Is nist.gov legit?
This website is highly trusted, displaying a robust and mature online presence with excellent security and infrastructure. While minor points like the certificate issuer and an uncheckable web archive exist, they do not detract significantly from its overall trustworthiness.
Government average: 80/100 · based on 33 sites
Checked: April 21, 2026 at 3:05 PM UTC
Is nist.gov a scam? Here's what we found.
The security posture is strong, featuring modern TLS 1.3, an HSTS header, Content Security Policy, and clickjacking protection, though the Let's Encrypt certificate is a minor point for a government site. Google Web Risk reports no threats, which is excellent.
The domain boasts significant age and transparent registration through get.gov, indicating a well-established and legitimate entity. WHOIS information is redacted, but this is typical for government sites and `.gov` domains.
The site holds an exceptionally high Tranco rank, indicating high visibility and traffic. It is clean on all DNS blacklists and has a long, established history, reinforcing its reputable status, though the lack of Trustpilot and uncheckable Web Archive are minor gaps.
The website provides clear contact information, custom branding, and active social media presence, demonstrating high transparency and an accessible public face.
The presence of both a privacy policy and terms of service pages demonstrates a commitment to legal and user compliance.
Network infrastructure is well-managed with multiple IP addresses, robust email authentication (SPF, DMARC), and DNSSEC protection. The inability to check Certificate Transparency is an unfortunate technical hiccup, but doesn't point to malfeasance.
Signals Detected
This is one of the most visited websites globally
Site has structured data markup
This business has no Trustpilot presence — not unusual for smaller or newer companies
crt.sh returned status 502
Resolves to: 2606:4700:78::90:0:180, 2606:4700:78::90:0:181, 2606:4700:78::90:0:182, 2606:4700:78::90:0:183, 172.65.90.26, 172.65.90.25, 172.65.90.24, 172.65.90.27
Mail servers: nist-gov.mail.protection.outlook.com.
Domain has SPF email authentication configured
Domain has DMARC email authentication configured
DNS providers: gold.foundationdns.com., gold.foundationdns.net., gold.foundationdns.org.
Valid certificate, expires in 88 days
Certificate issued by Let's Encrypt
Connection uses TLS 1.3
robots.txt has 64 directives and references a sitemap
Site maintains a proper sitemap with 55 indexed pages
Site enforces HTTPS via HSTS
Site has Content Security Policy configured
X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
Web server: cloudflare
No threats detected by Google Web Risk
Domain created 1997-10-02T01:29:27Z (28 years, 11 months ago)
Registered through get.gov
Expires in 125 days
DNSSEC status from WHOIS
Site has custom branding and social media metadata
Not found on any DNS blacklists
Website is live and responding
Website appears to have contact information
Website has both privacy policy and terms of service pages
Website links to multiple social media platforms
Could not query Wayback Machine
Average page load time
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