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Is service.gov.uk a Scam? Security Check Results - Government Digital Service

service.gov.uk Security Report Summary

service.gov.uk received a security score of 64 out of 100 in Guard's comprehensive security analysis, classified as "Moderate Risk". This report covers Government Digital Service's website security posture. Government Digital Service operates in the Government industry in United Kingdom.

GOV.UK is the official digital platform of the UK government, providing a centralized portal for accessing a wide range of government services and information. It serves UK residents, businesses, and citizens with services including benefits, tax, immigration, driving, and more. The platform is managed by the Government Digital Service and has a long-standing presence since 1996, reflecting its authoritative status. The website is designed with a focus on accessibility, mobile optimization, and user experience, ensuring ease of navigation and comprehensive content coverage. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies including govuk-frontend framework, JavaScript libraries for performance measurement and analytics, and a custom CMS tailored for government publishing. The infrastructure appears robust with fast performance and strong SEO and accessibility features. Security is well-implemented with HTTPS, CSRF protections, and content security policies, although explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not publicly detailed. The security posture is strong with no detected vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. Privacy compliance is evident through comprehensive privacy and cookie policies, including user consent mechanisms and GDPR adherence. The absence of direct contact emails or phone numbers suggests a controlled communication channel via contact forms, typical for government sites. Overall, the site demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and alignment with government digital service standards. Strategically, the site could enhance transparency by publishing explicit security policies, incident response procedures, and vulnerability disclosure information. This would further strengthen user trust and security posture. The current analytics usage is moderate and privacy-conscious, with no advertising or affiliate marketing detected, aligning with public sector norms.

The security scan identified 34 findings across security headers, SSL/TLS, DNS health, email security, GDPR compliance, and NIS2 compliance analysis modules.

Technologies detected: JavaScript, Lux (performance measurement), GA4 (Google Analytics 4), Gem components (govuk_publishing_components), HTML5, CSS3.

About this security scan

Guard performs automated security assessments of websites by analyzing SSL/TLS certificates, HTTP security headers, DNS configuration, email authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), GDPR compliance indicators, NIS2 directive compliance, network exposure, and AI-powered business intelligence. Each report provides domain-specific findings, risk scores, and actionable recommendations.

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Is service.gov.uk Safe? Security Analysis for Government Digital Service

https://service.gov.uk

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

GovernmentUnited Kingdomenterprise
JavaScriptLux (performance measurement)GA4 (Google Analytics 4)Gem components (govuk_publishing_components)HTML5+1 more
Analyzed 10/9/2025Completed 4:44:00 PM6mo ago
64
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

Below Government avg (70)

10,000+

Domains scanned

500+

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AI Summary

GOV.UK is the official digital platform of the UK government, providing a centralized portal for accessing a wide range of government services and information. It serves UK residents, businesses, and citizens with services including benefits, tax, immigration, driving, and more. The platform is managed by the Government Digital Service and has a long-standing presence since 1996, reflecting its authoritative status. The website is designed with a focus on accessibility, mobile optimization, and user experience, ensuring ease of navigation and comprehensive content coverage. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies including govuk-frontend framework, JavaScript libraries for performance measurement and analytics, and a custom CMS tailored for government publishing. The infrastructure appears robust with fast performance and strong SEO and accessibility features. Security is well-implemented with HTTPS, CSRF protections, and content security policies, although explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not publicly detailed. The security posture is strong with no detected vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. Privacy compliance is evident through comprehensive privacy and cookie policies, including user consent mechanisms and GDPR adherence. The absence of direct contact emails or phone numbers suggests a controlled communication channel via contact forms, typical for government sites. Overall, the site demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and alignment with government digital service standards. Strategically, the site could enhance transparency by publishing explicit security policies, incident response procedures, and vulnerability disclosure information. This would further strengthen user trust and security posture. The current analytics usage is moderate and privacy-conscious, with no advertising or affiliate marketing detected, aligning with public sector norms.

Detected Technologies

JavaScriptLux (performance measurement)GA4 (Google Analytics 4)Gem components (govuk_publishing_components)HTML5CSS3

15 urgent findings need attention

15 high

  • + 7 more findings in the full report below
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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

5 findings

70/100

GDPR Compliance

2 findings

83/100

NIS2 Compliance

9 findings

2/100

Email Security

11 findings

0/100

🧠AI Business Intelligence

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

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

GOV.UK holds a dominant market position as the primary digital gateway for UK government services, serving millions of users seeking official information and transactional services. Its business model is public sector service delivery, funded and operated by the UK government through the Government Digital Service. The platform's competitive advantage lies in its authoritative content, comprehensive service coverage, and user-centric design. Revenue streams are not applicable as it is a government service. Target customers include UK citizens, residents, businesses, and public bodies requiring access to government information and services. Growth indicators include continuous content updates, integration of new services, and adoption of modern web technologies. The partnership ecosystem is primarily internal government departments and agencies, with no commercial partners evident. Operationally, the platform emphasizes security, privacy, and accessibility, reflecting government mandates and public trust requirements.

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The security maturity of GOV.UK is high, with strong HTTPS enforcement, security headers, and secure form handling practices. The presence of CSRF tokens and anti-spam honeypot fields in forms indicates attention to common web security threats. No vulnerable libraries or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. However, the site lacks publicly available detailed security policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms, which are best practices for transparency and rapid incident handling. Compliance with GDPR is supported by clear privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms. The absence of direct security contact emails or security.txt files limits external reporting channels. Overall, the security culture appears mature but could benefit from enhanced transparency and formalized incident response disclosures to align with leading standards such as ISO 27001 or NIST frameworks.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Publish a dedicated security policy page detailing security controls and practices.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

Government Digital Service

Description:

GOV.UK is the UK government's digital service platform providing access to government services and information including benefits, business, childcare, citizenship, justice, driving, education, environment, housing, tax, passports, visas, working and pensions.

Key Services:
Benefits information and applicationsBusiness and self-employed guidanceChildcare and parenting supportCitizenship and immigration servicesDriving and transport servicesEducation and learning resourcesGovernment news and transparencyJob search and employment servicesTax and National Insurance management
Content Quality:

excellent

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
JavaScriptLux (performance measurement)GA4 (Google Analytics 4)Gem components (govuk_publishing_components)HTML5CSS3
Frameworks:
govuk-frontend
Platforms:
Nominet (domain registrar)
Performance:

fast

Mobile:

excellent

Accessibility:

excellent

SEO:

excellent

Security Assessment

Security Score:
90/100
Best Practices:
  • Use of HTTPS with valid certificates
  • CSRF tokens present in forms
  • Cookie consent banner with opt-in/out
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure form handling with anti-spam honeypot field

Analytics & Tracking

Services:
Google Analytics 4
Tracking Level:moderate
Privacy Compliance:good

Advertising & Marketing

Tracking Pixels:
Google Analytics 4
Transparency Level:basic

Website Quality Assessment

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

Key Observations

1

Official UK government website with comprehensive government services and information

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🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

70/100
Score

Weak X-Frame-Options configuration

LOW

Current value: "ALLOWALL"

Weak X-Content-Type-Options configuration

LOW

Current value: "nosniff, nosniff"

Missing X-XSS-Protection header

MEDIUM

Legacy XSS protection (deprecated but still recommended)

Missing Referrer-Policy header

LOW

Controls referrer information sent with requests

Sensitive data may be cached

LOW

Cache-Control header should include "no-store" for sensitive pages

👤GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.

GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment

83/100
Score

No Data Protection Officer mentioned

LOW

Large organizations may need to designate a DPO under GDPR

Privacy policy may not be GDPR compliant

MEDIUM

Privacy policy lacks explicit GDPR compliance elements

GDPR Compliance Analysis

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

🛡️NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive compliance assessment.

NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive

2/100
Score

No information security framework found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity and information security measures

No vulnerability disclosure policy

MEDIUM

NIS2 encourages coordinated vulnerability disclosure

No security policy documentation found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity governance and risk management

No incident response procedures found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented incident response and business continuity plans

No business continuity planning found

MEDIUM

NIS2 emphasizes operational resilience and business continuity

No security contact information

HIGH

NIS2 requires clear incident reporting channels

No vulnerability reporting mechanism

MEDIUM

Clear vulnerability reporting supports coordinated disclosure

No NIS2 reference found

LOW

Consider explicitly mentioning NIS2 compliance efforts

Critical sector without clear security compliance

HIGH

Detected sectors: energy, transport, banking, digital

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📧Email Security

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

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

0/100
Score

Weak DKIM Key

HIGH

DKIM selector 'default' uses 32-bit key

Weak DKIM Key

HIGH

DKIM selector 'google' uses 32-bit key

Weak DKIM Key

HIGH

DKIM selector 'k1' uses 32-bit key

Weak DKIM Key

HIGH

DKIM selector 'k2' uses 32-bit key

Weak DKIM Key

HIGH

DKIM selector 'selector1' uses 32-bit key

Weak DKIM Key

HIGH

DKIM selector 'selector2' uses 32-bit key

Weak DKIM Key

HIGH

DKIM selector 'mail' uses 32-bit key

Weak DKIM Key

HIGH

DKIM selector 'email' uses 32-bit key

Weak DKIM Key

HIGH

DKIM selector 'dkim' uses 32-bit key

Weak DKIM Key

HIGH

DKIM selector 's1' uses 32-bit key

Strict DMARC Alignment

LOW

Strict alignment may cause legitimate emails to fail

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 -all
DNS Lookups:0/10
Policy:-all
DKIM Selectors Found
Selector:default(32-bit rsa)
Selector:google(32-bit rsa)
Selector:k1(32-bit rsa)
Selector:k2(32-bit rsa)
Selector:selector1(32-bit rsa)
Selector:selector2(32-bit rsa)
Selector:mail(32-bit rsa)
Selector:email(32-bit rsa)
Selector:dkim(32-bit rsa)
Selector:s1(32-bit rsa)
DMARC Details
Policy:reject
Subdomain Policy:none
Aggregate Reports:dmarc-rua@dmarc.service.gov.uk
MTA-STS Details

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

95/100
Score

SSL Certificate Expires Within 90 Days

MEDIUM

SSL certificate expires in 69 days

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 2 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Certificate Details

Subject:www.gov.uk
Issuer:GlobalSign RSA OV SSL CA 2018
Valid Until:12/17/2025 (69 days)
SANs:www.gov.uk, *.businesslink.gov.uk, *.direct.gov.uk +10 more

OCSP Status

OCSP Stapling Disabled

📊DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment.

DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment

70/100
Score

DNSSEC Not Enabled

MEDIUM

DNSSEC is not configured for this domain

CAA Records Not Configured

LOW

Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) records not found

Domain Transfer Lock Not Enabled

MEDIUM

Domain can be transferred without authorization

Domain Delete Lock Not Enabled

LOW

Domain can be deleted without additional verification

Domain Registration Details

Domain Age
29 years(mature)
Protection Level
none
Suspicious Indicators Detected
  • No domain protection locks enabled

DNS Records

A Records:151.101.64.144, 151.101.0.144, 151.101.192.144, 151.101.128.144
AAAA Records:2a04:4e42:a00::144, 2a04:4e42:400::144, 2a04:4e42::144, 2a04:4e42:600::144, 2a04:4e42:200::144, 2a04:4e42:e00::144, 2a04:4e42:800::144, 2a04:4e42:c00::144
Name Servers:
dns1.nic.ukDNS only
dns2.nic.ukDNS only
dns3.nic.ukDNS only
dns4.nic.ukDNS only
nsa.nic.ukDNS only
nsb.nic.ukDNS only
nsc.nic.ukDNS only
nsd.nic.ukDNS only
SOA:Serial: 1760016738, TTL: 3600s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:56ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 -all

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis.

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis

100/100
Score

Good Network Security Posture

LOW

No unnecessary services detected on common risky ports

How does service.gov.uk compare?

See how service.gov.uk stacks up against similar websites in the same industry.

🔧Technical Analysis

Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.

Technical Analysis

Comprehensive security assessment findings

Additional Findings

The GOV.UK website is built on a modern, custom government CMS with govuk-frontend framework and JavaScript libraries for performance and analytics. The site is well-structured with valid HTML and CSS, optimized for fast loading and mobile responsiveness. Accessibility features are robust, supporting diverse user needs. The use of nonce-based Content Security Policy enhances script security. Hosting details are not explicit but likely government-managed infrastructure ensures reliability and compliance. The technical stack supports scalability and maintainability, with opportunities to further modernize by adopting emerging web standards and enhancing security transparency.
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Marketing Intelligence

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49.90 €one-time • Incl. 21% VAT

Plan Comparison

FeaturePDF ReportMarketing+
Full security analysis
Professional PDF export
Email delivery
Lifetime access + unlock code
Contact emails & phones
Marketing outreach data

Already purchased?

Order summary

Domainservice.gov.uk
Access tierFull report or marketing add-on

Digital reports are delivered immediately after payment. By continuing you acknowledge the withdrawal waiver described in our Returns & Refunds policy.

VisaMastercardApple PayGoogle Pay

Secure payments processed via EveryPay. Prices in EUR; Incl. 21% VAT.

SEQ SIA

Lastadijas 12 k-3, Riga, Latvia, LV-1050

Reg. No. 40203410806 • VAT LV40203410806

Support: guard@offseq.com+371 2256 5353

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