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Security report for patreasury.gov

Pennsylvania Treasury Department · Government · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

64/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Pennsylvania Treasury Department website serves as the official online presence for the state treasury, responsible for managing over $150 billion in public funds, returning unclaimed property, and administering the PA 529 College and Career Savings Program. The site targets Pennsylvania residents and stakeholders interested in state financial management and educational savings programs. The business model is that of a government agency providing essential public financial services with a strong market position as a trusted state entity. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including Font Awesome icons and integrates social SDKs, with good mobile optimization and SEO practices. However, there is room for improvement in accessibility and performance optimization. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enabled and domain transfer protection, but lacks DNSSEC and security headers, and no visible incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies. Privacy compliance is weak due to absence of privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the site is professional and trustworthy but would benefit from enhanced transparency and security best practices.

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 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

  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

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

Keep watching patreasury.gov

This scan found 26 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
67
Security headers
30
Email security
60
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
64

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 Pennsylvania Treasury Department operates as a large government entity focused on public fund protection and educational savings management. Its competitive advantage lies in its official status and fiduciary responsibilities. Revenue streams are government-funded, with services aimed at residents and educational beneficiaries. The website reflects a consistent branding aligned with government standards. Growth indicators include ongoing management of large public funds and educational programs. The partnership ecosystem is not explicitly detailed on the site. Strategic observations suggest the agency maintains a stable operational presence but should enhance digital transparency and user engagement through improved contact and policy disclosures.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and domain transfer protections in place. However, the lack of DNSSEC, security headers, and published security policies indicates gaps in defense-in-depth and incident response readiness. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the provided content. Compliance with GDPR or similar data protection regulations is not evident, and no dedicated security contact channels are published. The security culture appears basic, typical for government sites but with room for improvement in proactive security communication and controls.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing
  2. Implement standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security
  3. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with user consent mechanisms to improve compliance
  4. Add clear contact information including security incident response contacts and vulnerability disclosure procedures
  5. Conduct a security audit to identify and remediate any hidden vulnerabilities and improve overall security posture
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Pennsylvania Treasury Department
Description
The Pennsylvania Treasury Department protects $150+ billion of public funds, returns unclaimed property, manages the PA 529 College and Career Savings Program, and much more.
Key services
Protection of public funds, Unclaimed property returns, Management of PA 529 College and Career Savings Program
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Font Awesome 6 Pro, Facebook SDK, Google Custom Search Engine, HTML5, CSS Animations
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status serverTransferProhibited

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official Pennsylvania Treasury Department website with .gov domain
  2. No privacy or cookie policies found on the homepage HTML
  3. No visible contact emails or phone numbers in the provided HTML snippet
  4. Use of modern icon fonts and social SDKs but no direct social media links found
  5. No forms detected in the provided HTML content
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information found
  7. WHOIS data shows domain is locked and privacy protected, typical for government sites
  8. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected, site content accessible
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern tech stack with Font Awesome 6 Pro icons, Facebook SDK, and Google Custom Search integration. The HTML is well-structured with responsive design elements and SEO-friendly meta tags. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in loading speed and accessibility features. No CMS or hosting provider details were detected. The site lacks advanced frameworks but maintains a clean and professional technical implementation suitable for a government agency. Technical risks include missing DNSSEC and security headers which could be addressed to reduce attack surface.
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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