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Security report for saintjohn.ca

City of Saint John · Government · Canada

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

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The City of Saint John website serves as the official digital presence for the municipal government of Saint John, New Brunswick. It provides residents, businesses, and visitors with comprehensive information on city services, transit, community events, public safety, and governance. The site positions itself as a trusted source for local news, emergency alerts, and civic engagement platforms, targeting a broad audience within the city and surrounding areas. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 10, leveraging modern web technologies including Google Analytics for user tracking and Google Maps API for transit and location services. The site is hosted behind Cloudflare DNS and CDN services, ensuring reliable performance and security. Mobile optimization and accessibility features are well implemented, contributing to a positive user experience. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and employs domain transfer protections. However, it lacks advanced security headers and does not provide publicly accessible security or incident response policies. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism or GDPR compliance indicators. No vulnerabilities or suspicious content were detected. Overall, the website demonstrates a solid business credibility and technical foundation suitable for a government entity, but could improve in privacy compliance and security transparency to enhance trust and regulatory adherence.

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 256-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 saintjohn.ca

This scan found 25 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

€25per month

  • 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
50
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
68

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 City of Saint John operates as a public sector municipal government entity, providing essential civic services and information to its constituents. Its market position is that of an authoritative local government website, with competitive advantages including a long-established domain, consistent branding, and integration with community engagement tools like Shape Your City. Revenue streams are typical of municipal governments, primarily from public funding rather than commercial activities. The target customer segments include residents, local businesses, visitors, and community organizations. Growth indicators include active news updates, emergency alerts, and digital engagement platforms. The partnership ecosystem includes local police, open data portals, and tourism sites, reflecting a collaborative approach to community services.

Security posture

The website exhibits a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and domain transfer protections in place. The absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options represents areas for improvement. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were identified. The lack of published incident response or security policies limits transparency and preparedness perception. Privacy compliance gaps, notably the absence of cookie consent mechanisms and GDPR indicators, present compliance risks. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a government site but would benefit from enhanced security controls and policy disclosures to mitigate risks and improve stakeholder confidence.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to strengthen domain name system security.
  2. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options.
  3. Add a cookie consent banner to comply with privacy regulations and improve user transparency.
  4. Publish a clear security policy and incident response plan accessible to users.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and tracking scripts to avoid vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
City of Saint John
Description
City of Saint John is the official municipal government website providing information about city services, news, events, transit, community resources, and governance for Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada's first incorporated city.
Key services
City news and notices, Transit route finder and schedules, Community dashboard and event calendar, Parks and recreation information, Public safety and emergency alerts, City Hall services including permits, licenses, and payments
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Maps API, FontAwesome, Mida A/B Testing
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited
  • No exposed emails or sensitive data in HTML
  • Anonymize IP in Google Analytics

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Marketing tools
Mida A/B Testing
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is official municipal government site for City of Saint John, New Brunswick.
  2. Content is comprehensive for city services, news, transit, and community engagement.
  3. No privacy or cookie consent banners detected, which is a compliance gap.
  4. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  5. Use of modern CMS (Drupal 10) and integration with Google Analytics and Maps.
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  7. Social media presence on Facebook and Instagram linked.
  8. WHOIS data shows domain age and status consistent with legitimate government site.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10, a modern and secure content management system, indicating a commitment to up-to-date technology. Integration with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager supports data-driven insights, while Google Maps API enhances user functionality for transit and location services. Hosting via Cloudflare provides DNS resilience and potential CDN benefits. Performance is moderate with room for optimization. Mobile responsiveness and accessibility are well addressed, supporting diverse user needs. Technical risks include missing DNSSEC and security headers, which could be addressed to reduce attack surface. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but could be further modernized with enhanced security and privacy features.
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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