Is fda.gov legit?

85
/ 100
Trusted
Industry: Government

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.

Security 95/100

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.

Identity 95/100

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.

Reputation 90/100

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.

Transparency 75/100

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.

Compliance 75/100

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.

Infrastructure 90/100

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

[+]
Tranco Rank: Rank #779

This is one of the most visited websites globally

[?]
Structured Data: None found

No structured data markup found

[+]
SSL Certificate: Valid

Valid certificate, expires in 319 days

[?]
Certificate Issuer: IdenTrust

Certificate issued by IdenTrust

[+]
TLS Version: TLS 1.3

Connection uses TLS 1.3

[?]
Trustpilot: No Trustpilot profile

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

[+]
DNS Resolution: 6 IP(s)

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

[+]
Email (MX Records): 4 record(s)

Mail servers: smtp6.fda.gov., smtp8.fda.gov., smtp9.fda.gov., smtp7.fda.gov.

[+]
DMARC Record: Present

Domain has DMARC email authentication configured

[?]
Name Servers: 6 server(s)

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.

[~]
Branding: Missing

No favicon found — unusual for an established business

[?]
robots.txt: Not found

No robots.txt file — common for small sites

[?]
Sitemap: Not found

No sitemap found — common for smaller sites

[+]
HSTS Header: Present

Site enforces HTTPS via HSTS

[?]
Server: AkamaiGHost

Web server: AkamaiGHost

[+]
Google Web Risk: Clean

No threats detected by Google Web Risk

[?]
Website Status: Bot protection detected

Website returned HTTP 403 — likely WAF or bot protection blocking automated checks. The site is online but restricts non-browser access.

[?]
Contact Info: Unable to check

Bot protection prevented page inspection

[?]
Legal Pages: Unable to check

Bot protection prevented checking legal pages

[?]
Social Media Presence: Unable to check

Bot protection prevented page inspection

[+]
Domain Age: 25 years, 1 months

Domain created 2000-07-26T22:25:25Z (25 years, 1 months ago)

[?]
Registrar: get.gov

Registered through get.gov

[+]
Domain Expiry: 2026-08-16T16:01:47Z

Expires in 110 days

[+]
DNSSEC: signedDelegation

DNSSEC status from WHOIS

[+]
DNS Blacklists: Clean

Not found on any DNS blacklists

[?]
Web Archive: Unable to check

Could not query Wayback Machine

[?]
Certificate Transparency: Unable to check

Could not query certificate transparency logs

[+]
Page Load Time: 38ms

Fast page load

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When evaluating a government website like fda.gov, users expect an accessible and transparent experience. This domain certainly carries the weight of its official '.gov' pedigree and impressive age of over 25 years, instantly signaling a long-term, established presence. Its high global traffic rank further indicates its recognized importance. Typically, government sites prioritize robust security, and fda.gov doesn't disappoint in its technical protections, including modern SSL and email authentication that are critical for data integrity and preventing spoofing. However, the analysis uncovered a critical flaw: the website itself currently returns an HTTP 403 error, meaning it's inaccessible. For an official government source, this is a significant operational failure and immediately erodes trust, as users cannot access the information they need. Furthermore, the absence of easily found contact information, social media links, and critically, legal pages like a privacy policy, raises questions about its user-friendliness and accountability. While the domain's fundamental identity is strong, these access and transparency issues are highly unusual and concerning for an entity tasked with public service.