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Security report for un.org

United Nations · Government · N/a

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

50/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The United Nations website serves as an official informational portal for the international organization, providing multilingual content about global observances and initiatives. It targets a global audience including governments, NGOs, and the general public. The site uses Drupal CMS and is hosted on Amazon CloudFront with Apache servers, employing common web technologies such as jQuery, Bootstrap, and Font Awesome. Google Analytics is used for visitor tracking with IP anonymization enabled. From a security perspective, the site lacks a valid SSL certificate and does not support HTTPS, which is a critical vulnerability for any modern website, especially one representing a global institution. Additionally, a subdomain takeover vulnerability was detected on www.un.org, which poses a significant risk. Security headers are present but the overall SSL/TLS configuration is poor, with no modern TLS protocols enabled and no HSTS policy in place. The website does not display privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies on the landing page, which impacts privacy compliance negatively. No contact information such as emails or phone numbers is directly available on the homepage. The WHOIS data confirms the domain is legitimately registered to the United Nations with consistent registration details and appropriate domain age. Overall, while the website content and business credibility are strong, the technical and security posture require urgent improvements to protect user data and maintain trust. Strategic recommendations include deploying a valid SSL certificate, fixing the subdomain takeover issue, enabling modern TLS protocols, and publishing clear privacy and cookie policies.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of un.org. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
0/ 100 · Critical
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

7 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.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • 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.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

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

Keep watching un.org

This scan found 14 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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  • 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
0
Security headers
85
Email security
50
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
0
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 United Nations operates as a globally recognized intergovernmental organization focused on peace, security, and development. Its website reflects its authoritative position by providing multilingual, accessible content to a diverse international audience. The business model is non-profit and informational, with no commercial transactions. The site leverages partnerships with multiple service providers as evidenced by DNS TXT records for email and domain verification services. The organization maintains a strong brand presence and consistent messaging across languages. Growth indicators include multilingual support and use of modern web technologies, though the lack of visible contact channels and policies on the homepage suggests a focus on information dissemination rather than direct engagement. The UN's market position as a leading global entity is supported by its domain legitimacy and extensive use of official branding. However, the website's technical and security shortcomings could impact user trust and engagement if not addressed promptly.

Security posture

The current security posture of the un.org website is weak due to the absence of a valid SSL certificate and HTTPS support, exposing users to potential interception and man-in-the-middle attacks. The presence of a subdomain takeover vulnerability on www.un.org is a critical issue that could allow attackers to hijack the subdomain and serve malicious content. While several security headers are implemented, the lack of HSTS, OCSP stapling, and session resumption mechanisms reduces the overall security effectiveness. No evidence of incident response contacts, security policies, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms were found, indicating limited transparency and preparedness for security incidents. The website uses Google Analytics with IP anonymization, which is a positive privacy practice, but the absence of privacy and cookie policies undermines compliance with GDPR and other data protection regulations. Immediate remediation is required to secure the site, including obtaining a valid SSL certificate, fixing DNS and CDN configurations to prevent subdomain takeover, and publishing clear security and privacy policies.

Recommendations

  1. Obtain and deploy a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS across all domains and subdomains.
  2. Remediate the subdomain takeover vulnerability by properly configuring DNS records and CloudFront distributions.
  3. Enable modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3) and disable legacy protocols to improve encryption security.
  4. Implement HSTS with includeSubDomains and preload flags to enforce HTTPS usage.
  5. Publish comprehensive privacy, cookie, and terms of service policies to improve compliance and user trust.
  6. Establish and publicize incident response contacts and vulnerability disclosure procedures.
  7. Regularly audit and update security headers and configurations to align with best practices.
  8. Enhance accessibility features and mobile optimization to improve user experience.
  9. Increase transparency around data collection and retention policies related to analytics.
  10. Consider adding visible contact information or dedicated contact pages for user support and inquiries.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal CMS with caching enabled, served via Apache servers and distributed through Amazon CloudFront CDN. It uses Bootstrap 3.3.5 for responsive design, Font Awesome for icons, and jQuery 3.7.1 for scripting. Google Fonts (Roboto) and Google Analytics are integrated for typography and visitor tracking respectively. The site is multilingual, supporting six languages, and uses multiple domain verification TXT records for various third-party services. Performance data is missing, but the presence of chunked transfer encoding and multiple external resources suggests moderate loading times. Mobile optimization appears good based on responsive CSS frameworks and specific mobile stylesheets. SEO is supported by meta tags and Open Graph tags, but no JSON-LD structured data was detected. The lack of HTTPS and modern TLS protocols is a significant technical risk. The subdomain takeover vulnerability indicates misconfiguration in DNS and CDN setup, which should be prioritized for remediation.
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. 81/100 +17Low23 findingsView report
  2. 64/100 −15Medium23 findingsView report
  3. 79/100 +26Low24 findingsView report
  4. 53/100Medium21 findingsView report
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