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Security report for nd.gov

State of North Dakota · Government · United States

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 website www.nd.gov serves as the official portal for the State of North Dakota, providing comprehensive information and resources related to living, working, industries, business, government services, news, and data. It targets residents, businesses, visitors, and government stakeholders, positioning itself as a trusted government resource. The site leverages a modern technical infrastructure based on Drupal 10 CMS, Bootstrap 5, and various JavaScript libraries to deliver a responsive, accessible, and user-friendly experience. Security is well implemented with HTTPS and secure linking practices, although explicit security headers could be enhanced. Privacy compliance is moderate, with a clear privacy policy but lacking a cookie consent mechanism. WHOIS data is limited but consistent with .gov domain privacy norms, supporting the site's legitimacy. Overall, the site demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and content quality.

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

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 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 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

  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 384-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 nd.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.

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
57
Security headers
60
Email security
75
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
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 State of North Dakota operates this portal as an essential government entity providing public services and information. The site supports multiple sectors including government administration, energy, transportation, tourism, agriculture, and technology. It offers resources for residents and businesses, including career opportunities, industry insights, and government transparency. The portal's extensive content and official branding reinforce its authoritative market position. Partnerships with other government and tourism domains enhance its ecosystem. The business model is non-commercial, focused on public service and information dissemination.

Security posture

The website maintains a strong security posture with enforced HTTPS, secure external linking practices, and no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. While some security headers are not explicitly visible in the HTML, it is likely they are configured at the server level. The absence of a dedicated incident response contact or vulnerability disclosure page is a minor gap. The site does not currently implement a cookie consent banner, which is a privacy compliance consideration. Overall, the security maturity is good for a government portal, with recommendations to enhance header configurations and privacy mechanisms.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and verify comprehensive security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Referrer-Policy.
  2. Add a visible cookie consent banner to improve GDPR and privacy compliance.
  3. Publish a dedicated vulnerability disclosure or security incident response page with contact information.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries for security vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance transparency by providing data retention policies and privacy compliance details.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
State of North Dakota
Description
Official website of the State of North Dakota providing information and resources about living, working, industries, business, government, news, and data hub related to North Dakota.
Key services
Information on living in North Dakota, Job and career resources, Industry and business resources, Government services and transparency, News and events, Data and statistics
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, jQuery, Bootstrap 5, Slick Carousel, Google Tag Manager, AddToAny, Blazy (lazy loading images), FitVids, Monsido (accessibility monitoring), Google Translate
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure cookies (implied)
  • No vulnerable libraries detected in scripts
  • External links marked with nofollow and noreferrer

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Visual Website Optimizer
Tracking pixels
Visual Website Optimizer
Marketing tools
AddToAny
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official state government website with extensive content and resources.
  2. Uses Drupal CMS with modern frontend technologies.
  3. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  4. Good security posture with HTTPS and secure external linking.
  5. Lacks explicit cookie consent mechanism for GDPR compliance.
  6. WHOIS data is incomplete but consistent with .gov domain privacy norms.
  7. Strong branding and consistent user experience.
  8. Multiple external links to trusted government and partner domains.
  9. No adult or questionable content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses Drupal 10 CMS with a modern frontend stack including Bootstrap 5 and jQuery UI components. It incorporates lazy loading for images (Blazy), responsive video embedding (FitVids), and carousel functionality (Slick). Google Tag Manager is used for analytics, and accessibility monitoring is supported by Monsido. The site is mobile-optimized with good accessibility features and SEO meta tags. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in caching and script optimization. The technical infrastructure is robust and suitable for a large government portal, with opportunities to enhance security headers and privacy controls.
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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