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Security report for investor.gov

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · Finance · United States

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

Security score

75/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Investor.gov is the official website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), providing comprehensive investor education, protection resources, and financial planning tools. The site targets individual investors, older investors, military personnel, teachers, veterans, youth, and entrepreneurs, offering a wide range of services including fraud alerts, investment professional background checks, and complaint submission channels. It serves as a trusted government resource to promote informed investment decisions and protect investors from fraud and scams. Technically, the website is built on the Drupal CMS platform, leveraging modern web technologies such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) for consistent government branding and accessibility. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and performs moderately well. Security is robust with enforced HTTPS, secure forms, and no exposed sensitive data, although some security headers could be enhanced. The security posture is strong, with no detected vulnerabilities or phishing indicators. Privacy compliance is good, with a comprehensive privacy policy and vulnerability disclosure policy publicly available. The site does not use intrusive advertising or affiliate marketing, maintaining transparency and user trust. Overall, Investor.gov demonstrates a high level of professionalism, trustworthiness, and commitment to user security and privacy.

Scanned

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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

  2. 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 SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching investor.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
70
Security headers
70
Email security
70
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
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

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 investor.gov, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
1
Employees
0
Customers
1
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
0%

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 investor.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

Investor.gov holds a strong market position as the official U.S. government portal for investor education and protection, operated by the SEC. Its business model is non-commercial, focusing on public service and regulatory compliance. The site benefits from government backing, ensuring credibility and authority. It offers a broad ecosystem of resources, including financial calculators, alerts, and educational content, targeting diverse investor demographics. The partnership ecosystem includes links to other government sites such as SEC.gov, MyMoney.gov, and USA.gov, reinforcing its authoritative network. Growth indicators include regular content updates and active engagement with investor protection initiatives. The site’s operations emphasize transparency, education, and fraud prevention, positioning it as a critical resource in the financial regulatory landscape. Its strategic focus on accessibility and comprehensive content supports its mission to empower investors and maintain market integrity.

Security posture

Investor.gov exhibits a mature security posture appropriate for a government website. HTTPS is enforced site-wide, ensuring encrypted communications. The absence of exposed sensitive data and the use of secure forms indicate adherence to best practices. While explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options are not evident in the HTML source, the overall security framework is strong given the official .gov domain and government hosting. No vulnerabilities or malware were detected. Privacy policies and vulnerability disclosure policies are published, demonstrating compliance and transparency. Incident response contact details are not explicitly found but may be managed internally by the SEC. The site’s security culture appears robust, with a focus on protecting users from fraud and misinformation. Recommendations include enhancing HTTP security headers and DNSSEC implementation to further strengthen defenses.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish comprehensive HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Enable DNSSEC for the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  3. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to identify and mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  4. Consider adding explicit incident response contact information for security issues to improve transparency.
  5. Maintain and enhance privacy and cookie consent mechanisms to align with evolving regulations and user expectations.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Description
Investor.gov is the official website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission providing investor education, protection resources, financial tools, and alerts to help individuals make informed investment decisions.
Key services
Investor education content, Financial planning tools and calculators, Alerts and bulletins on fraud and scams, Investment professional background checks, Complaint submission and help resources
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal CMS, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, FINRA IAPD Widget, USWDS (U.S. Web Design System)
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
excellent
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure forms with CSRF tokens (Drupal standard)
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of official government domain (.gov)

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Digital Analytics Program (dap.digitalgov.gov)
Transparency
excellent

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official U.S. government website with .gov domain
  2. Comprehensive investor education and protection resources
  3. No signs of phishing or malware
  4. Secure HTTPS with modern tracking and analytics
  5. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed on homepage, but contact forms available
  6. No privacy or cookie banners detected on homepage but privacy policy linked
  7. No visible security headers in HTML source but HTTPS enforced
  8. No advertising or affiliate marketing present
  9. Content is well structured, accessible, and mobile optimized
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal CMS, a widely used and secure content management system, ensuring a solid technical foundation. Integration with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager supports effective user behavior tracking and analytics. The use of the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) ensures consistent government branding, accessibility, and responsive design. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization in loading times and resource management. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, meeting modern web standards. Technical debt appears minimal, but opportunities exist to enhance security headers and DNS configurations. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the site’s mission effectively with a stable and maintainable platform.
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. 62/100Medium20 findings · partial scanView report
  2. 78/100Low18 findingsView report
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