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Security report for hhs.gov

Department of Health & Human Services · Government · United States

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

75/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) is the principal U.S. government agency responsible for protecting the health of Americans and providing essential human services. The website serves as a comprehensive portal for public health information, programs, grants, regulations, and transparency initiatives. It targets the general public and stakeholders in the healthcare sector, positioning itself as a trusted federal resource. The site features leadership profiles, agency information, and up-to-date press releases, reflecting a strong government presence. Technically, the website is built on Drupal CMS with the US Web Design System framework, ensuring accessibility, mobile responsiveness, and modern design standards. It employs multiple analytics and tracking tools such as Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, and Siteimprove, managed via Google Tag Manager. Performance is optimized with asynchronous script loading and responsive images. Security is robust with enforced HTTPS, secure cookie settings, and published vulnerability disclosure policies, although explicit security headers could be more visible. The security posture is strong, with no detected vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. Privacy compliance is well addressed with a comprehensive privacy policy and GDPR considerations. Contact information is clearly provided, including a toll-free phone number and multiple official social media channels. The WHOIS data is unavailable due to privacy typical for .gov domains, but the domain's legitimacy is strongly supported by its official status and consistent branding. Overall, the website demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and technical maturity, making it a reliable source for health-related government information. Strategic recommendations include enhancing visible security headers, implementing a cookie consent mechanism, and publishing a security.txt file to further improve security transparency and compliance.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of hhs.gov. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 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. 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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • 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 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 hhs.gov

This scan found 18 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
90
Security headers
30
Email security
80
DNS health
90
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
75

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

HHS operates as a large federal government agency with a critical role in public health and human services. Its market position is unique as the primary U.S. health authority, providing a wide range of services including regulatory oversight, research funding, and public health programs. The business model is non-commercial, focused on public service and policy implementation. The agency maintains a broad partnership ecosystem with other federal health entities such as CDC, FDA, NIH, and CMS, reflected in linked domains and cross-references. Growth indicators include ongoing initiatives like 'Make America Healthy Again' and transparency efforts. The website supports extensive outreach through multiple social media platforms and email subscriptions, indicating a mature digital engagement strategy.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, secure cookie configurations, and a published vulnerability disclosure policy. The use of modern analytics tools is balanced with privacy considerations. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. However, explicit security headers such as X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options are not visible in the provided data and should be confirmed at the server level. Incident response contact information and a security.txt file are not found, representing an area for improvement. Overall, the site aligns well with government security standards and best practices, supporting trust and compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Publish and verify explicit security headers like X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against clickjacking and MIME sniffing.
  2. Implement and display a cookie consent banner to comply with privacy regulations and improve user transparency.
  3. Create and host a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability reporting and improve security communication.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and analytics tools to mitigate risks from external dependencies.
  5. Enhance incident response visibility by providing dedicated security contact channels on the website.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Department of Health & Human Services
Description
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) is the United States government's principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services.
Key services
Public health programs, Grants and contracts, Regulations and laws, Transparency initiatives, Health research and policy
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, Siteimprove Analytics, Boomerang mPulse, Chosen jQuery plugin, Drupal CMS
Frameworks
US Web Design System (USWDS)
Platforms
Drupal
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
excellent
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure cookie configuration (secure_cookie=true in BOOMR_config)
  • Vulnerability disclosure policy published
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google Tag Manager with asynchronous loading

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, Siteimprove Analytics, Boomerang mPulse
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Crazy Egg, Siteimprove Analytics, Boomerang mPulse
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official U.S. government health agency website
  2. Comprehensive health and human services information
  3. Strong branding and consistent design
  4. Multiple verified social media channels
  5. Secure HTTPS with modern analytics and tracking
  6. No signs of adult or inappropriate content
  7. No WHOIS data available due to privacy, typical for .gov domains
  8. No WAF or blocking detected, full content accessible
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a robust Drupal CMS platform using the US Web Design System, ensuring compliance with federal accessibility and design standards. It leverages modern JavaScript libraries and asynchronous loading for performance optimization. The presence of Google Tag Manager and multiple analytics services indicates a sophisticated approach to user behavior tracking and site performance monitoring. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive images and viewport settings. No major technical debt or outdated technologies were detected. Opportunities exist to further modernize security headers and enhance privacy mechanisms to align with evolving compliance requirements.
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. 74/100 −8Medium22 findingsView report
  2. 82/100Low19 findingsView report
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