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Security report for fao.org

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations · Government · N/a

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

Security score

73/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) operates a comprehensive and professionally designed website that serves as a global platform for information, data, and resources related to food security, agriculture, and sustainable development. The organization is a leading UN agency with a strong market position and a broad target audience including governments, researchers, and the public. The website leverages modern technologies such as Bootstrap, Sitefinity CMS, and Google Analytics to deliver a responsive and accessible user experience. Security posture is strong with HTTPS, security headers, and no visible vulnerabilities. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear policies and consent mechanisms. Overall, the site reflects a mature digital presence consistent with an international intergovernmental organization.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of fao.org. View the latest report

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 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

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Keep watching fao.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
65
Security headers
80
Email security
70
DNS health
70
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

FAO's website reflects its role as a global leader in food and agriculture policy and data dissemination. The business model is non-profit and government-focused, providing authoritative data, policy guidance, and capacity building. The site supports multiple languages and extensive multimedia content, indicating a broad outreach strategy. Partnerships with UN bodies and international organizations are implicit. The presence of detailed statistics, publications, and transparency portals highlights FAO's commitment to open data and accountability. The organization's large size and UN affiliation enhance credibility and trust.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a high level of security maturity with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and no exposed sensitive data. However, there is no explicit public security policy or incident response information available, which could be improved. The use of third-party scripts is standard but should be regularly audited. Privacy policies and cookie consent mechanisms are in place, supporting GDPR compliance. No vulnerabilities or phishing indicators were detected. Overall, the security posture is strong but could benefit from enhanced transparency on security governance.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program including a security.txt file.
  3. Enhance contact information with dedicated security and abuse contacts.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies for vulnerabilities.
  5. Continue to monitor and update privacy and cookie compliance mechanisms.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Description
FAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger, improve nutrition and food security, and promote sustainable agriculture worldwide.
Key services
Agricultural data and statistics, Policy guidance and transparency portals, Publications and knowledge repositories, Capacity building and technical cooperation, Multimedia and outreach
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Bootstrap 5, jQuery, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Highcharts, Swiper.js, Sitefinity CMS
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Platforms
Sitefinity CMS
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 forms with search inputs

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Sitefinity Insight
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Adsense
Marketing tools
Google Custom Search Engine
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 rich content and multimedia
  2. Strong use of structured data and metadata for SEO and accessibility
  3. Comprehensive navigation with multi-language support
  4. No signs of phishing, malware, or suspicious content
  5. Use of multiple Google services for analytics and search
  6. No exposed sensitive information or security misconfigurations detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern technology stack including Bootstrap 5 for responsive design, Sitefinity CMS for content management, and Google services for analytics and search. The presence of Highcharts and Swiper.js indicates interactive data visualization and multimedia support. The site is mobile optimized and accessible with good SEO practices. Performance is moderate, likely due to rich multimedia content. The technical infrastructure is robust and suitable for a large international organization, though hosting provider details are not explicit. Opportunities exist to optimize loading times and further enhance accessibility.
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. 74/100Medium26 findingsView report
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