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Security report for ncsc.gov.uk

National Cyber Security Centre · Government · United Kingdom

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

84/100

Risk levelLow

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

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is a UK government organization dedicated to making the UK the safest place to live and work online. It provides comprehensive cyber security advice, guidance, incident response support, and certification services such as Cyber Essentials. The website targets a broad audience including individuals, families, self-employed persons, small to large organizations, public sector entities, and cyber security professionals. The NCSC holds a strong market position as the authoritative UK government body for cyber security. Technically, the website is built using modern web technologies including React and Webpack, delivering fast performance and excellent mobile optimization. The site employs HTTPS and cookie consent mechanisms, ensuring good privacy compliance. However, explicit security headers are not detected, and a security.txt file is not published, which could enhance security posture. Security-wise, the site demonstrates a mature security posture with no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. The presence of official social media channels and government affiliations further strengthen trust. The lack of WHOIS data is likely due to privacy protection, which is justified for government domains. Overall, the site is highly trustworthy and professionally maintained.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of ncsc.gov.uk. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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 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 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

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Keep watching ncsc.gov.uk

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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
82
Security headers
80
Email security
98
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
84

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 NCSC operates as a government agency providing essential cyber security services and guidance across multiple sectors, primarily focusing on government and public sector entities but also serving private organizations and individuals. Its business model revolves around advisory, certification, and incident response services, supported by government funding. The organization maintains a strong partnership ecosystem with other UK intelligence and security agencies such as GCHQ, MI5, and SIS. The website content and structure indicate a large, well-established entity with a high level of professionalism and comprehensive service offerings.

Security posture

The NCSC website exhibits a strong security posture with HTTPS enforced and no detected vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive information. The presence of cookie consent and privacy policies indicates compliance with GDPR and privacy best practices. However, the absence of explicit security headers and a security.txt file suggests room for improvement in security transparency and defense-in-depth. Incident response mechanisms are accessible via dedicated reporting portals, though no direct security contact emails are published. Overall, the site reflects a mature security culture aligned with government standards.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options to enhance browser security.
  2. Publish a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosure and improve transparency.
  3. Provide dedicated security contact email addresses to improve incident response communication.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to ensure no vulnerable libraries are included.
  5. Enhance accessibility features further to maintain compliance with evolving standards and improve user experience.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
National Cyber Security Centre
Description
The National Cyber Security Centre aims to make the UK the safest place to live and work online by providing cyber security advice, guidance, and services to individuals, organisations, and government sectors.
Key services
Cyber security advice and guidance, Incident response support, Cyber Essentials certification, Assurance of cyber security products and services, Education and skills development
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React (indicated by SPA structure and JS bundles), Webpack (indicated by hashed JS/CSS filenames), Google Fonts (Poppins font), HTTPS
Frameworks
React
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No vulnerable libraries detected in scripts

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
excellent

Advertising

Transparency
excellent

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges
  2. Content is comprehensive, well-structured, and professionally presented
  3. Strong focus on UK government cyber security advisory and incident response
  4. No suspicious or malicious content detected
  5. Social media presence is official and consistent
  6. No direct company contact emails or phone numbers found, but multiple contact forms and reporting portals exist
  7. WHOIS data is unavailable, likely due to privacy protection or registry restrictions
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern React-based single-page application architecture with assets bundled and optimized via Webpack. Fonts are loaded via preloading mechanisms to improve performance. The site is served over HTTPS with fast loading times and excellent mobile responsiveness. No CMS is explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or government-managed platform. The absence of explicit hosting provider information limits detailed infrastructure analysis. Overall, the technical implementation is robust, modern, and well-optimized for performance and user experience.
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. 84/100Low19 findingsView report
  2. 84/100Low20 findingsView report
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