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Security report for gov.uk

Government Digital Service · Government · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 11 critical or high findings in Email security and SSL/TLS.

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

GOV.UK is the official digital platform of the UK government, providing centralized access to a wide range of government services and information. It serves UK residents, businesses, and citizens with services spanning benefits, taxation, immigration, education, and more. The website is managed by the Government Digital Service and is a critical infrastructure for public sector digital engagement. The platform holds a strong market position as the primary government portal in the UK. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including JavaScript frameworks, performance measurement tools like Lux, and Google Analytics 4 for user behavior insights. It uses a custom CMS (publishing-api) tailored for government content publishing. The site is optimized for accessibility, mobile responsiveness, and SEO, ensuring a high-quality user experience. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS, uses CSRF tokens, and implements a cookie consent mechanism. However, explicit security policies and incident response information are not publicly detailed. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. The WHOIS data confirms the domain's legitimacy with a long registration history and direct registration with Nominet, consistent with government domain practices. Overall, GOV.UK demonstrates a mature digital presence with excellent content quality, technical implementation, and privacy compliance. Strategic recommendations include publishing detailed security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure information to further enhance trust and transparency.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 100 · Low
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

11 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

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Keep watching gov.uk

This scan found 23 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
79
Security headers
90
Email security
0
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
70

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 gov.uk, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for gov.uk 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

GOV.UK operates as a public sector essential entity, providing digital access to government services and information. Its business model is service-oriented, focusing on user-centric delivery of government functions online. The platform benefits from a strong brand as the official UK government portal, with extensive reach and high trust among UK citizens and businesses. The site supports multiple government departments and agencies, acting as a unified interface. There is no commercial revenue model; instead, it is funded and maintained by the government. The platform's ecosystem includes partnerships with various government bodies and external service providers for surveys and analytics. Growth indicators include continuous content updates and feature enhancements. SecurityPosture: GOV.UK maintains a robust security posture with enforced HTTPS, secure form handling, and privacy-compliant cookie management. The absence of explicit security policies and incident response details suggests room for improvement in transparency and readiness communication. Compliance with GDPR is evident through privacy notices and consent mechanisms. No critical vulnerabilities or suspicious activities were found, indicating a secure operational environment.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a strong security posture with HTTPS enforced site-wide, use of CSRF tokens, and a Content Security Policy with nonce values. Forms include anti-spam honeypot fields to prevent automated abuse. No vulnerable libraries or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. The cookie consent banner complies with privacy regulations and allows users to accept or reject additional cookies. However, the site lacks publicly available security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms, which are recommended best practices for transparency and user trust. Overall, the security maturity is high but could be enhanced by publishing explicit security governance documents and contact channels for security incidents.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and user guidance.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact information, including security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  3. Implement and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Add explicit data protection officer contact details to enhance GDPR transparency.
  5. Maintain and regularly update privacy and cookie policies to reflect evolving regulations and technologies.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Government Digital Service
Description
GOV.UK is the UK government's official website providing access to government services and information across multiple sectors including benefits, business, childcare, citizenship, justice, driving, education, environment, housing, tax, passports, visas, and working.
Key services
Benefits information and applications, Business and self-employed guidance, Childcare and parenting resources, Citizenship and immigration services, Driving and transport services, Education and learning resources, Government news and transparency, Job search and employment services, Tax and National Insurance management, Passport and travel services
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Lux (performance measurement), GA4 (Google Analytics 4), Gem components (govuk_publishing_components), CSS
Frameworks
govuk-frontend
Platforms
Nominet (domain registrar)
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
excellent
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • CSRF protection tokens
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with anti-spam honeypot field

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics 4, lux
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
lux, Google Analytics 4
Marketing tools
GA4, lux
Transparency
excellent

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official UK government website with comprehensive public service information.
  2. Strong privacy and cookie policies with explicit consent mechanisms.
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed; contact via forms only.
  4. No explicit security policy or incident response information published.
  5. Modern, accessible, and well-structured website with excellent SEO and performance.
  6. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
  7. No advertising networks detected; tracking limited to analytics and performance measurement.
  8. WHOIS data consistent with government domain registration practices.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern tech stack including JavaScript libraries for performance measurement (Lux) and analytics (Google Analytics 4). It employs govuk-frontend framework for consistent UI/UX and accessibility compliance. The CMS is a custom publishing-api tailored for government content management. The site loads efficiently with asynchronous script loading and optimized CSS. Accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA attributes are implemented. SEO is well addressed with meta tags, Open Graph tags, and canonical URLs. The domain is registered with Nominet, consistent with UK government standards. No technical debt or deprecated technologies were detected. Hosting provider details are not explicitly stated but likely government-managed infrastructure.
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. 71/100Medium33 findingsView report
  2. 71/100 −11Medium33 findingsView report
  3. 82/100Low20 findingsView report
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