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Security report for government.nl

Ministerie van Algemene Zaken · Government · Netherlands

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The website www.government.nl serves as the official online portal for the Government of the Netherlands, managed by the Ministerie van Algemene Zaken. It provides comprehensive information on government policies, ministries, public services, immigration, housing benefits, and current news. The site targets a broad audience including residents, international visitors, and the general public seeking authoritative government information. The business model is focused on public service information dissemination with no commercial intent. The site holds a strong market position as the official government communication channel, supported by consistent branding and trust indicators such as the use of a government domain and clear copyright and privacy policies. Technically, the website employs modern JavaScript libraries including jQuery UI and integrates analytics via Piwik/Matomo, alongside a survey platform for user feedback. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and performs well with fast loading times. The CMS appears to be a custom or proprietary government system. SEO and accessibility best practices are well implemented, enhancing user experience and reach. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses nonce attributes in scripts to mitigate injection risks. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, explicit security headers are not evident, and no dedicated security policy or Data Protection Officer contact information is published. The site includes a vulnerability reporting page, indicating some level of incident response readiness. Privacy compliance is strong with clear privacy and cookie policies and consent mechanisms in place. Overall, the website demonstrates a high level of professionalism, trustworthiness, and compliance suitable for a government entity. Recommendations include enhancing security header implementation, publishing a formal security policy and DPO contact, and adding a security.txt file to streamline vulnerability disclosures.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of government.nl. View the latest report

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. 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. 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. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • High

      Unregistered MX Record

      MX record points to unregistered domain:

      What to do: Remove or fix MX record pointing to unregistered domain

      • RFC 5321 §5.1
      • NIS2 21(2)(i)
      • IR 2024/2690 12.4: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 12.4: Asset inventory
      • NIST CM-8: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-8: System Component Inventory

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

Keep watching government.nl

This scan found 16 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.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • 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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Full report

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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
85
Email security
65
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
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

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

The Government of the Netherlands operates www.government.nl as its official digital communication platform, positioning itself as the authoritative source for government-related information. The site supports transparency and public engagement by providing timely news, policy updates, and practical information on immigration, housing, and other public services. Its competitive advantage lies in its official status and comprehensive content tailored for both domestic and international audiences. The business model is non-commercial, focusing on public service and information dissemination. The site leverages partnerships with related government domains and language-specific portals to broaden accessibility. Growth indicators include regular content updates and integration of user feedback mechanisms. The partnership ecosystem includes related government domains and survey platforms, supporting continuous improvement and outreach.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS and use of nonce attributes in inline scripts to reduce cross-site scripting risks. The absence of exposed sensitive data and secure form handling further strengthen its security. However, the lack of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security represents an area for improvement. The presence of a vulnerability reporting page indicates some incident response capability, though no direct security contact emails or detailed security policies are published. Compliance with GDPR is evident through privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms. No critical vulnerabilities or suspicious activities were detected, resulting in a strong but improvable security stance.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices, incident response procedures, and contact information for security concerns.
  3. Provide clear Data Protection Officer contact details to improve GDPR compliance transparency.
  4. Create and publish a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure and improve communication with security researchers.
  5. Continue regular security audits and update third-party libraries to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Ministerie van Algemene Zaken
Description
Official government portal providing information on government policies, news, services, and public administration in the Netherlands.
Key services
Information on government ministries, News updates, Public service information, Immigration and travel guidance, Housing benefit application information
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, jQuery UI, Pastease survey platform, Piwik/Matomo analytics
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of nonce in inline scripts
  • Secure form with no password fields on homepage
  • Cookie consent mechanism present

Analytics and tracking

Services
Piwik/Matomo
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Piwik/Matomo
Marketing tools
Pastease survey platform
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is official Dutch government portal with comprehensive information.
  2. Content is well structured, professionally presented, and regularly updated.
  3. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity detected.
  4. Good privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms implemented.
  5. No direct contact emails or phone numbers publicly listed; contact via form only.
  6. No explicit security policy or DPO contact found, but vulnerability reporting page exists.
  7. Use of modern analytics and survey tools with privacy considerations.
  8. No advertising or affiliate programs detected.
  9. Strong branding consistency and trust signals present.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern JavaScript stack including jQuery UI and integrates third-party services such as Piwik/Matomo for analytics and Pastease for surveys. The CMS appears custom-built for government use, supporting responsive design and accessibility features. Performance is optimized with preloading of critical CSS and images, asynchronous script loading, and minimal blocking resources. The site uses HTTPS exclusively, ensuring encrypted communications. SEO is supported by proper meta tags, canonical links, and structured navigation. Technical risks are minimal, though the absence of some security headers and explicit framework identification suggests opportunities for modernization and enhanced security hardening.
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. 63/100Medium24 findingsView report
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