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Is research.gov a Scam? Security Check Results - National Science Foundation

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Is research.gov Safe? Security Analysis for National Science Foundation

https://research.gov

Check if research.gov is a scam or legitimate. Free security scan and reviews.

GovernmentUnited Statesenterprise
jQuery 3.7.0Bootstrap 3.3.7DataTables 1.13.6ForeSee (customer experience analytics)Google Tag Manager+2 more
Analyzed 9/5/2025Completed 12:02:46 PM
75
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK
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Domainresearch.gov
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AI Summary

Research.gov is the official grants management platform for the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) community, providing comprehensive services including proposal preparation, submission, award management, reviews, pa… Unlock the full Guard report to read the complete analysis.

Detected Technologies

jQuery 3.7.0Bootstrap 3.3.7DataTables 1.13.6ForeSee (customer experience analytics)Google Tag ManagerDigital Analytics Program (DAP)WebTrends
Continuous monitoring

Keep research.gov under constant watch

Guard tracks your live infrastructure daily: certificate expiry, DNS & mail authentication drift, uptime changes, subdomain inventory, and unexpected tracker or content shifts. A full timeline captures every diff so you can prove remediation and spot regressions instantly.

Security drift alerts

Risk score drops, new high-severity issues, and header hardening gaps

Compliance watch

GDPR / NIS2 posture changes with governance evidence snapshots

Infrastructure surface

Unexpected open services, SSL expiry, DNS & email authentication changes

Content & tracker intelligence

Marketing tech shifts, analytics drift, and AI recommendation updates

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Security Headers

3 findings

80/100

GDPR Compliance

4 findings

53/100

NIS2 Compliance

6 findings

47/100

Email Security

4 findings

70/100

🧠AI Business Intelligence

Technology stack, business insights, and market analysis powered by AI.

Snapshot shown below. Unlock the full AI report for complete market insights, audience profiling, and step-by-step recommendations.

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

Research.gov operates as a government service platform under the National Science Foundation, targeting the U.S. research community involved in NSF grants. Its competitive advantage lies in its official status and comprehensive integration of proposal, review, award, and financial management services. Revenue streams are government-funded, with no commercial transactions evident on the site. The platform supports a broad user base including researchers, reviewers, and administrative staff, indicating a large enterprise scale. Partnerships with NSF and related government entities are evident, and the site maintains a strong ecosystem of related NSF domains. The platform's strategic focus on user experience and analytics suggests ongoing efforts to optimize service delivery and stakeholder engagement.

Extracted Contact Information

Marketing Intelligence Data

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The security maturity of Research.gov is solid, with mandatory HTTPS, promotion of multi-factor authentication, and no visible exposure of sensitive data. The absence of some security headers and a cookie consent mechanism are notable gaps that could affect compliance with privacy regulations such as GDPR. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is publicly available, which could be improved to enhance transparency and readiness. The use of multiple analytics and tracking tools indicates moderate user tracking, balanced by the site's government nature and implied privacy standards. Overall, the security posture is strong but could benefit from enhanced privacy and security policy disclosures.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

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Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

A preview of your strategic observations is visible. Upgrade to unlock the full competitive positioning, trust signals, and branding checklist.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

National Science Foundation

Description:

NSF's Research.gov is where to prepare and submit proposals, manage awards, and participate in reviews and panels.

Key Services:
Proposal preparation and submissionReviews, panels, and meetings managementAwards and reportingFellowships and opportunitiesFinancial managementUser account and role administration
Content Quality:

good

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
jQuery 3.7.0Bootstrap 3.3.7DataTables 1.13.6ForeSee (customer experience analytics)Google Tag ManagerDigital Analytics Program (DAP)WebTrends
Frameworks:
Bootstrap
Performance:

moderate

Mobile:

good

Accessibility:

good

SEO:

good

Security Assessment

Security Score:
85/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of MFA banner to promote multi-factor authentication
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Google Analytics (via GTM)Crazy EggForeSeeWebTrendsDigital Analytics Program (DAP)
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:basic

Advertising & Marketing

Ad Networks:
Crazy Egg
Tracking Pixels:
Crazy EggForeSeeWebTrendsDigital Analytics Program (DAP)
Marketing Tools:
Crazy EggForeSeeWebTrendsDigital Analytics Program (DAP)
Transparency Level:basic

Website Quality Assessment

Design Quality:good
User Experience:good
Content Relevance:good
Navigation Clarity:good
Professionalism:good
Trustworthiness:high

Key Observations

1

Official U.S. government domain with .gov TLD

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Some header findings are shown. Unlock to see the full checklist, impacted endpoints, and remediation guidance.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

80/100
Score

Weak X-XSS-Protection configuration

LOW

Current value: "0" Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

Missing Referrer-Policy header

LOW

Controls referrer information sent with requests Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

Missing Permissions-Policy header

MEDIUM

Controls browser features and APIs Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

👤GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.

Preview of GDPR checkpoints is visible. Unlock to reveal full evidence, policy excerpts, and DPIA guidance.

GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment

53/100
Score

No Cookie Policy found

HIGH

GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

No Cookie Consent Banner found

HIGH

GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

No Data Protection Officer mentioned

LOW

Large organizations may need to designate a DPO under GDPR Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

Privacy policy may not be GDPR compliant

MEDIUM

Privacy policy lacks explicit GDPR compliance elements Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

GDPR Compliance Analysis

Privacy Policy85% confidence
Cookie Policy0% confidence
Contact Information Found90% confidence
phone

🛡️NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive compliance assessment.

You can see headline NIS2 checks. Upgrade to access the full control mapping, severity breakdown, and remediation plan.

NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive

47/100
Score

No vulnerability disclosure policy

MEDIUM

NIS2 encourages coordinated vulnerability disclosure Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

No incident response procedures found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented incident response and business continuity plans Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

No business continuity planning found

MEDIUM

NIS2 emphasizes operational resilience and business continuity Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

No security contact information

HIGH

NIS2 requires clear incident reporting channels Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

No vulnerability reporting mechanism

MEDIUM

Clear vulnerability reporting supports coordinated disclosure Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

No NIS2 reference found

LOW

Consider explicitly mentioning NIS2 compliance efforts Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

📧Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation and email security assessment.

Quick view of email authentication checks is provided. Unlock to uncover full DNS evidence, record diffs, and fix scripts.

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

70/100
Score

No DKIM record found

MEDIUM

DKIM adds cryptographic signatures to emails Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

No BIMI Record

LOW

BIMI displays brand logos in email clients Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

No MTA-STS Policy

MEDIUM

MTA-STS enforces TLS for email delivery Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

No TLS-RPT Record

LOW

TLS-RPT provides reporting for email TLS issues Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

SPF
Sender Policy Framework
DKIM
DomainKeys Identified Mail
DMARC
Domain-based Message Authentication
MX Records
Mail Exchange Records
BIMI
Brand Indicators
MTA-STS
Mail Transfer Agent Security
TLS-RPT
TLS Reporting
DNSSEC
DNS Security
SPF Details
Record:
v=spf1 ip4:128.150.5.20/26 ~all
DNS Lookups:0/10
Policy:~all
DMARC Details
Policy:reject
Aggregate Reports:dmarcemails@nsf.gov
Forensic Reports:fremailsdmarc@nsf.gov

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

This is a teaser of the TLS audit. Unlock to view certificate chains, cipher support tables, and remediation steps.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

90/100
Score

Mixed Content Detected

MEDIUM

25 resources loaded over insecure HTTP Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 2 of 4 security checks due to time constraints Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

Certificate Details

Subject:www.research.gov
Issuer:DigiCert Global G2 TLS RSA SHA256 2020 CA1
Valid Until:9/9/2026 (369 days)
SANs:www.research.gov

OCSP Status

OCSP Stapling Disabled

📊DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment.

Unlock the full DNS posture audit to reveal misconfigurations, zone records, and actionable fixes.

DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment

75/100
Score

DNSSEC Not Enabled

MEDIUM

DNSSEC is not configured for this domain Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

CAA Records Not Configured

LOW

Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) records not found Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

Domain Delete Lock Not Enabled

LOW

Domain can be deleted without additional verification Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

Slow DNS Resolution

LOW

DNS resolution took 2512ms (>1000ms) Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

Domain Registration Details

Domain Age
18 years(mature)
Expiry Risk
medium(expired)
Protection Level
basicDNSSEC OFF
Suspicious Indicators Detected
  • Privacy/proxy registration detected

DNS Records

A Records:128.150.221.194
AAAA Records:2620:10f:6002:221::194
Name Servers:
ns1.nsf.gov
ns2.nsf.gov
ns3.nsf.govWHOIS only
SOA:Serial: 76357, TTL: 900s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:2512ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 ip4:128.150.5.20/26 ~all

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis.

See a glimpse of exposed services. Unlock to access full port inventories, CVE lookups, and mitigation priorities.

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis

100/100
Score

Good Network Security Posture

LOW

No unnecessary services detected on common risky ports Unlock the full report to read the complete fix.

🔧Technical Analysis

Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.

Unlock to view the complete technical breakdown, stack fingerprinting, and hardening checklist.

Technical Analysis

Comprehensive security assessment findings

Additional Findings

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⭐ Verified Community Reviews

What others say about research.gov

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Community rating

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