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Security report for usagm.gov

United States Agency for Global Media · Government · United States

High risk. 5 critical or high findings in DNS health, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

49/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) is an independent federal agency responsible for overseeing public service media networks that provide unbiased news and information globally, particularly in countries with restricted press freedom. The agency's mission focuses on informing, engaging, and connecting people worldwide in support of freedom and democracy. USAGM operates multiple subsidiary networks including VOA, RFERL, OCB, RFA, MBN, and OTF, positioning itself as a key player in international broadcasting and media development. Technically, the USAGM website is built on a modern WordPress CMS platform, utilizing contemporary web technologies such as jQuery, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and various plugins for enhanced user experience and analytics. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure suitable for a large government entity. From a security perspective, the website enforces HTTPS with valid SSL certificates and displays official U.S. government trust indicators. However, it lacks some advanced security headers and explicit incident response contact information. Privacy compliance is partially addressed with a comprehensive privacy policy and a vulnerability disclosure policy, though cookie consent mechanisms are not evident. The WHOIS data is restricted, which is typical for U.S. government domains, but this limits domain registration transparency. Overall, USAGM's website presents a professional, trustworthy, and secure digital presence aligned with its government mandate. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, improving privacy compliance with cookie consent, and publishing detailed security policies to further strengthen trust and compliance.

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

5 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. DNS health

    DNS sends visitors and email to the right servers. Misconfigured records can cause outages or let someone redirect your traffic.

    • Critical

      Domain Expired

      Domain expired 37 days ago

      What to do: Renew domain registration immediately

  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 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';…

  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 usagm.gov

This scan found 22 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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Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
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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
85
Security headers
30
Email security
85
DNS health
30
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
64
After the cap
49

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 · found on this site
  • 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

USAGM holds a unique market position as the official U.S. government agency managing international public service media. Its competitive advantage lies in its government backing, extensive global reach through multiple subsidiary networks, and focus on unbiased news in restricted press environments. The agency's business model is government-funded, emphasizing public diplomacy and information dissemination rather than commercial revenue. Target customers include global audiences in countries with limited press freedom, policymakers, and international stakeholders. Growth indicators include recent strategic moves such as relocating headquarters to reduce costs and expanding media development initiatives. The partnership ecosystem includes various U.S. government entities and international media organizations. Operationally, USAGM maintains a strong digital presence with consistent branding and transparent communication channels.

Security posture

USAGM demonstrates a solid security posture with mandatory HTTPS enforcement and use of official .gov domain, which inherently provides trust and security assurances. The website avoids exposing sensitive data and employs recognized analytics and tag management tools. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represents an area for improvement. Incident response mechanisms and security contact channels are not explicitly published, which could hinder rapid response to security incidents. Privacy compliance is partial, lacking cookie consent mechanisms and GDPR-specific disclosures. Overall, the security maturity is good for a government site but could benefit from enhanced header policies and transparency in security operations.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate common web attacks.
  2. Publish explicit incident response and security contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Introduce a cookie consent banner or mechanism to align with GDPR and global privacy regulations.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and analytics tools to minimize privacy risks and ensure compliance.
  5. Develop and communicate a formal security policy and certifications to reinforce trust and compliance posture.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
United States Agency for Global Media
Description
The United States Agency for Global Media is an independent federal agency overseeing public service media networks that provide unbiased news and information in countries where the press is restricted. Its mission is to inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.
Key services
International broadcasting, Media development, Internet freedom initiatives, Public service media oversight
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.6.2, jQuery 3.7.1, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Font Awesome, Animate It plugin, Contact Form 7 plugin, Tiq Tag Manager
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Official .gov domain
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security disclaimers and official badges

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Tiq Tag Manager, DigitalGov Analytics
Marketing tools
Tiq Tag Manager
Transparency
good

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 TLD
  2. Content is comprehensive and professionally presented
  3. No signs of phishing, malware, or suspicious behavior
  4. Uses modern web technologies and analytics
  5. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers visible on homepage
  6. Privacy policy and vulnerability disclosure policy present
  7. No cookie consent banner detected
  8. WHOIS data is restricted or unavailable, typical for government domains
Technical notes

Notes

The USAGM website is built on WordPress 6.6.2, leveraging a suite of modern JavaScript libraries and plugins such as jQuery 3.7.1, Animate It, and Contact Form 7 for enhanced interactivity and user engagement. Analytics are managed through Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and DigitalGov Analytics, indicating a mature data collection strategy. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features, contributing to a positive user experience. Performance is moderate, with asynchronous loading of scripts and use of CDN-hosted resources. Technical debt appears minimal, though opportunities exist to modernize security headers and enhance privacy compliance mechanisms. Hosting provider details are not explicitly identified from the data.
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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