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Security report for metoffice.gov.uk

Met Office · Government · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Met Office website serves as the official digital presence of the UK's national meteorological service, providing comprehensive weather forecasts, climate research, and specialist meteorological services. It targets a broad audience including the general public, government bodies, businesses, and researchers. The site offers a wide range of services such as weather warnings, maps, climate change information, and consulting services, positioning itself as a trusted leader in meteorological science and public service. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript frameworks like RequireJS, and video streaming via Video.js. It integrates analytics and advertising networks with user consent mechanisms, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices and structured data enhancing discoverability. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses consent-based script loading to protect user privacy. However, explicit security headers and a public security policy or incident response information are absent, representing areas for improvement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the content. Overall, the website demonstrates a high level of professionalism, trustworthiness, and compliance with privacy standards. The lack of WHOIS data is mitigated by the official .gov.uk domain and consistent branding. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, publishing security policies, and implementing vulnerability disclosure mechanisms to further strengthen the security posture.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
80/ 100 · Low
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

5 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 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
    • 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 metoffice.gov.uk

This scan found 20 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

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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
62
Security headers
25
Email security
90
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
80
Average
71

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 Met Office holds a dominant position as the UK's official weather and climate service provider, leveraging its long history since 1854. Its business model is primarily public service with additional revenue streams from consulting and specialized services for government and industry sectors such as energy and transport. The organization benefits from strong brand recognition and trust, supported by extensive research programs and partnerships. The website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive content and user engagement through social media and feedback channels. Growth opportunities lie in expanding digital services and enhancing data offerings for commercial clients.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS and privacy-compliant cookie consent mechanisms. The absence of explicit security headers like CSP and HSTS is a notable gap that could expose the site to certain web-based attacks. No public-facing security or incident response policies were found, which could impact transparency and user trust in security matters. Analytics and advertising scripts are loaded conditionally based on user consent, aligning with GDPR requirements. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be improved by adopting additional best practices and publishing security documentation.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response plan accessible to users and stakeholders.
  3. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Continue to monitor and audit third-party scripts to minimize privacy and security risks.
  5. Enhance transparency around data retention policies and user data protection measures.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Met Office
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Met Office
Description
Met Office weather forecasts for the UK. World leading weather services for the public.
Key services
Weather forecasts, Climate research, Specialist forecasts (coast, sea, mountain, space weather), Government and business services, Research and consulting
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, RequireJS, Video.js, Google Tag Manager, Microsoft Clarity, Civic Cookie Control
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
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 deferred and consent-based script loading

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager, Microsoft Clarity
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google DoubleClick, Criteo, Rubicon Project, Adopstar
Tracking pixels
Microsoft Clarity
Marketing tools
Microsoft Clarity
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official UK government weather service website
  2. Comprehensive weather and climate information and services
  3. Strong branding and consistent user experience
  4. Good privacy and cookie compliance with consent mechanisms
  5. Use of modern web technologies and analytics with consent
  6. No security policy or incident response information publicly available
  7. WHOIS data unavailable but domain is .gov.uk indicating official status
  8. No adult or questionable content detected
  9. Advertising and tracking scripts present but consent-based
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using modern web standards and technologies, including asynchronous JavaScript loading, modular scripts (RequireJS), and video streaming capabilities. It employs a responsive design with accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA attributes. Performance is moderate, with preloading of fonts and images to optimize loading times. The use of third-party analytics and advertising networks is managed through consent-based script execution, reflecting good privacy practices. No CMS or hosting provider details were explicitly detected. Opportunities exist to improve performance further and implement advanced security headers.
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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