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Security report for ndow.org

Nevada Department of Wildlife · Government · United States

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) operates as a state government agency responsible for managing wildlife species and habitats across Nevada. The website serves as a comprehensive portal for outdoor enthusiasts, hunters, fishers, and conservationists, offering licensing, educational resources, news, and public land information. The agency positions itself as the authoritative source for wildlife management and outdoor activities in the Silver State. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with a modern tech stack including Yoast SEO, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, and Microsoft Clarity for analytics and user behavior tracking. The site is hosted on Amazon AWS infrastructure, delivering moderate performance with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. SEO is well implemented with proper meta tags and structured data. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses several tracking and analytics scripts but lacks explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information is present, and no cookie consent mechanism is detected despite the use of tracking technologies. The WHOIS data is malformed and incomplete, limiting domain registration transparency but the domain and content strongly indicate legitimacy as a government entity. Overall, the website is professional, content-rich, and trustworthy from a user perspective but could improve transparency and compliance by enhancing security headers, adding cookie consent, and publishing security policies.

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

6 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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • 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 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

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching ndow.org

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.

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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
77
Security headers
15
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
69

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

NDOW holds a strong market position as the official wildlife management authority in Nevada, serving a broad audience of outdoor recreationists and conservation stakeholders. Its business model is government-funded, focusing on licensing, education, and conservation services. The agency leverages digital channels effectively to engage the public through newsletters, podcasts, and social media. Partnerships with accessibility services and use of modern marketing and analytics tools indicate a mature digital presence. Growth indicators include regular content updates and active community engagement. The lack of explicit business registration data is typical for government entities but WHOIS transparency could be improved.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security posture with mandatory HTTPS and no visible sensitive data exposure. However, the absence of key security headers and lack of published security or incident response policies represent gaps. The extensive use of third-party tracking scripts increases privacy risks without a cookie consent mechanism. The malformed WHOIS data reduces trust in domain registration transparency. No critical vulnerabilities or malware indicators were found. The site would benefit from implementing security best practices such as CSP headers, security.txt, and explicit privacy compliance mechanisms to enhance user trust and regulatory compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, and Referrer-Policy.
  2. Add a cookie consent banner/mechanism to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations given the use of tracking technologies.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response information to improve transparency and user trust.
  4. Consider adding a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  5. Improve WHOIS registration data transparency if possible to enhance domain legitimacy perception.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Nevada Department of Wildlife
Description
The Nevada Department of Wildlife manages nearly 900 different species of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles and their habitats in the Silver State. They provide services and information related to hunting, fishing, boating, wildlife conservation, outdoor education, and public land use.
Key services
Hunting licenses and permits, Fishing licenses, Boating registration and titles, Wildlife conservation and education, Public land information, News and events, Outdoor education and resources
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, Clarity, Swiper.js, jQuery, Google Maps API, Mailchimp
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure external scripts
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar, Facebook Pixel
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Brandcdn
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar, Brandcdn
Marketing tools
Mailchimp
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professionally designed government agency site for Nevada Department of Wildlife.
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and regularly updated with news, events, and educational resources.
  3. Strong use of modern web technologies and SEO best practices.
  4. No signs of WAF or content blocking; full content accessible.
  5. WHOIS data is unavailable or malformed, limiting domain registration transparency.
  6. No explicit cookie consent mechanism detected despite tracking technologies in use.
  7. No visible security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page.
  8. Contact information is primarily via contact forms; no explicit emails or phone numbers found in the HTML.
  9. Social media presence is strong with official Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube links.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform with a modern and well-maintained technology stack including Yoast SEO for search optimization, Google Tag Manager for tag management, and multiple analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar, and Facebook Pixel. Media assets are hosted on Amazon S3, indicating scalable cloud infrastructure. The site is mobile optimized and accessible with good SEO practices including structured data (JSON-LD). Performance is moderate, likely influenced by multiple third-party scripts. Technical debt appears low with opportunities to enhance security headers and privacy compliance 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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