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Security report for aaschool.ac.uk

Architectural Association, Inc. · Education · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

0–100, higher is better. How it is calculated

The Architectural Association, Inc. operates a well-established educational website serving as the primary online portal for its architecture school based in London. The site provides comprehensive information about academic programmes ranging from foundation courses to PhD levels, public lectures, events, and publications. It targets students, architects, researchers, and the general public interested in architecture education and cultural programming. The institution holds a reputable market position as an independent and historic architecture school with a global reach. Technically, the website employs a modern technology stack including React, Google Analytics, Hotjar, and Bootstrap, ensuring a responsive and user-friendly experience. The site is served over HTTPS with asynchronous loading of scripts, contributing to moderate performance and good mobile optimization. However, some accessibility features could be enhanced, and security headers are not explicitly present. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates good practices such as HTTPS enforcement and no visible exposure of sensitive data. Privacy and cookie policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, though no explicit security or incident response policies are published. The absence of WHOIS data is attributed to privacy protection, which is reasonable for this type of institution. Overall, the site maintains a high trust level with clear contact information and charity registration disclosures. The overall risk profile is low, with recommendations focusing on improving security headers, publishing incident response contacts, and enhancing accessibility compliance. These steps would further strengthen the site's security posture and user trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 100 · Medium
Checks completed
7of 7

NIS2 Art. 21(2)

  1. (a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
  2. (b) Incident handling: One indicator
  3. (c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
  4. (d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
  5. (e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
  6. (f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
  7. (g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
  8. (h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
  9. (i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
  10. (j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside

This scan rated NIS2 with an earlier keyword method that is no longer shown; rescan for the per-article view. Risk management, continuity, supply chain, training, MFA, management oversight (Art. 20) and incident reporting (Art. 23) need internal evidence, and Guard cannot tell whether NIS2 applies to this organisation.

GDPR is indicative only, based on publicly visible signals: Articles 7, 12, 13 and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Not a certification or legal assessment.

Priority findings

5 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • High

      Missing X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

  3. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • High

      Weak Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
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  • Security headers
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  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

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Results by check

Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.

How this score is calculated

The security score runs 0–100, higher is better. It is the plain average of the security checks that completed in this scan, each counted equally. A check that could not run is left out: it counts neither as a pass nor as a fail.

Counted in this score

SSL/TLS
77
Security headers
15
Email security
70
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
65

Not counted

  • NIS2 outside view: Re-weights evidence from the TLS, email, DNS, network and hygiene checks, so counting it would count that evidence twice. Shown on its own.
  • OffSeq Observations: An AI reading of the site, useful context but not reproducible evidence. Shown on its own.

Findings that cap the score at 49

Each of these is serious on its own, so while any is present the site cannot rate better than high risk, however good the other checks are.

  • The certificate is not trusted by browsers
  • The website is not served over HTTPS
  • A database, remote desktop, file-sharing or Telnet service is reachable from the internet
  • The page loads a script from a compromised source
  • The domain registration has expired
  • SPF authorises every server to send mail as the domain

Partial scans

When the site blocks Guard or most checks cannot run, the score covers only the checks that ran (usually DNS and email), is capped at 75 and is shown as partial, without a risk level.

Risk levels

  • Critical0–25
  • High26–49
  • Medium50–75
  • Low76–100

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

The Architectural Association operates in the education and non-profit sectors, focusing on architecture education and public cultural programming. Its business model revolves around academic tuition, public events, publications, and donor support. The institution benefits from a strong brand and global recognition in architectural education. Revenue streams likely include tuition fees, event ticketing, publication sales, and donations. The target customer segments include prospective and current students, academics, architects, and the general public interested in architecture. The website supports growth by providing clear admissions information, financial assistance details, and public programme promotion. Partnerships with payment processors like Worldpay indicate a mature operational setup. The institution's registered charity status and transparent contact details enhance credibility and stakeholder trust.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and no visible sensitive data leaks. Use of reputable third-party analytics and marketing tools is balanced with asynchronous loading to reduce performance impact. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options is a gap that could expose the site to certain web-based attacks. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response information is provided, which limits transparency in security incident handling. Privacy and cookie policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, indicating good data protection practices. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be improved by implementing recommended headers and publishing incident response contacts.

Recommendations

  1. Implement security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a clear vulnerability disclosure and incident response policy with dedicated contact channels to improve transparency and trust.
  3. Enhance accessibility features to meet higher compliance standards and improve user experience for all visitors.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to mitigate risks from external libraries.
  5. Maintain and update privacy and cookie policies to reflect evolving regulations and best practices.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Architectural Association, Inc.
Registration number
171402
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Architectural Association, Inc.
Description
Architectural Association School of Architecture's website homepage is the online entrance into the AA; to its courses from Foundation to PhD for undergraduate and postgraduate students; its open public programme; to application; to what's on and what's new in central London, Dorset and global school venues.
Key services
Academic programmes (Foundation to PhD), Public lectures and events, Publications and bookshop, Admissions and financial assistance, Support and donations
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Hotjar, jQuery, Bootstrap 3.3.5, React (production), Slick Carousel, Worldpay payment integration, Google Maps API
Frameworks
React
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google Tag Manager and Hotjar with async loading

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Hotjar
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
AddThis
Tracking pixels
Hotjar
Marketing tools
AddThis
Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenge
  2. WHOIS data is unavailable, likely due to privacy protection
  3. Comprehensive privacy and cookie policies are published
  4. Clear contact information including phone, email, and physical address provided
  5. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools
  6. No security headers detected in HTML but HTTPS is enforced
  7. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response info found
  8. Content is educational and safe for general audiences
  9. Social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern front-end stack with React and Bootstrap, supported by jQuery for legacy compatibility. Analytics and user behavior tracking are implemented via Google Analytics and Hotjar, with marketing tools like AddThis for social sharing. Payment processing is integrated through Worldpay, indicating e-commerce capabilities. The site loads scripts asynchronously to optimize performance, though some dependencies like Bootstrap 3.3.5 are dated and could be updated. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design elements. SEO is supported by meta tags and structured navigation. No CMS is explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or proprietary platform. Hosting provider details are not disclosed. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but could benefit from modernization of some libraries and enhanced security configurations.
Standards and sources

Reference chips under each finding point to the standard, regulation or specification the finding relates to. They are taken from the official datasets below and mapped conservatively: a finding with no defensible link shows none. NIS2 and GDPR references mark where a finding is relevant evidence, not a compliance verdict. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 binds digital infrastructure and digital service providers; for other entities it is the most detailed public reading of the Article 21 measures. WCAG, EN 301 549, European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive references name the requirement an automated accessibility rule relates to; they are not a conformance verdict.

Retrieved 2026-10-25

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