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Security report for weather.gov

National Weather Service · Government · United States

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

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The National Weather Service (NWS) website serves as the official platform for the NOAA National Weather Service, providing comprehensive weather forecasts, alerts, and climate data for the United States. As a government entity under the US Department of Commerce, it holds a primary position in delivering critical weather information to the public, emergency responders, and various agencies. The site offers a wide range of services including local forecasts, severe weather warnings, radar and satellite imagery, and educational resources, targeting a broad audience from general citizens to specialized professionals. Technically, the website employs a mature infrastructure with legacy JavaScript libraries like jQuery and jQuery UI, integrated with modern analytics tools such as Google Tag Manager and DigitalGov Universal Federated Analytics. The site is hosted on government infrastructure, uses HTTPS extensively, and maintains a professional design with clear navigation, though mobile optimization and accessibility features are basic. The content quality is excellent, reflecting the authoritative nature of the service. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses secure forms, but lacks some modern security headers and explicit cookie consent mechanisms, which are areas for improvement. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is basic, with a comprehensive privacy policy present but no visible cookie consent banner. The WHOIS data is incomplete, likely due to government-managed domain registration practices, but the .gov TLD and organizational affiliations strongly support legitimacy. Overall, the NWS website is a highly credible, authoritative government resource with strong content and a solid security posture. Strategic recommendations include enhancing privacy compliance with cookie consent, updating JavaScript libraries, and implementing additional security headers to further strengthen the site's defenses and user trust.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of weather.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

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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

  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. 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.

    • High

      No SPF record found

      SPF helps prevent email spoofing

      What to do: Add SPF record: "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourmailprovider.com ~all"

  4. 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

      SSL Certificate Expires Soon

      SSL certificate expires in 21 days

      What to do: Renew SSL certificate before expiration

      • NIS2 21(2)(h)
      • IR 2024/2690 9.2(c): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 9.2(c): Cryptography
      • NIST SC-17: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-17: Public Key Infrastructure Certificates

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

Keep watching weather.gov

This scan found 19 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
75
Security headers
70
Email security
50
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
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 weather.gov, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
509
Employees
34
Customers
406
Third parties
69
Weak passwords
14%

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 weather.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

The National Weather Service operates as a key government agency providing essential weather and climate information across the United States. Its market position is unique and authoritative, with no direct commercial competitors in the public sector. The business model focuses on public service and safety, delivering timely forecasts and alerts to a diverse audience including the general public, government agencies, and emergency services. Revenue streams are government-funded, with no commercial advertising. The partnership ecosystem includes NOAA and the US Department of Commerce, reinforcing its operational legitimacy. Growth indicators include expanding digital services such as APIs and graphical forecasts. Strategic observations highlight the importance of maintaining technological modernization and compliance with evolving privacy regulations to sustain public trust and operational effectiveness.

Security posture

The National Weather Service website demonstrates a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS usage and secure form handling. The absence of critical vulnerabilities and exposed sensitive data indicates good operational security practices. However, the lack of certain security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options suggests room for enhancement to mitigate risks like clickjacking and cross-site scripting. Privacy compliance is partial; while a comprehensive privacy policy exists, the absence of a cookie consent mechanism may pose compliance risks under regulations like GDPR. Incident response and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not explicitly found, which could be improved to foster transparency and rapid mitigation. Overall, the security culture appears strong but could benefit from formalized policies and enhanced technical controls.

Recommendations

  1. Implement a cookie consent banner to comply with privacy regulations and enhance user transparency.
  2. Add and configure security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Update JavaScript libraries such as jQuery to the latest secure versions to reduce vulnerability exposure.
  4. Publish a security.txt file or equivalent vulnerability disclosure policy to facilitate responsible reporting.
  5. Enhance mobile optimization and accessibility features to improve user experience and compliance.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
National Weather Service
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
National Weather Service
Description
NOAA National Weather Service provides weather, climate, and hazard information and forecasts for the United States.
Key services
Local weather forecasts, Severe weather alerts, Climate data, Radar and satellite imagery, Marine and aviation weather, Educational resources
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 1.10.2, jQuery UI 1.10.3, Google Tag Manager, DigitalGov Universal Federated Analytics, JavaScript, CSS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure forms with autocomplete off

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via GTM), DigitalGov Universal Federated Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
DigitalGov Analytics
Marketing tools
DigitalGov Analytics
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is official US government weather service site
  2. Content is comprehensive and relevant to weather forecasting and alerts
  3. No signs of blocking or WAF interference
  4. WHOIS data is incomplete but domain is .gov indicating government ownership
  5. Uses modern analytics and tracking tools with some privacy policy coverage
  6. No explicit cookie consent mechanism found
  7. Contact information and legal disclaimers are clearly provided
  8. Site uses HTTPS and secure forms
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a combination of legacy and modern web technologies, including jQuery 1.10.2 and jQuery UI 1.10.3, alongside Google Tag Manager and DigitalGov analytics scripts. The HTML structure is valid and includes comprehensive meta tags for SEO and accessibility. Hosting appears to be managed by government infrastructure, ensuring reliability and compliance with federal standards. Performance is moderate, with room for improvement in mobile responsiveness and accessibility. The site lacks a modern CMS indication, suggesting custom or government-developed solutions. Technical risks include reliance on outdated JavaScript libraries and missing security headers, which could impact security and maintainability. Opportunities exist to modernize the tech stack and enhance compliance with evolving web standards.
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. 73/100 −1Medium27 findingsView report
  2. 74/100Medium26 findingsView report
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