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Security report for scamwatch.gov.au

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission · Government · Australia

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Scamwatch is an official Australian government website operated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that provides comprehensive information and resources to help consumers and small businesses recognize, avoid, and report scams. The site holds a strong market position as a trusted national authority on scam awareness and consumer protection. It offers educational content, news alerts, and targeted resources including support for First Nations peoples and multilingual materials. The website is well-branded, professionally designed, and optimized for accessibility and mobile use. Technically, Scamwatch is built on Drupal 10, leveraging modern web technologies and third-party services such as Google Tag Manager and Monsido heatmaps for analytics and user experience improvements. The site is served over HTTPS with good SSL configuration, though explicit security headers could be enhanced. Privacy and vulnerability disclosure policies are clearly linked, reflecting a mature approach to compliance and security. From a security perspective, the website demonstrates good practices with no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. The presence of a vulnerability disclosure policy and absence of blocking WAF mechanisms indicate openness to security improvements. However, adding a security.txt file and cookie consent mechanism would further strengthen its posture. Overall, Scamwatch presents a low-risk profile with high trustworthiness, serving as a critical government resource for scam prevention in Australia. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, implementing cookie consent, and publishing security.txt to improve transparency and security culture.

Scanned

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. 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

  2. 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

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
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  • Security headers
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  • 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
42
Security headers
65
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
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

Scamwatch operates as a government service under the ACCC, targeting consumers and small businesses in Australia. Its business model focuses on public education, scam reporting facilitation, and consumer protection. The site benefits from strong government backing, which enhances its credibility and reach. Partnerships with the National Anti-Scam Centre and other government agencies strengthen its ecosystem. The website's content and campaigns indicate ongoing efforts to engage diverse communities, including First Nations peoples and non-English speakers. The absence of direct commercial activity aligns with its public service mandate. Growth indicators include active news updates and educational campaigns such as Scams Awareness Week.

Security posture

The security maturity of Scamwatch is solid, with HTTPS enforced and no evident security flaws in the HTML content. The site links to a vulnerability disclosure policy, signaling readiness to handle security issues responsibly. No incident response contacts or security-specific emails were found, which is typical for government informational sites. The lack of explicit security headers is a minor gap. No signs of malware, phishing, or data exposure were detected. Privacy compliance is strong with a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy present, though cookie consent mechanisms could be improved. Overall, the site maintains a secure and trustworthy environment appropriate for a government portal.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  2. Add a cookie consent banner/mechanism to comply with privacy best practices and enhance user transparency.
  3. Publish a security.txt file at the root domain to facilitate vulnerability reporting and improve security posture.
  4. Consider providing explicit incident response contact information for security issues to improve transparency.
  5. Regularly review and update third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize privacy risks and maintain compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
Description
Scamwatch is a website run by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), and provides information to consumers and small businesses about how to recognise, avoid and report scams.
Key services
Scam awareness information, Scam reporting, Consumer protection resources, Educational campaigns
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Google Tag Manager, Monsido heatmaps, Typeform embed
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
excellent
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Vulnerability disclosure policy linked
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Monsido
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Monsido heatmaps
Marketing tools
Typeform
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official Australian government website for scam awareness and reporting
  2. Comprehensive scam-related resources and news
  3. Strong branding and consistent user experience
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious content
  5. Good technical implementation with modern CMS and tracking tools
  6. Privacy and security policies are clearly linked and accessible
  7. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on homepage content
  8. Social media presence on Instagram, Threads, and YouTube
  9. No WAF or blocking detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses Drupal 10 CMS, indicating a modern and supported content management system. It integrates Google Tag Manager for analytics and Monsido for heatmaps, reflecting a focus on user experience and performance monitoring. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features, including skip links and ARIA labels. Performance is moderate, with some external scripts that could impact load times. The site uses standard meta tags and Open Graph tags for SEO and social media sharing. No hosting provider details were explicitly found, but the domain is government-owned, likely hosted on government infrastructure. The technical setup is robust but could benefit from enhanced security headers and cookie consent implementation.
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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