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Security report for nist.gov

National Institute of Standards and Technology · Government · United States

High risk. 16 critical or high findings in Network security, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

49/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a U.S. government agency dedicated to advancing measurement science, standards, and technology to enhance economic security and improve quality of life. Positioned as the national metrology institute, NIST supports a wide range of sectors including technology, manufacturing, energy, and government. The website reflects its authoritative role with comprehensive content, official branding, and a clear focus on innovation and standards development. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 10, leveraging modern web technologies and performance optimizations including Cloudflare CDN and New Relic monitoring. It demonstrates excellent mobile responsiveness, accessibility, and SEO practices. Security is robust with HTTPS, multiple security headers, and published vulnerability disclosure policies, although cookie consent mechanisms could be improved. The security posture is strong with no detected vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. The absence of WHOIS data is typical for government domains and does not detract from the site's legitimacy. Overall, the site is trustworthy, professional, and well-maintained, serving as a critical resource for industry, researchers, and the public. Strategic recommendations include enhancing privacy compliance with explicit cookie consent, publishing incident response contacts, and adding a security.txt file to streamline vulnerability reporting. These steps will further strengthen trust and security culture.

Scanned

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

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

16 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: Telnet

      Port 23 (Telnet) is publicly accessible - Telnet - Unencrypted remote access

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to Telnet using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection
    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: SMB

      Port 445 (SMB) is publicly accessible - SMB - Windows file sharing, high risk

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to SMB using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection
    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: MSSQL

      Port 1433 (MSSQL) is publicly accessible - MSSQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to MSSQL using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection
    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: Oracle

      Port 1521 (Oracle) is publicly accessible - Oracle - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to Oracle using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection
    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: MySQL

      Port 3306 (MySQL) is publicly accessible - MySQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to MySQL using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

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

Keep watching nist.gov

This scan found 30 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
65
Security headers
70
Email security
97
DNS health
80
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
53
Average
61
After the cap
49

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 · found on this site
  • 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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention nist.gov, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
817
Employees
11
Customers
719
Third parties
87
Weak passwords
12%

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

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Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

NIST holds a unique market position as the U.S. national standards and measurement authority, operating under the Department of Commerce. Its business model is government-funded research and service provision, targeting government entities, industry stakeholders, and academia. The agency's extensive service portfolio includes calibration, accreditation, data provision, and standards development, supporting national security and economic competitiveness. Partnerships with commerce.gov and related NIST subdomains reinforce its ecosystem. The website's content and structure indicate a mature digital presence aligned with its authoritative role. Growth indicators include active news updates, program highlights, and outreach initiatives such as newsletters. The agency's broad sector coverage from cybersecurity to manufacturing reflects strategic diversification. The partnership ecosystem is government-centric, with no commercial affiliations detected, ensuring mission-focused operations.

Security posture

NIST's website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and integration with Cloudflare for DDoS and WAF protection. The presence of a vulnerability disclosure policy and monitoring via New Relic indicates proactive security management. No exposed credentials or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. However, the lack of a dedicated incident response contact and absence of a security.txt file represent minor gaps. Privacy compliance is good but could be enhanced with explicit cookie consent mechanisms. Overall, the site aligns well with government security standards and NIST's own cybersecurity frameworks.

Recommendations

  1. Implement an explicit cookie consent banner to comply with privacy regulations and enhance user transparency.
  2. Publish a dedicated incident response contact page or email to facilitate security reporting and response.
  3. Add a security.txt file at the root domain to standardize vulnerability disclosure processes.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and libraries to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Ensure all external links include security attributes such as rel='noopener noreferrer' to prevent exploitation.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Description
NIST promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.
Key services
Measurement science, Standards development, Technology research, Accreditation and calibration services, Data and reference materials
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Google Tag Manager, New Relic Browser Agent, Cloudflare (CDN and security), JavaScript ES6+
Frameworks
Drupal CMS
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
excellent
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Security policy and vulnerability disclosure published
  • Use of Cloudflare for DDoS and WAF protection
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with CSRF protection (Drupal standard)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, New Relic Browser
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
New Relic
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official U.S. government website with .gov domain
  2. Comprehensive and well-structured content focused on standards and technology
  3. Strong branding and consistent design
  4. Good security posture with HTTPS and security headers
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity
  6. No WAF or blocking detected
  7. Limited WHOIS data due to government domain policies
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by Drupal 10 CMS, indicating a modern and supported content management platform. It uses Google Tag Manager and New Relic for analytics and performance monitoring, and Cloudflare for CDN and security services. The site is well-optimized for mobile devices and accessibility, with semantic HTML and ARIA attributes. Performance is fast with efficient resource loading and caching strategies. The technical infrastructure is robust, supporting a high-quality user experience and secure operations. Opportunities exist to further modernize by adopting explicit privacy consent frameworks and enhancing automated security reporting.
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. 94/100Low8 findingsView report
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