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Security report for gov.wales

Welsh Government · Government · United Kingdom

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

79/100

Risk levelLow

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

The Welsh Government website serves as the official digital portal for the devolved government of Wales, providing comprehensive information and services across a broad range of policy areas including health, education, environment, and public services. It targets residents, businesses, and public sector organizations within Wales, positioning itself as an authoritative and trusted source of government information. The website's business model is focused on public service and information dissemination, with a large-scale operational footprint and consistent branding. Technically, the site is built on Drupal 11, leveraging modern web technologies such as jQuery and Google Tag Manager for analytics and tracking. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices, although performance is moderate. The use of Sentry indicates proactive error monitoring. However, some security best practices like explicit security headers and a published security policy are absent. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and implements cookie consent mechanisms, reflecting a strong privacy posture. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. The WHOIS data aligns with the official government entity, confirming legitimacy and trustworthiness. However, the absence of a security.txt file or incident response contact information suggests room for improvement in vulnerability disclosure and incident management. Overall, the website is professional, secure, and compliant with privacy regulations, making it a reliable resource for its audience. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, publishing a security policy and incident response contacts, and adding a vulnerability disclosure mechanism to further strengthen trust and security posture.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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. 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';…

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • 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

  3. 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 gov.wales

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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  • 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
82
Security headers
55
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
79

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 Welsh Government website holds a strong market position as the official government portal for Wales, serving a wide audience including citizens, businesses, and public organizations. Its competitive advantage lies in authoritative content, comprehensive service coverage, and consistent branding. The business model is non-commercial, focused on public service delivery and transparency. Revenue streams are government-funded. The partnership ecosystem includes various Welsh public bodies and advisory groups. Growth indicators include regular updates and announcements. Strategic observations highlight the importance of maintaining high accessibility and privacy standards to serve diverse user needs effectively.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, cookie consent, and error monitoring via Sentry. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. However, the lack of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and absence of published security policies or incident response contacts indicate gaps in comprehensive security governance. Compliance with GDPR is evident through privacy and cookie policies. Incident response readiness could be improved by publishing clear contact channels. Overall, the security culture appears proactive but could benefit from formalizing vulnerability disclosure and incident management processes.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and configure security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and compliance commitments.
  3. Establish and publicize incident response contact channels such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  4. Create and maintain a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure.
  5. Continue to monitor and update third-party libraries and tracking tools to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Welsh Government
Description
The Welsh Government is the devolved Government for Wales providing services and information across multiple sectors including health, education, environment, economy, and public services.
Key services
Policy areas information, Announcements, Consultations, Publications, Statistics and research, Organisations directory
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 11, jQuery, Google Tag Manager, Sentry (error tracking)
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
excellent
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Sentry for error monitoring

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (implied via GTM)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official Welsh Government website with comprehensive public service information.
  2. Uses modern CMS (Drupal 11) and standard web technologies.
  3. Strong privacy and cookie policies with user consent mechanisms.
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  5. Good accessibility and mobile optimization.
  6. No explicit security policy or incident response contact published.
  7. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 11, a modern and widely supported CMS, ensuring a robust content management framework. The use of jQuery and Google Tag Manager indicates integration with standard analytics and tracking tools. Performance is moderate, suggesting potential optimization opportunities. Mobile responsiveness and accessibility are well implemented, aligning with government digital service standards. The absence of explicit hosting provider information limits full infrastructure assessment. Technical risks are minimal but could arise from missing security headers and incomplete security governance documentation.
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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