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Security report for service.gov.uk

Government Digital Service · Government · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 10 critical or high findings in Email security.

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

GOV.UK is the official digital portal of the UK government, operated by the Government Digital Service. It provides comprehensive access to government services and information for UK residents, businesses, and citizens. The website is a primary source for a wide range of public services including benefits, passports, tax, and legal information. It holds a strong market position as the authoritative government web presence with a long-established domain since 1996. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including govuk-frontend framework, JavaScript, and SVG graphics. It is optimized for performance, accessibility, and mobile responsiveness. The site uses Google Analytics 4 for user behavior tracking and includes a cookie consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS, uses secure forms with anti-spam measures, and implements cookie consent banners. However, explicit security policies and incident response information are not publicly published, and no vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file is found. The WHOIS data confirms the domain's legitimacy and consistency with UK government ownership. Overall, GOV.UK demonstrates a high level of professionalism, trustworthiness, and compliance with privacy standards. It is a safe and reliable resource for government-related information and services.

Scanned

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

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 100 · Low
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

10 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

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

Keep watching service.gov.uk

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
100
Security headers
70
Email security
0
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
71

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 service.gov.uk, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
732,147
Employees
2
Customers
731,530
Third parties
615
Weak passwords
6%

Latest record dated 2026-05-27 · 619 subdomains affected

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 service.gov.uk.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –check-mot.service.gov.uk2026-05-27
  • –www.check-mot.service.gov.uk2026-03-27

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)Monitor on Breach(opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

GOV.UK serves as the central digital platform for UK government services, targeting a broad audience including citizens, businesses, and public sector entities. Its business model is public sector service delivery, focusing on accessibility and transparency. The site benefits from strong trust signals such as official domain registration, Crown copyright, and Open Government Licence. It leverages partnerships with government departments and agencies to provide up-to-date information. The platform's extensive service offerings and user-centric design support its position as a critical government resource. The website's growth and sustainability are supported by continuous updates, user feedback mechanisms, and integration with government digital initiatives. Its strategic focus on accessibility and compliance ensures broad usability and legal adherence.

Security posture

The security posture of GOV.UK is robust with enforced HTTPS, secure form handling, and cookie consent mechanisms. The site avoids exposing sensitive data in its HTML and uses nonce attributes in inline scripts to mitigate injection risks. However, the absence of a publicly available security policy, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure program represents an area for improvement. The use of third-party analytics is transparent and privacy-conscious. Overall, the site maintains a strong security baseline appropriate for a government portal but could enhance transparency and incident readiness. No vulnerabilities or security misconfigurations were detected in the provided content. The domain's WHOIS data and hosting details align with expected government standards, further supporting trust.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and user guidance.
  2. Implement and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  3. Provide explicit contact channels for security incidents, such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and analytics tools to ensure no vulnerabilities are introduced.
  5. Enhance user trust by including certifications or compliance badges related to security and privacy.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Government Digital Service
Description
GOV.UK is the UK government's official website providing access to government services and information.
Key services
Benefits information, Births, deaths, marriages and care, Business and self-employed guidance, Childcare and parenting, Citizenship and living in the UK, Crime, justice and the law, Disabled people services, Driving and transport, Education and learning, Employing people
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, SVG, CSS, HTML5, Lux (performance measurement), GA4 (Google Analytics 4)
Frameworks
govuk-frontend
Platforms
Nominet (domain registry)
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
excellent
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent banner with acceptance/rejection options
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with anti-spam honeypot field
  • Use of nonce in inline scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics 4
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google Analytics 4
Marketing tools
Google Analytics 4
Transparency
excellent

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official UK government website with comprehensive public service information
  2. Strong privacy and cookie policies with user consent mechanisms
  3. No direct contact emails or phone numbers publicly listed; contact via forms
  4. Modern, accessible, and mobile-optimized design
  5. Use of Google Analytics 4 for analytics with event tracking
  6. No advertising or affiliate marketing detected
  7. No security.txt or explicit security policy published
  8. WHOIS data consistent with official UK government domain registration
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern and well-maintained technology stack centered around the govuk-frontend framework, ensuring consistency and accessibility. Performance optimization is evident through asynchronous script loading and efficient CSS usage. The site is mobile-optimized and includes accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA attributes. The use of SVG for logos and icons supports scalability and crisp visuals. No CMS is explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or government-managed platform. Hosting details are not explicitly disclosed but domain registration via Nominet confirms UK-based governance. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a fast, reliable, and user-friendly experience with minimal technical debt.
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. 70/100 −1Medium34 findingsView report
  2. 71/100Medium33 findingsView report
  3. 71/100Medium33 findingsView report
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