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Security report for virginia.gov

Commonwealth of Virginia · Government · United States

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Virginia.gov is the official digital portal for the Commonwealth of Virginia, providing residents, businesses, and visitors with access to a wide range of government services and resources. The website serves as a centralized hub for information on state government, business, education, health, transportation, and public safety. It is positioned as a trusted and authoritative source for Virginia state government information and services. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies including jQuery, Font Awesome, and Google Tag Manager, with a focus on accessibility and mobile responsiveness. The site is well-structured with clear navigation and comprehensive metadata, supporting good SEO and user experience. Performance is moderate, with opportunities for optimization. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS and follows several best practices, though it lacks some security headers and explicit security policies. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is partial, with a privacy policy present but no cookie consent mechanism or GDPR indicators. WHOIS data is unavailable due to privacy protection, which is typical for government domains. Overall, Virginia.gov presents a high level of trustworthiness and professionalism, suitable for its role as a government portal. Strategic improvements in privacy compliance and security transparency would further enhance its posture.

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. 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

  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 Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1
  4. DNS health

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

    • High

      Unregistered MX Record

      MX record points to unregistered domain: feedback-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com

      What to do: Remove or fix MX record pointing to unregistered domain

      • RFC 5321 §5.1
      • NIS2 21(2)(i)
      • IR 2024/2690 12.4: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 12.4: Asset inventory
      • NIST CM-8: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-8: System Component Inventory

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

Keep watching virginia.gov

This scan found 25 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

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Full report

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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
72
Security headers
50
Email security
75
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
68

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 virginia.gov, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
47,222
Employees
73
Customers
46,845
Third parties
304
Weak passwords
11%

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 virginia.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

Virginia.gov operates as a government portal serving multiple sectors including government administration, transportation, finance, education, and public safety. Its business model is non-commercial, focused on providing public services and information. The site targets a broad audience including residents, businesses, government employees, and visitors. It maintains a strong market position as the official state website, with partnerships and links to various government agencies. The site demonstrates consistent branding and high content quality, supporting the Commonwealth's digital government initiatives.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and no visible security vulnerabilities. However, it lacks some advanced security headers and does not provide explicit incident response or vulnerability disclosure information. Privacy compliance is limited, with no cookie consent mechanism despite use of tracking technologies. The absence of contact information for security or privacy inquiries is a gap. Overall, the site is secure but could improve transparency and compliance to align with best practices and regulatory requirements.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a cookie consent banner to comply with privacy regulations and inform users about tracking.
  2. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options to enhance protection.
  3. Publish a clear security policy and provide contact information for incident reporting and vulnerability disclosures.
  4. Consider adding a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability reporting.
  5. Enhance visibility of contact information for privacy and security concerns to build user trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Commonwealth of Virginia
Description
The official website of the Commonwealth of Virginia providing information about Virginia government, state agencies, services, and resources.
Key services
Business services, Economy resources, Education information, Employment services, Environment and natural resources, Family and health services, Finance and tax services, Government information, Licenses and permits, Public safety
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 3.5.1, Font Awesome 6.5.1, Google Tag Manager (gtag.js), Microsoft Forms embed, Custom JavaScript for branding bar and navigation
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure cookies and referrer policy (no-referrer-when-downgrade)
  • No vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google Analytics (via gtag.js)
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official state government website with comprehensive public service information.
  2. No WHOIS data available due to privacy or technical failure.
  3. No visible contact emails or phone numbers explicitly labeled for contact.
  4. No cookie consent banner detected despite use of tracking scripts.
  5. Good use of HTTPS and modern web technologies.
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure policy found.
  7. Social media presence on Twitter (X) and Instagram linked.
  8. Multiple government agency links and resources integrated.
  9. No advertising networks detected beyond Google Analytics.
  10. Content is well structured and accessible with good SEO metadata.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a combination of custom JavaScript and popular libraries like jQuery and Font Awesome. Google Tag Manager is used for analytics, indicating a modern approach to data collection. The site is mobile responsive and accessible, with good SEO metadata. Hosting details are not explicitly found, but the use of .gov domain and Microsoft Forms integration suggests government-managed infrastructure. Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization in script loading and asset management. No CMS was explicitly detected, indicating a custom or government-specific platform.
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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