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Security report for va.gov

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs · Government · United States

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

75/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs operates VA.gov, the official government portal for veterans to access benefits, healthcare, education, and other services. The website serves a broad audience including veterans, service members, family members, caregivers, and survivors. It is positioned as the primary federal agency platform for veterans' benefits and healthcare, offering a comprehensive suite of services and resources. The site is enterprise-scale, reflecting the size and scope of the federal agency it represents. Technically, VA.gov employs modern web technologies including Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, and the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS), hosted on AWS infrastructure. The site is well-optimized for performance, mobile responsiveness, and accessibility, ensuring a high-quality user experience. The use of official .gov domain and secure HTTPS connections further enhance trust and security. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates good practices such as HTTPS enforcement and no visible exposure of sensitive data. However, explicit security headers like CSP and HSTS are not detected in the provided HTML, and there is no public vulnerability disclosure or incident response contact information. Privacy compliance is basic, with a comprehensive privacy policy present but lacking a cookie consent mechanism. Overall, VA.gov is a highly credible, professional, and secure government website with excellent content quality and user experience. Strategic improvements include enhancing security headers, publishing vulnerability disclosure policies, and implementing cookie consent to strengthen privacy compliance and security posture.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of va.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

3 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 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

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

Keep watching va.gov

This scan found 18 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
100
Security headers
45
Email security
72
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
75

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 va.gov, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
46,796
Employees
25
Customers
45,213
Third parties
1,558
Weak passwords
7%

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 va.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

VA.gov is a critical government platform serving millions of veterans and their families. Its market position as the official U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website provides a significant competitive advantage, as it is the authoritative source for veterans' benefits and healthcare information. The business model is service-oriented, funded by the federal government, focusing on delivering benefits administration and healthcare services efficiently. The site supports a wide range of services including disability claims, education benefits, career support, pensions, housing assistance, life insurance, and burial services. The platform integrates with various government and partner domains, creating an ecosystem that supports veterans comprehensively. Growth indicators include continuous updates, integration of mobile apps, and outreach events. The partnership ecosystem includes federal agencies like the Department of Labor and National Archives, enhancing service delivery. The website's strategic focus on accessibility, mobile optimization, and user-centric design reflects a mature digital presence aligned with government standards.

Security posture

VA.gov exhibits a mature security posture consistent with a federal government website. HTTPS is enforced, ensuring encrypted communications. The site avoids exposing sensitive data in its HTML content and uses official .gov domain branding to establish trust. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options represents an area for improvement. There is no publicly available vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file, which limits transparency and community engagement in security. Incident response contact information is not explicitly provided, which could hinder timely reporting and mitigation of security incidents. Privacy compliance is partially addressed with a comprehensive privacy policy, but the lack of a cookie consent mechanism may pose compliance risks under regulations like GDPR. Overall, the security posture is strong but could benefit from enhanced header configurations, formal vulnerability disclosure, and improved privacy controls.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers including CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  2. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting and improve transparency.
  3. Add clear incident response contact information accessible to users and security researchers.
  4. Deploy a cookie consent mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and enhance user trust.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to ensure minimal privacy impact and security risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Description
Official website of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs providing information and access to VA benefits and health care services.
Key services
Health care benefits and management, Disability claims and compensation, Education and training benefits, Career and employment support, Pension and housing assistance, Life insurance, Burials and memorials, Records management
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, USWDS (U.S. Web Design System), Web Components, JavaScript ES6+, AWS S3 hosting (gov-west-1 region)
Frameworks
USWDS
Platforms
AWS
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
excellent
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Secure cookies (implied)
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of official .gov domain
  • Accessibility and privacy policy links

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Digital Analytics Program (DAP)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Digital Analytics Program (dap.digitalgov.gov)
Marketing tools
Medallia feedback system
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 domain
  2. Comprehensive veterans benefits and healthcare information
  3. Strong accessibility and mobile optimization
  4. Use of modern web technologies and analytics
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious content
  6. No WHOIS data available due to privacy or .gov restrictions
  7. No cookie consent mechanism detected
  8. No explicit security headers detected in HTML content
  9. Prominent crisis line and emergency contact information
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using modern web technologies including Web Components and the U.S. Web Design System, ensuring consistency and accessibility. Hosting on AWS S3 in a government region provides scalable and secure infrastructure. The site integrates Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for tracking and analytics, alongside the Digital Analytics Program for federal compliance. Performance is optimized with preloading fonts and asynchronous script loading. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with skip links and ARIA attributes. However, the lack of explicit security headers and cookie consent mechanisms indicates areas for technical enhancement. The WHOIS data is unavailable due to privacy or .gov domain restrictions, which is typical for government domains.
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. 61/100 −16Medium24 findingsView report
  2. 77/100 +4Low25 findingsView report
  3. 73/100Medium22 findingsView report
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