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Security report for noaa.gov

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration · Government · United States

Low risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

78/100

Risk levelLow

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

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a U.S. government agency under the Department of Commerce, providing authoritative services in weather forecasting, climate monitoring, ocean and coastal management, fisheries, satellite data, research, and education. The website serves a broad audience including the general public, researchers, educators, and government stakeholders. It is positioned as the primary federal source for oceanic and atmospheric data and services. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 10 with a modern technology stack including jQuery, Google Tag Manager, and various JavaScript libraries for UI enhancements. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and SEO-friendly, with moderate performance. Analytics and tracking tools are used responsibly with privacy considerations. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and secure form handling, though explicit security headers could be improved. Privacy compliance is good with a comprehensive privacy policy, but a cookie consent mechanism is not evident. WHOIS data is incomplete, which is unusual for a .gov domain, but the site’s official branding and content confirm legitimacy. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained, with minor recommendations to enhance security headers and privacy transparency.

Scanned

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

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 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

4 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. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

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

Keep watching noaa.gov

This scan found 16 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
90
Security headers
55
Email security
75
DNS health
90
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
78

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

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 noaa.gov, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
2,733
Employees
39
Customers
2,310
Third parties
384
Weak passwords
15%

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for noaa.gov.

Select it in the checkout above.

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

NOAA operates as a critical government entity providing environmental data and services essential for public safety, research, and policy. Its market position is unique as the authoritative U.S. federal agency in its domain. The business model is service-oriented, funded by government budgets, focusing on data dissemination, research, and public education. The website supports this mission with extensive content and tools. Partnerships with other government sites and social media presence enhance outreach. The lack of visible contact emails or phone numbers on the homepage suggests a preference for controlled communication channels, typical for government agencies.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, secure form inputs, and no visible sensitive data exposure. However, the absence of explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options is a gap. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response contacts are published, which could be improved for transparency. Analytics usage is moderate and privacy-conscious. The incomplete WHOIS data is a concern but likely a registry anomaly rather than a security risk. Overall, the site is secure but could enhance transparency and header security.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options to strengthen browser security.
  2. Add a visible cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and improve user transparency.
  3. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Provide clear incident response contact information, such as a security@ or abuse@ email address, to improve security communication.
  5. Review WHOIS data registration to ensure completeness and transparency consistent with .gov domain expectations.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Description
U.S. Department of Commerce agency focused on weather, climate, ocean, coasts, fisheries, satellites, research, marine and aviation, charting, sanctuaries, education, news, and tools & resources.
Key services
Weather forecasting, Climate monitoring, Ocean and coastal management, Fisheries management, Satellite data services, Research and education
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, jQuery, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Handlebars.js, Slick Carousel, Tooltipster, Owl Carousel, Freezeframe
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
excellent
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with autocomplete off
  • No vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Siteimprove Analytics, DigitalGov Universal Federated Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Siteimprove Analytics, DigitalGov Universal Federated Analytics
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 content covering NOAA's mission and services
  3. Modern, accessible, and mobile-optimized design
  4. Use of multiple analytics and tracking tools with privacy considerations
  5. No visible security or privacy policy gaps
  6. WHOIS data incomplete, unusual for .gov domain
  7. No WAF or blocking detected, full content accessible
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses Drupal 10 CMS with a modern front-end stack including jQuery and various UI libraries. It integrates Google Tag Manager and multiple analytics services for data collection. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices. Performance is moderate, likely due to rich media content and multiple scripts. There is no evidence of outdated or vulnerable libraries. Hosting details are not explicit but likely government infrastructure. Technical debt appears low, with opportunities to improve security headers and privacy 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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 75/100 −1Medium27 findingsView report
  2. 76/100Low27 findingsView report
  3. 76/100Low27 findingsView report
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