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Security report for md.gov

State of Maryland · Government · United States

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

Security score

72/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Maryland.gov is the official digital portal for the State of Maryland, providing a centralized platform for residents, businesses, visitors, and government employees to access a wide range of state government services and information. The website serves as a comprehensive resource for online services, job listings, business registrations, government contacts, and educational resources, positioning itself as the authoritative source for Maryland state government digital interactions. The site demonstrates consistent branding and high content quality, reflecting its role as a trusted government entity. Technically, the website leverages a mature technology stack including Microsoft SharePoint, ASP.NET Web Forms, jQuery, Bootstrap, and integrates modern analytics and accessibility tools such as Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, and Monsido. The platform is well-optimized for mobile devices and incorporates accessibility best practices, ensuring broad usability. Hosting appears to be managed by state infrastructure with partial Cloudflare services for analytics. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS with a strong SSL configuration and employs security tokens to protect form submissions. While some security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options are not explicitly detected, the overall posture is strong with no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. Privacy compliance is supported by a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service, with GDPR considerations addressed. The domain's WHOIS data is incomplete, likely due to .gov domain registry policies, but the .gov TLD and website content strongly affirm legitimacy. Overall, Maryland.gov presents a secure, professional, and user-friendly government portal with robust technical infrastructure and compliance measures. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, publishing a security.txt file for vulnerability disclosure, and continuous auditing of third-party scripts to maintain security integrity.

Scanned

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

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 md.gov

This scan found 22 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
65
Security headers
65
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
72

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 md.gov, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
3,129
Employees
0
Customers
3,129
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
6%

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 md.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

Maryland.gov operates as an essential government entity portal, serving a broad audience including residents, businesses, visitors, and state employees. Its market position is that of the primary official digital presence for Maryland state government, offering centralized access to a wide array of public services and information. The business model is non-commercial, funded by the state government, focusing on service delivery and transparency. Key competitive advantages include official .gov domain status, comprehensive service coverage, and integration with multiple state agencies and initiatives. The website supports growth through digital transformation initiatives and partnerships with various state departments. The partnership ecosystem includes multiple Maryland state agencies and external service providers for payments and registrations. Operationally, the site demonstrates maturity with modern web technologies and accessibility compliance, supporting the state's digital government strategy.

Security posture

Maryland.gov exhibits a mature security posture appropriate for a government portal. HTTPS is enforced with excellent SSL configuration, and form submissions are protected with anti-forgery tokens. The site integrates security and analytics tools responsibly, with no exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries detected. However, some standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options are not explicitly present, representing an area for improvement. Privacy policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, supporting data protection requirements. Incident response and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not prominently visible, suggesting potential gaps in transparency and readiness. Overall, the site balances usability and security well but would benefit from enhanced header policies and formalized vulnerability disclosure processes to strengthen its security culture and compliance posture.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options HTTP headers to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  2. Publish a security.txt file to provide clear vulnerability disclosure and incident response contact information.
  3. Conduct regular security audits of third-party scripts and dependencies to identify and remediate potential vulnerabilities.
  4. Enhance cookie security by setting HttpOnly, Secure, and SameSite flags where applicable.
  5. Increase transparency around incident response policies and provide dedicated security contact channels.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
State of Maryland
Description
Official portal providing access to Maryland state government services, information, and resources for residents, businesses, visitors, and government employees.
Key services
Online Services, State Employee Resources, Job Listings, Business Licensing and Registrations, Government Information, Resident Services, Education Resources, Visitor Information
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 3.6.0, Bootstrap, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Microsoft SharePoint 2013/2016 (SPFx), Microsoft ASP.NET Web Forms, Google Custom Search Engine, Clarity (Microsoft), Monsido (Accessibility and Analytics), Zaraz (Cloudflare related analytics), Google Translate integration
Frameworks
ASP.NET Web Forms, SharePoint
Platforms
Microsoft IIS, Cloudflare (partial usage for zaraz.js)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security tokens (__REQUESTDIGEST) for form submissions
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Monsido
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Adsense
Tracking pixels
Microsoft Clarity, Monsido
Marketing tools
Google Custom Search, Google Translate
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official state government website with comprehensive public services.
  2. Uses modern web technologies and accessibility features.
  3. Strong branding and trust signals consistent with government entity.
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  5. WHOIS data incomplete but domain is .gov indicating high trust.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a Microsoft SharePoint platform using ASP.NET Web Forms, enhanced with jQuery and Bootstrap for responsive design. It integrates Google Custom Search, Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, and Monsido for analytics and accessibility monitoring. The site uses Cloudflare's Zaraz for tag management and tracking. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. The technical stack is modern and well-maintained, though some legacy components like ASP.NET Web Forms remain. Hosting appears to be managed by state infrastructure with partial Cloudflare services. The site uses standard security tokens for form protection but lacks some modern security headers. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a robust, scalable, and accessible government portal with opportunities for security header enhancements and further modernization.
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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