a trusted government resource with no commercial interests, emphasizing transparency and accessibility. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies including Ruby on Rails, Hotwired Turbo, StimulusJS, and jQuery, alongside Google Analytics and DigitalGov analytics for user tracking. The infrastructure supports moderate performance and basic mobile optimization, with good accessibility and SEO practices. The site uses HTTPS exclusively, ensuring secure communications. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates a solid posture with HTTPS enforcement and secure form handling inherent to its framework. However, explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options are not evident, and there is no published vulnerability disclosure or incident response contact information. Privacy compliance is partial, with a comprehensive privacy policy present but lacking cookie consent mechanisms. Overall, the website is highly credible and trustworthy, consistent with its government affiliation and .gov domain. The absence of WHOIS registrant data is typical for government domains and does not detract from legitimacy. The site is accessible without WAF or blocking, and content safety is rated safe for general audiences. Strategic improvements in security headers, privacy consent, and incident response transparency would enhance the security and compliance posture.

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. 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

  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.

    • 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

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

Keep watching ecfr.gov

This scan found 18 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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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
77
Security headers
90
Email security
70
DNS health
70
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

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 ecfr.gov, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for ecfr.gov right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

The eCFR website operates as a government service entity under the National Archives and Records Administration, targeting users requiring access to federal regulations. Its market position is unique and authoritative, with no direct commercial competitors. The business model is non-commercial, focusing on public service and regulatory transparency. Revenue streams are not applicable. The partnership ecosystem includes related government domains such as archives.gov. Growth indicators are stable, reflecting ongoing government support. The platform's operations emphasize reliability, legal accuracy, and user accessibility, with strategic opportunities in enhancing digital maturity and compliance frameworks.

Security posture

The security maturity of the eCFR website is moderate to high, leveraging HTTPS and secure web frameworks. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, the absence of explicit security headers and lack of published incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies represent compliance gaps. Data protection practices appear sound but could benefit from enhanced transparency and user consent mechanisms. Incident response readiness is unclear due to missing contact channels. The security culture is implied to be strong given government oversight but would be improved by formalizing security communications and disclosures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate common web attacks.
  2. Introduce a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and enhance user transparency.
  3. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting and improve security posture.
  4. Provide clear incident response contact information, including dedicated security or abuse email addresses.
  5. Enhance mobile optimization and accessibility features to improve user experience across devices.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
National Archives and Records Administration
Description
The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR) is a continuously updated online version of the Code of Federal Regulations, published by the Office of the Federal Register on behalf of Federal agencies.
Key services
Online access to the Code of Federal Regulations, Search and browse federal regulations, Recent updates and corrections tracking, Reader aids and developer resources
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Ruby on Rails, Hotwired Turbo, StimulusJS, jQuery 3.7.1, Google Analytics, DigitalGov Universal Federated Analytics
Frameworks
Ruby on Rails, Hotwired Turbo, StimulusJS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure forms with CSRF protection (implied by Rails framework)
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, DigitalGov Universal Federated Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
DigitalGov Universal Federated Analytics
Transparency
excellent

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official U.S. government website providing access to the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations.
  2. No commercial advertising or suspicious content detected.
  3. Uses modern web technologies and frameworks.
  4. Includes a site feedback form but no direct contact emails or phone numbers.
  5. Privacy policy is present and comprehensive; cookie consent mechanism is absent.
  6. No explicit security headers detected in HTML source.
  7. WHOIS data is not publicly available, consistent with .gov domain policies.
  8. Website is accessible with no WAF or blocking detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern Ruby on Rails stack with Hotwired Turbo and StimulusJS for dynamic interactions, supplemented by jQuery and Google Fonts. Analytics are integrated via Google Analytics and DigitalGov's federated analytics script. The site uses HTTPS exclusively, ensuring encrypted communications. Performance is moderate with room for improvement in mobile responsiveness. The absence of a CMS suggests a custom or government-managed content platform. Technical debt appears low, but opportunities exist to modernize security headers and privacy compliance features to align with best practices.
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. 80/100Low18 findingsView report
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