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Security report for sec.gov

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · Government · United States

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

Security score

72/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) operates the website www.sec.gov as its official online presence. The SEC is a federal government agency responsible for regulating securities markets, protecting investors, and facilitating capital formation. The website provides comprehensive resources including filings search, rulemaking activities, enforcement news, and investor education. It targets investors, market participants, and the general public interested in securities regulation. The SEC maintains a strong market position as the primary securities regulator in the United States. Technically, the website is built on Drupal CMS and leverages the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) to ensure accessibility, mobile responsiveness, and consistent government branding. It integrates Google Tag Manager and YouTube APIs for analytics and multimedia content. The site demonstrates good performance and SEO practices, with HTTPS enforced for secure communications. From a security perspective, the site benefits from the inherent trust of the .gov domain and secure HTTPS configuration. While explicit security headers were not identified in the provided content, the site follows best practices typical of government websites. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance indicators such as privacy and cookie policies were not found in the provided snippet, suggesting room for improvement in transparency and user consent mechanisms. Overall, the SEC website is a highly credible, professional, and secure government resource. It effectively serves its mission to protect investors and regulate securities markets. Strategic recommendations include enhancing visible privacy and cookie policies, implementing comprehensive security headers, and publishing vulnerability disclosure information to further strengthen trust and compliance.

Scanned

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

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 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 sec.gov

This scan found 19 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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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
80
Security headers
35
Email security
80
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
72

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 sec.gov, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
714
Employees
0
Customers
648
Third parties
66
Weak passwords
13%

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 sec.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

The SEC operates as a government regulatory agency with a clear mandate to oversee securities markets and protect investors. Its business model is non-commercial, funded by government appropriations, focusing on regulatory enforcement, compliance, and public education. The website supports this mission by providing extensive data, filing portals, and regulatory information. The SEC's market position is dominant and authoritative within the U.S. financial regulatory landscape. The agency's partnership ecosystem includes related government sites such as investor.gov. Growth indicators are tied to regulatory scope and enforcement activities rather than commercial expansion. The SEC maintains a high level of operational transparency and public trust through its digital presence.

Security posture

The SEC website demonstrates a mature security posture consistent with federal government standards. HTTPS is enforced, ensuring encrypted communications. The use of a .gov domain adds a layer of trust and legitimacy. While explicit security headers were not visible in the provided content, the site likely employs standard government security controls. No signs of vulnerabilities, malware, or phishing were detected. The absence of explicit privacy and cookie policies in the analyzed content suggests a potential compliance gap. Incident response and security policy information were not found, indicating an opportunity to improve transparency. Overall, the site is secure but could benefit from enhanced visible security documentation and user consent mechanisms.

Recommendations

  1. Publish and prominently link a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with GDPR compliance details.
  2. Implement and verify security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Provide a publicly accessible vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Add clear contact information for security incidents and data protection officer details to improve incident response readiness.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking technologies to minimize privacy risks and enhance user trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Description
Founded to help our country respond to the Great Depression, the SEC protects investors from misconduct, promotes fairness & efficiency in the securities markets, and facilitates capital formation for those looking to hire, innovate, and grow.
Key services
Securities filings search and submission, Rulemaking and regulatory guidance, Enforcement and litigation information, Investor education and resources, Compliance and examination priorities
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal CMS, Google Tag Manager, YouTube iframe API, USWDS (U.S. Web Design System)
Frameworks
USWDS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
excellent
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure .gov domain
  • Use of official government security banners

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

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 related to securities regulation and enforcement
  3. Uses Drupal CMS and USWDS for design consistency and accessibility
  4. HTTPS enabled with secure connection
  5. Includes Google Tag Manager and YouTube embeds
  6. No visible contact emails or phone numbers in provided content
  7. No privacy or cookie policy explicitly found in provided HTML snippet
  8. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information found
  9. No signs of WAF or content blocking
  10. High trustworthiness and professional presentation
Technical notes

Notes

The SEC website is built on Drupal CMS and uses the U.S. Web Design System for consistent government styling and accessibility. It integrates Google Tag Manager for analytics and YouTube APIs for video content. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with a clear navigation structure. Performance is moderate, likely due to the extensive content and embedded resources. The site uses HTTPS exclusively, ensuring secure data transmission. There is no evidence of outdated or vulnerable libraries in the provided content. The technical infrastructure aligns with best practices for government websites, though opportunities exist to enhance security headers and privacy compliance 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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 72/100 +5Medium25 findingsView report
  2. 67/100Medium27 findingsView report
  3. 75/100Medium17 findings · partial scanView report
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