Is fda.gov legit?
fda.gov is a highly trusted and secure website, demonstrating strong technical foundations and a long-standing online presence. While minor branding and transparency elements could be improved, its core security and infrastructure are excellent.
Government average: 82/100 · based on 33 sites
Checked: April 27, 2026 at 5:52 PM UTC
Is fda.gov a scam? Here's what we found.
The site boasts excellent security with a valid SSL certificate, modern TLS 1.3, an HSTS header, and a clean Google Web Risk report, ensuring a secure browsing experience. The lack of structured data is a minor technical oversight.
With a domain age of over 25 years and registration through get.gov, the site exhibits a strong and verifiable identity, characteristic of a legitimate government entity. The WHOIS information is appropriately redacted for privacy on a government domain.
Its Tranco Rank among the top global websites, along with a clean DNS blacklist status, signifies a highly reputable online presence. The absence of a Trustpilot profile is not unusual for a government website and doesn't detract from its established reputation.
While the website is highly visible and official, the lack of a favicon and the inability to externally verify contact info, legal pages, and social media due to bot protection marginally impede full transparency. The absence of robots.txt and a sitemap is also a slight miss for a site of this stature.
The bot protection preventing checking of legal pages means we cannot fully assess compliance, which is a minor concern. However, as a government site, there's an inherent expectation of adherence to legal standards.
The infrastructure is robust, featuring multiple IP resolutions, active MX records with DMARC, and DNSSEC, indicating a well-managed and secure network setup. The use of a content delivery network like Akamai contributes to its fast page load time, though the inability to query Web Archive and Certificate Transparency logs is a minor point.
Signals Detected
This is one of the most visited websites globally
No structured data markup found
Valid certificate, expires in 319 days
Certificate issued by IdenTrust
Connection uses TLS 1.3
This business has no Trustpilot presence — not unusual for smaller or newer companies
Resolves to: 2a02:26f0:480:23::1726:6287, 2a02:26f0:480:23::1726:62ab, 2.17.100.129, 2.17.100.137, 2.17.100.234, 2.17.100.248
Mail servers: smtp6.fda.gov., smtp8.fda.gov., smtp9.fda.gov., smtp7.fda.gov.
Domain has DMARC email authentication configured
DNS providers: a2-65.akam.net., a7-67.akam.net., a1-242.akam.net., a13-64.akam.net., a20-65.akam.net., a24-66.akam.net.
No favicon found — unusual for an established business
No robots.txt file — common for small sites
No sitemap found — common for smaller sites
Site enforces HTTPS via HSTS
Web server: AkamaiGHost
No threats detected by Google Web Risk
Website returned HTTP 403 — likely WAF or bot protection blocking automated checks. The site is online but restricts non-browser access.
Bot protection prevented page inspection
Bot protection prevented checking legal pages
Bot protection prevented page inspection
Domain created 2000-07-26T22:25:25Z (25 years, 1 months ago)
Registered through get.gov
Expires in 110 days
DNSSEC status from WHOIS
Not found on any DNS blacklists
Could not query Wayback Machine
Could not query certificate transparency logs
Fast page load
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