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Security report for nationalsecurity.gov.au

Australian Government Department of Home Affairs · Government · Australia

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view.

Security score

79/100

Risk levelLow

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

The Australian National Security website is an official Australian Government portal managed by the Department of Home Affairs. It provides authoritative information on national security, terrorism threat levels, public safety advice, and government counter-terrorism initiatives. The site targets a broad audience including individuals, businesses, government entities, and media. It serves as a critical communication channel for national security awareness and public engagement. Technically, the site is built on Microsoft SharePoint, leveraging modern web technologies and integrates Google Analytics and Tag Manager for user behavior insights. The site is well-optimized for mobile and accessibility, with a professional design and clear navigation. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and multiple security headers implemented, though explicit cookie consent mechanisms and a dedicated security policy page are absent. Overall, the website demonstrates a high level of trustworthiness and professionalism consistent with a government entity. The WHOIS data is privacy protected but aligns with the .gov.au domain usage, supporting legitimacy. No blocking or WAF challenges were detected, allowing full content access and analysis.

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

2 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

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
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  • 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
95
Security headers
65
Email security
70
DNS health
90
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
79

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 website represents a key government information asset focused on national security and counter-terrorism. It holds a strong market position as the official source for terrorism threat levels and public safety guidance in Australia. The business model is informational and regulatory, aimed at public awareness and engagement rather than commercial revenue. The site supports multiple stakeholder groups including individuals, businesses, and government agencies. Partnerships with state and territory governments are evident through linked domains. The site content and structure indicate a mature digital presence with ongoing updates and news dissemination.

Security posture

The site exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and a comprehensive set of security headers such as HSTS, CSP, and X-Frame-Options. Forms include anti-forgery tokens, reducing CSRF risks. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. However, the absence of a public vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file limits transparency in incident response. Cookie consent mechanisms are not explicitly implemented, which may impact privacy compliance. Overall, the site is secure but could improve in transparency and privacy controls.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a visible cookie consent banner to comply with privacy regulations and enhance user trust.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and user confidence.
  3. Add a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Enhance contact information with dedicated security or abuse email addresses for incident reporting.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and analytics tools to ensure they do not introduce vulnerabilities or privacy risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Australian Government Department of Home Affairs
Description
The Australian Government's first priority is to keep the community safe from people who seek to do harm. The site provides information on national security, terrorism threat levels, what individuals and businesses can do, and government initiatives.
Key services
National terrorism threat level updates, Reporting suspicious behaviour, Security advice for individuals and businesses, Information on government counter-terrorism efforts
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Microsoft SharePoint, JavaScript, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics
Frameworks
SharePoint Framework
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security headers
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with anti-forgery tokens

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
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. Official Australian government national security website
  2. Comprehensive content on terrorism threat levels and public safety
  3. Uses Microsoft SharePoint CMS
  4. Secure HTTPS with strong security headers
  5. Includes Google Analytics and Tag Manager for analytics
  6. No visible security vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data
  7. No explicit privacy or cookie consent banner detected
  8. WHOIS data is privacy protected but consistent with government domain
  9. No WAF or blocking detected
  10. High quality, professional design and content
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Microsoft SharePoint, a robust enterprise CMS platform, indicating strong infrastructure support. It uses modern JavaScript libraries and integrates Google Tag Manager and Analytics for tracking. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices including meta tags and Open Graph data. Performance is moderate, likely influenced by SharePoint overhead and external scripts. The technical stack is mature but could benefit from performance tuning and enhanced privacy controls. Hosting details are not explicit but likely government-managed or via Microsoft Azure. Overall, the technical implementation supports a secure, professional government website.
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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