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Security report for moneysmart.gov.au

Australian Securities and Investments Commission · Government · Australia

Medium risk. 5 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

Moneysmart.gov.au is an Australian Government financial education website operated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). It provides free tools, calculators, tips, and resources to help Australian consumers make informed money decisions. The site is well-positioned as an authoritative government resource with a large target audience of individuals seeking financial guidance. The business model is government-funded, focusing on public education rather than commercial revenue. Technically, the website uses modern web technologies including HTTPS, Cloudflare DNS, Google Tag Manager, and JavaScript frameworks. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and performs well with fast loading times. SEO and metadata are well implemented, supporting good discoverability. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses Cloudflare DNS, but lacks DNSSEC and explicit security headers in the HTML content. No security policy or incident response information is published, and no vulnerability disclosure mechanism is evident. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism detected. Overall, the security posture is good but could be improved with additional headers and transparency. The overall risk is low given the government ownership and professional presentation, but improvements in privacy compliance and security transparency are recommended to enhance trust and compliance with modern standards.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • 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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

  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

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Keep watching moneysmart.gov.au

This scan found 17 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
75
Security headers
95
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
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

Moneysmart operates as a government financial education platform under ASIC, targeting Australian consumers. It holds a strong market position as a trusted source for financial literacy, budgeting, investing, superannuation, and scam awareness. The business model is non-commercial, funded by the government, focusing on public service. The site offers a broad range of calculators and educational content, supporting diverse financial needs. Partnerships with ASIC and other government entities strengthen its credibility. Growth indicators include active content updates and engagement via social media. The ecosystem includes related government domains and social platforms, reinforcing its authoritative presence.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and Cloudflare DNS usage. However, the absence of DNSSEC and missing security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HSTS, and X-Frame-Options represent areas for improvement. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. The lack of published security policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms limits transparency and may hinder rapid incident handling. Privacy compliance is partial, with no cookie consent mechanism detected, which could be a compliance gap under GDPR or similar regulations. Overall, the site is secure but would benefit from enhanced security headers and published policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement and publish a comprehensive security policy and incident response plan on the website.
  3. Add standard security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options.
  4. Introduce a cookie consent banner/mechanism to comply with GDPR and improve privacy transparency.
  5. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Australian Securities and Investments Commission
Description
Moneysmart, by the Australian Government, helps you make confident money decisions with free tools, tips and calculators.
Key services
Financial calculators, Financial tips and guides, Scam reporting and awareness, Budgeting and saving tools
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Cloudflare DNS, Google Tag Manager, Vimeo Player API, JavaScript, CSS3, HTML5
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of Cloudflare DNS
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a government financial education portal.
  2. Content is comprehensive and well-structured.
  3. No signs of phishing or malicious content.
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on homepage; contact likely via contact form.
  5. No explicit privacy or cookie consent banners detected on homepage.
  6. Use of Google Tag Manager for analytics and tracking.
  7. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page.
  8. No explicit security policy or incident response info found.
  9. Strong branding and trust signals from Australian Government and ASIC.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built with modern web standards including HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. It leverages Google Tag Manager for analytics and tracking, and uses Cloudflare for DNS and likely CDN services. The site is mobile responsive and optimized for performance with preloading of fonts and assets. Accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA labels are present. No CMS is explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or government-managed platform. The site uses Vimeo API for video content tracking. Overall, the technical infrastructure is robust, performant, and well-maintained, with opportunities to enhance security headers and privacy mechanisms.
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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