Is data.gov legit?

88
/ 100
Trusted
Industry: Government

You can generally trust data.gov. This long-standing government resource demonstrates robust security and infrastructure, making it a reliable source for public information. The main area for improvement is ensuring complete legal documentation for users.

Government average: 80/100 · based on 33 sites

Checked: April 18, 2026 at 8:02 AM UTC · Refresh

Is data.gov a scam? Here's what we found.

Security 95/100

The site employs strong, modern security protocols including TLS 1.3, HSTS, and clickjacking protection, with no threats detected by Google Web Risk, indicating a well-secured platform.

Identity 90/100

With a domain age of over 17 years and a .gov registrar, the site's identity is clearly established as a legitimate government entity, building strong trust through longevity and affiliation.

Reputation 92/100

Its Tranco rank indicates moderate global traffic, suggesting regular use and recognition. The absence of blacklisting and a clean Google Web Risk report further solidifies its positive reputation as a trusted public resource.

Transparency 85/100

Contact information is present, and the site has custom branding and social media metadata, which are good indicators of transparency. However, the lack of full legal pages slightly detracts from complete openness about user interactions.

Compliance 75/100

While the site seems to have some legal pages, the reported partial status due to a missing privacy policy or terms of service is a notable concern, as these are crucial for outlining user rights and data handling.

Infrastructure 90/100

The DNS configuration is robust with multiple IP addresses and active DNSSEC, ensuring reliable access and authenticity. Email authentication measures like SPF and DMARC are also well-configured, preventing email spoofing.

Signals Detected

[+]
Tranco Rank: Rank #18333

This site has moderate global traffic

[?]
Structured Data: None found

No structured data markup found

[?]
Trustpilot: No Trustpilot profile

This business has no Trustpilot presence — not unusual for smaller or newer companies

[+]
SSL Certificate: Valid

Valid certificate, expires in 48 days

[?]
Certificate Issuer: Let's Encrypt

Certificate issued by Let's Encrypt

[+]
TLS Version: TLS 1.3

Connection uses TLS 1.3

[?]
Certificate Transparency: Unable to check

crt.sh returned status 429

[+]
HSTS Header: Present

Site enforces HTTPS via HSTS

[+]
Clickjacking Protection: Present

X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN

[+]
Google Web Risk: Clean

No threats detected by Google Web Risk

[+]
DNS Resolution: 12 IP(s)

Resolves to: 2600:9000:2250:ee00:1b:ad56:be80:93a1, 2600:9000:2250:4a00:1b:ad56:be80:93a1, 2600:9000:2250:e400:1b:ad56:be80:93a1, 2600:9000:2250:0:1b:ad56:be80:93a1, 2600:9000:2250:7e00:1b:ad56:be80:93a1, 2600:9000:2250:9200:1b:ad56:be80:93a1, 2600:9000:2250:4c00:1b:ad56:be80:93a1, 2600:9000:2250:b400:1b:ad56:be80:93a1, 18.66.122.64, 18.66.122.24, 18.66.122.20, 18.66.122.120

[?]
Email (MX Records): None

No MX records found — domain may not handle email

[+]
SPF Record: Present

Domain has SPF email authentication configured

[+]
DMARC Record: Present

Domain has DMARC email authentication configured

[+]
Name Servers: 4 server(s)

DNS providers: ns-1354.awsdns-41.org., ns-1826.awsdns-36.co.uk., ns-60.awsdns-07.com., ns-965.awsdns-56.net.

[+]
robots.txt: Present

robots.txt has 3 directives and references a sitemap

[+]
DNS Blacklists: Clean

Not found on any DNS blacklists

[+]
Branding: Complete

Site has custom branding and social media metadata

[+]
Sitemap: 292 pages

Site maintains a proper sitemap with 292 indexed pages

[+]
Domain Age: 17 years, 3 months

Domain created 2009-04-03T18:23:03Z (17 years, 3 months ago)

[?]
Registrar: get.gov

Registered through get.gov

[+]
Domain Expiry: 2027-01-20T13:08:03Z

Expires in 277 days

[+]
DNSSEC: signedDelegation

DNSSEC status from WHOIS

[+]
Website Status: Online

Website is live and responding

[+]
Contact Info: Found

Website appears to have contact information

[~]
Legal Pages: Partial

Website is missing either privacy policy or terms of service

[?]
Social Media Presence: 1 platform

Website links to one social media platform

[?]
Web Archive: Unable to check

Could not query Wayback Machine

[+]
Page Load Time: 505ms

Fast page load

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When evaluating a government website like data.gov, the bar for trustworthiness is inherently high. People expect these platforms to be reliable, secure, and transparent sources of public information. Fortunately, data.gov largely lives up to this expectation. The domain’s impressive 17-year history immediately signals its established presence, far outliving typical scam sites that pop up and disappear quickly. This longevity, coupled with its .gov domain, unequivocally identifies it as an official government portal. Security is paramount for any site dealing with public data, and data.gov shines here. Its use of modern TLS 1.3 encryption and proactive measures like HSTS headers ensures your connection is secure from eavesdropping and tampering. This is crucial when you’re browsing or downloading potentially sensitive government datasets. What's more unique to government sites is the sheer volume and variety of data they host; users should always verify the specific data source within data.gov itself, as it acts as a catalog for data from many agencies. While largely robust, a government site is expected to be a gold standard for user compliance. The missing piece in data.gov's legal documentation, whether a privacy policy or terms of service, is a notable oversight. For a site designed to provide public access to data, clear policies on how user interactions and any collected data are handled are fundamental. While this doesn't diminish the security of the data itself, it's an area where full transparency would reinforce user confidence even further. For a government portal, providing comprehensive legal clarity is not just good practice, but a public expectation.