Is usda.gov Safe? Security Analysis for U.S. Department of Agriculture
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AI Summary
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) website serves as an authoritative federal government portal providing extensive resources and support related to food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development, nutrition, and related policy areas. The site targets a broad audience including American citizens, farmers, ranchers, agricultural stakeholders, and government employees. It offers comprehensive information on food safety, farming and ranching, forestry, sustainability, trade, and disaster assistance programs, positioning itself as a critical resource in the agricultural sector. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 10, a modern and robust content management system, and integrates multiple analytics tools including Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and the U.S. government's Digital Analytics Program. The site demonstrates good performance, excellent mobile optimization, and strong accessibility features, ensuring a positive user experience across devices. The presence of HTTPS and secure cookie consent mechanisms further enhance its technical maturity. From a security perspective, the USDA website employs HTTPS with excellent SSL configuration and follows best practices such as secure forms and no visible vulnerabilities in third-party libraries. While explicit security headers are not fully confirmed, the overall posture is strong. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear privacy and cookie policies, including GDPR considerations. Incident response mechanisms are partially visible through a lawfare complaint portal, though more explicit security contact channels could improve readiness. Overall, the website is highly trustworthy, professionally designed, and consistent with its government identity. The lack of WHOIS data is expected due to the .gov domain restrictions, and no suspicious patterns were detected. The site is safe for general audiences with no adult or questionable content. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security header implementation, increasing transparency around incident response, and maintaining up-to-date CMS and third-party components to sustain security and compliance.
Detected Technologies
🧠AI Business Intelligence
Technology stack, business insights, and market analysis powered by AI.
Business Intelligence
Market & Strategic Analysis
USDA holds a dominant position as a federal government agency responsible for agriculture and food policy in the United States. Its business model revolves around public service, regulatory oversight, and program delivery rather than commercial revenue generation. The website reflects this with extensive informational content and resources rather than transactional services. The agency's partnerships with other government domains such as farmers.gov and fsis.usda.gov indicate a strong ecosystem supporting agricultural stakeholders. The site’s comprehensive navigation and content breadth suggest a mature digital presence aimed at maximizing outreach and service delivery to diverse user groups including farmers, policymakers, and the general public.
Security Posture Analysis
Comprehensive Security Assessment
The USDA website exhibits a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS enforcement and excellent SSL configuration. The use of secure cookie consent and integration with government analytics programs demonstrates attention to privacy and compliance. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. However, explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options were not clearly identified in the HTML source, representing an area for improvement. Incident response contact information is limited but includes a specialized complaint portal. Overall, the site aligns well with government security standards but could benefit from enhanced header policies and more visible security contact channels.
Strategic Recommendations
Priority Actions for Security Improvement
Implement and explicitly confirm comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Referrer-Policy.
✨Observations
AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.
AI-Enhanced Website Analysis
Business Insights
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Resources and support for food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development, nutrition, and related issues.
excellent
consistent
Technical Stack
moderate
excellent
excellent
good
Security Assessment
- HTTPS enforced
- Secure cookie consent mechanism
- No exposed sensitive data in HTML
- Use of Google Tag Manager with consent
- No visible vulnerable libraries
Analytics & Tracking
Advertising & Marketing
Website Quality Assessment
Key Observations
Official US government website with .gov domain
🛡️Security Headers
HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.
Security Headers
HTTP security headers analysis
👤GDPR Compliance
Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.
GDPR Compliance
Privacy and data protection assessment
No Cookie Policy found
HIGHGDPR requires clear information about cookie usage
No Cookie Consent Banner found
HIGHGDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies
No Data Protection Officer mentioned
LOWLarge organizations may need to designate a DPO under GDPR
Privacy policy may not be GDPR compliant
MEDIUMPrivacy policy lacks explicit GDPR compliance elements
GDPR Compliance Analysis
🛡️NIS2 Compliance
Network & Information Security Directive compliance assessment.
NIS2 Compliance
Network & Information Security Directive
No information security framework found
HIGHNIS2 requires documented cybersecurity and information security measures
No security policy documentation found
HIGHNIS2 requires documented cybersecurity governance and risk management
No incident response procedures found
HIGHNIS2 requires documented incident response and business continuity plans
No security contact information
HIGHNIS2 requires clear incident reporting channels
No NIS2 reference found
LOWConsider explicitly mentioning NIS2 compliance efforts
📧Email Security
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation and email security assessment.
Email Security
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation
Complex SPF record
LOWToo many include statements can cause lookup limits
No BIMI Record
LOWBIMI displays brand logos in email clients
No MTA-STS Policy
MEDIUMMTA-STS enforces TLS for email delivery
No TLS-RPT Record
LOWTLS-RPT provides reporting for email TLS issues
SPF Details
DKIM Selectors Found
DMARC Details
🏆SSL/TLS Security
Certificate validity and encryption analysis.
SSL/TLS Security
Certificate validity and encryption analysis
Unable to retrieve SSL certificate
CRITICALCould not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information
Partial SSL/TLS Assessment
LOWCompleted 2 of 4 security checks due to time constraints
OCSP Status
📊DNS Health
DNS configuration and security assessment.
DNS Health
DNS configuration and security assessment
DNSSEC Not Enabled
MEDIUMDNSSEC is not configured for this domain
CAA Records Not Configured
LOWCertificate Authority Authorization (CAA) records not found
Domain Delete Lock Not Enabled
LOWDomain can be deleted without additional verification
Domain Registration Details
- •Privacy/proxy registration detected
DNS Records
DNSSEC Status
DNS Performance
SPF Analysis
⚡Network Security
Port scanning and network exposure analysis.
Network Security
Port scanning and network exposure analysis
Good Network Security Posture
LOWNo unnecessary services detected on common risky ports
🔧Technical Analysis
Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.
Technical Analysis
Comprehensive security assessment findings