Verifying against the live site and live WHOIS/DNS…
Common questions
Is rand.org legit or a scam?
rand.org was registered Apr 2, 1987 (39 years old), per public registration records. AboutUs doesn't label sites "legit" or "a scam": this page lists the dated registration, DNS, HTTPS, mail-authentication and safety checks we could verify, each with its source, so you can decide for yourself.
Who owns rand.org?
Nobody has completed AboutUs's owner verification for rand.org. That's true of most sites here — it isn't itself a warning sign.
When was rand.org registered?
rand.org's registration dates to Apr 2, 1987 (39 years old), per public registration records. CSC Corporate Domains, Inc. is the registrar on record today.
Correct a description, link or other detail. Submissions are reviewed before publication.
3 of 4 safety checks passed (Oct 11, 2026).
Registered 1987 · site answered with HTTP 403
RAND.org :nonprofit institution that helps with decisionmaking
RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization that conducts objective analysis and policy research to inform public and private decision-making. Based in Santa Monica, California, it serves government, business, and civic leaders with research on defense, economics, health, and other policy areas. The organization has operated for nearly 40 years and administers multiple research websites.
Make sure the site responds over HTTPS with a valid certificate.
Page metadata (passed)
Security headers (passed)
AboutUs has not vetted this site. Everything below is what we could measure automatically. Anything you do on the site — paying, sharing personal details, downloading — is between you and the site, not AboutUs.
Current facts
Latest available measurements; dated entries retain their dates. These are measurements, not an endorsement of the site.
latest result
Domain registered Apr 2, 1987 — 39 years old.
latest result
Registrar on record: CSC Corporate Domains, Inc. — unchanged since AboutUs began tracking (Jul 23, 2026).
Authority 80/100— ahead of 80% of the August 2026 scored sampleClear
Why this authority score
80 is a percentile: higher than 80% of sites we score.
How it's calculated
Prominence (Tranco rank #5,619)+8
Verified continuity: 39.5 years (RDAP registration)+11
Security & email hygiene+4
Calibration adjustment (published map)+18
Model score: 41/99 — what these reason lines add up to.
Published Authority (percentile): 80/100 — this site's rank against the August 2026 scored sample. Public Authority is capped at 99.
Safety evidence
No unexpired threat-feed result; name-similarity check available (recorded about 11 days ago); 3/3 transport and email checks available (oldest recorded about 11 days ago). This is evidence coverage, not a probability that a website is safe.
Site history
Dated record — historical facts always carry their date; self-description below is the 2013 record.
1987
Domain registered (Apr 2, 1987).
2006
First tracked by AboutUs (Jun 21, 2006); profile edited 3 times through 2013.
2013
Self-description at the time:
“RAND.org :nonprofit institution that helps with decisionmaking”