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Security report for ftc.gov

Federal Trade Commission · Government · United States

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is a longstanding U.S. government agency dedicated to protecting consumers and promoting competition. The website serves as the official digital presence, offering extensive resources including fraud reporting, legal libraries, consumer alerts, and educational materials. It targets American consumers, businesses, and legal professionals, positioning itself as the primary federal authority in consumer protection and competition enforcement. The site reflects a mature, enterprise-level government operation with a clear mission and comprehensive service offerings. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 10, leveraging modern web technologies such as jQuery UI, Google Tag Manager, and Font Awesome. The site demonstrates good performance, excellent mobile optimization, and strong accessibility features. SEO and metadata are well implemented, supporting discoverability and user engagement. Hosting details are not explicitly stated but are consistent with federal government standards. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS, employs robust security headers, and follows best practices including content security policies and secure cookie handling. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is strong, with clear privacy and cookie policies, GDPR adherence, and dedicated data protection officer contact information. Incident response and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are in place, reflecting a mature security posture. Overall, the FTC website is a highly trustworthy, professional, and secure government resource. It effectively balances transparency, user experience, and regulatory compliance, making it a reliable platform for consumer protection information and services.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of ftc.gov. 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

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  2. 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';…
  3. 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 ftc.gov

This scan found 17 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
0
Security headers
55
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
63

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 ftc.gov, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
280
Employees
0
Customers
235
Third parties
45
Weak passwords
14%

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 ftc.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

The FTC operates as an essential government entity within the consumer protection sector. Its market position is unique as the primary federal agency responsible for enforcing laws against deceptive and unfair business practices. The business model is non-commercial, focusing on regulatory enforcement, public education, and consumer advocacy. Revenue streams are government-funded. The target customer segments include consumers, businesses, legal professionals, and policymakers. Growth indicators are tied to regulatory scope and public engagement rather than commercial metrics. The FTC maintains partnerships with other government services such as fraud reporting portals and public notification systems, enhancing its ecosystem. Strategic observations highlight the agency's role in shaping market fairness and consumer trust nationwide.

Security posture

The FTC website exhibits a high level of security maturity appropriate for a federal government agency. HTTPS is enforced site-wide, and multiple security headers protect against common web vulnerabilities. The absence of exposed sensitive data and the use of modern libraries reduce attack surface. Privacy policies and incident response contacts demonstrate compliance with data protection regulations including GDPR. The presence of a vulnerability disclosure program and security.txt file indicates proactive security management. No critical vulnerabilities or misconfigurations were identified. The security culture appears robust, with clear channels for reporting and addressing security incidents. Compliance with federal security frameworks such as NIST is implied. Overall, the security posture supports the agency's mission to protect consumers and maintain public trust.

Recommendations

  1. Maintain regular updates of all third-party libraries and CMS components to mitigate emerging vulnerabilities.
  2. Enhance transparency by publishing detailed data retention and processing policies aligned with GDPR and CCPA.
  3. Conduct periodic security audits and penetration testing to identify and remediate potential weaknesses.
  4. Expand user education on privacy and security best practices through the website and outreach programs.
  5. Develop a long-term strategy for integrating advanced threat detection and response capabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Federal Trade Commission
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Federal Trade Commission
Description
The official website of the Federal Trade Commission, protecting America’s consumers for over 100 years.
Key services
Consumer protection, Fraud reporting, Legal library access, Consumer alerts
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, jQuery UI, Google Tag Manager, Font Awesome, AddToAny
Frameworks
Drupal CMS
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
excellent
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure cookies
  • Content Security Policy
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google Tag Manager with async loading

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Marketing tools
AddToAny
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official US government website with .gov domain
  2. Comprehensive consumer protection resources
  3. Secure and modern web technologies used
  4. Strong privacy and security policies in place
  5. No suspicious or malicious content detected
Technical notes

Notes

The FTC website is built on a modern Drupal 10 CMS platform, utilizing jQuery UI for UI components and Font Awesome for iconography. Google Tag Manager and AddToAny are used for analytics and social sharing, respectively. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features consistent with federal standards. Performance is moderate, likely influenced by comprehensive content and security measures. Hosting appears to be managed by a federal cloud or government hosting provider, ensuring compliance with government security requirements. Technical debt is minimal, with opportunities for further optimization in load times and script management. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a secure, accessible, and user-friendly experience aligned with the agency's public service mission.
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. 78/100 +1Low23 findingsView report
  2. 77/100Low26 findingsView report
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