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Security report for sba.org

First Place Internet, Inc. · Other · N/a

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

50/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The website sba.org is an informational and search platform focused on Small Business Administration (SBA) related topics, operated by First Place Internet, Inc. It provides users with search capabilities for SBA business loans, grants, business plans, and related services. The site appears to be monetized primarily through advertising, leveraging Google Ads and tracking technologies. The content is basic and targeted towards small business owners and entrepreneurs seeking SBA-related information. Technically, the site uses a modest technology stack including jQuery, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Google Ads Domains CAF scripts. The site is moderately optimized for performance and mobile use but lacks advanced SEO and accessibility features. There is no detected CMS or hosting provider information. Security measures are minimal, with no explicit security headers or HTTPS enforcement details visible, though CSRF tokens are present in meta tags. From a security perspective, the site lacks comprehensive security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms. Privacy compliance is basic with a privacy policy and cookie consent banner present, but GDPR compliance is not clearly demonstrated. WHOIS data is unavailable or privacy-protected, which reduces trustworthiness but is somewhat justified given the site's informational nature. Overall, the site is functional but basic, with moderate trustworthiness and security posture. Strategic improvements in security headers, HTTPS enforcement, contact transparency, and privacy compliance would enhance its credibility and user trust.

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. 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.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  2. 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 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';…

  3. 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 sba.org

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.

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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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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
0
Security headers
55
Email security
80
DNS health
70
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
53
Average
50

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 site occupies a niche informational market serving small business owners interested in SBA-related financial products and services. Its business model relies on advertising revenue generated through search and directory listings. The operator, First Place Internet, Inc., appears to be a small-sized entity focused on digital content and advertising. The lack of direct contact information and limited business details suggest a low-profile operation. The site leverages partnerships with Google advertising and analytics services but does not display direct partnerships or subsidiaries. Growth potential depends on improving content quality, user engagement, and trust signals to compete with official SBA resources and other financial information providers.

Security posture

Security maturity is low to moderate. The site uses HTTPS (implied by cookie consent SSL flag) but lacks visible security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options. No explicit incident response or security policy pages are present. Privacy compliance is basic with cookie consent but no detailed GDPR statements. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files were found. The absence of contact information for security incidents and minimal security best practices indicate a need for improvement. No critical vulnerabilities or malware indicators were detected in the content. Overall, the security posture is adequate for an informational site but insufficient for handling sensitive user data.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce HTTPS with HSTS to secure all traffic.
  2. Add essential security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Publish clear contact information including security incident response contacts.
  4. Enhance privacy compliance by updating cookie consent to meet GDPR standards and providing detailed privacy disclosures.
  5. Consider adding a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to improve transparency and trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
First Place Internet, Inc.
Description
Website appears to be a search and directory service related to SBA (Small Business Administration) topics, operated by First Place Internet, Inc.
Key services
Search for SBA Business Loans, Information on SBA Grants, SBA Business Plans, Small Business Health Insurance, SBA Lenders
Content quality
basic
Branding
moderate

Technology

Stack
jQuery 3.3.1, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Ads Domains CAF, Turbolinks
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
40/100
Good practices seen
  • Cookie consent banner implemented
  • CSRF tokens present in meta tags

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ads Domains CAF
Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
basic
User experience
basic
Content relevance
basic
Navigation
basic
Professionalism
basic
Trustworthiness
moderate

Key observations

  1. Website is accessible with no blocking or WAF challenge
  2. Content is minimal and primarily focused on search and SBA-related topics
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers found on the site
  4. Privacy and cookie policies are present but basic
  5. No terms of service or security policy pages detected
  6. No explicit security headers or HTTPS enforcement details found
  7. Use of Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager for tracking
  8. No adult or explicit content detected
  9. WHOIS data is unavailable or privacy-protected
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a legacy JavaScript library (jQuery 3.3.1) alongside modern Google analytics and advertising scripts. The site lacks a detectable CMS and appears custom-built or lightly templated. Performance is moderate with asynchronous loading of analytics scripts. Mobile optimization is basic but present. SEO is minimal with basic meta tags and no structured data or Open Graph tags detected. Accessibility features are limited. The site could benefit from modernization including responsive design improvements, enhanced SEO metadata, and adoption of modern JavaScript frameworks or CMS platforms to improve maintainability and user experience.
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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