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Security report for accringtongarages.co.uk

W.S. (Accrington) Ltd t/a Accrington Garages · Transportation · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 2 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS and Security headers.

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Accrington Garages is a well-established automotive dealership based in Accrington, Lancashire, specializing in new and used vehicles from brands such as Abarth, Fiat, and Vauxhall. The company offers a comprehensive range of services including vehicle sales, financing, servicing, MOT, and aftersales support. Their market position is strengthened by over 30 years of family-run business heritage and recognition as a leading Vauxhall retailer. The website reflects a professional and consistent brand image targeting local car buyers seeking quality vehicles and related services. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including jQuery, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook SDK, integrated within a custom CMS platform by Autoweb Design. The site is mobile-optimized with good navigation and SEO practices, although some accessibility features could be enhanced. Performance is moderate with dynamic content such as carousels and social media feeds. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and includes a Content-Security-Policy header, but lacks some additional security headers that could improve protection. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is well addressed with a comprehensive privacy and cookie policy, including a consent mechanism aligned with GDPR requirements. However, incident response and vulnerability disclosure policies are not published. Overall, the website presents a trustworthy and professional front for the business with moderate risk. The main concern is the WHOIS lookup failure due to querying an invalid domain variant, which slightly reduces trust but does not indicate malicious intent. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, publishing security policies, and improving accessibility to further strengthen the site's security posture and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 100 · Low
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

2 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

  2. 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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

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

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • 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
72
Security headers
45
Email security
70
DNS health
50
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
70

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

Accrington Garages operates in the automotive retail and service sector, focusing on new and used vehicle sales, financing, and aftersales services. Their competitive advantage lies in their long-standing family business heritage, FCA regulation, and strong brand partnerships with Abarth, Fiat, and Vauxhall. Revenue streams likely include vehicle sales, finance commissions, servicing, and parts sales. The target customer segment is local consumers in Accrington and Lancashire seeking reliable vehicles and financing options. The company maintains an active partnership ecosystem, including ITC Compliance Limited for financial services. Growth indicators include recent news updates and a robust social media presence. The business model is traditional dealership with digital enhancements for customer engagement and lead generation.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security maturity level. HTTPS is enforced site-wide, and a Content-Security-Policy header is implemented to upgrade insecure requests. The use of secure iframe modals for forms reduces risk of injection attacks. However, the absence of additional security headers such as X-Frame-Options and Strict-Transport-Security represents a gap. No sensitive data leakage or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. Privacy compliance is strong with explicit cookie consent and detailed privacy policies. Incident response readiness is unclear due to lack of published policies or contact channels. Overall, the security culture appears adequate but could benefit from formalized policies and enhanced header configurations.

Recommendations

  1. Implement additional HTTP security headers including X-Frame-Options, X-XSS-Protection, and Strict-Transport-Security to harden the site against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a security policy and incident response plan on the website to improve transparency and preparedness.
  3. Introduce a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure and improve trust.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to meet WCAG standards, improving usability for all users and compliance.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and libraries to mitigate risks from vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
W.S. (Accrington) Ltd t/a Accrington Garages
Registration number
2822459
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
W.S. (Accrington) Ltd t/a Accrington Garages
Description
Accrington Garages offers new Abarth, Fiat and Vauxhall vehicles as well as quality used cars for sale in Accrington, Lancashire. They provide vehicle sales, finance, servicing, MOT, and aftersales services.
Key services
New car sales, Used car sales, Vehicle financing, Servicing and MOT, Aftersales support
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Google Tag Manager, Facebook SDK, Slick Carousel, Bootstrap (implied by classes and modal usage)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Content-Security-Policy header present
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with modal iframe loading

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google Analytics (via GTM), Facebook Pixel (implied by Facebook SDK)
Marketing tools
Facebook SDK
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 rich content and interactive features.
  2. No WAF or security blocking detected.
  3. WHOIS query was performed on 'www.accringtongarages.co.uk' which is invalid; the correct domain likely omits 'www'.
  4. Strong presence of social media and marketing integrations.
  5. Comprehensive cookie consent mechanism implemented.
  6. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  7. Business is FCA regulated and discloses relevant compliance information.
  8. No signs of phishing, malware, or suspicious content.
  9. Website uses modern JavaScript libraries and tracking tools.
  10. Mobile optimization and responsive design are good.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a custom CMS platform provided by Autoweb Design, utilizing common JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and Slick Carousel for UI components. Google Tag Manager and Facebook SDK are integrated for analytics and marketing. The site uses asynchronous script loading and deferred CSS to optimize performance. Mobile responsiveness is well implemented with adaptive navigation and layout. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and canonical links. However, some technical debt is evident in the lack of comprehensive security headers and limited accessibility features. Hosting provider details are not explicitly identified. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a stable and user-friendly experience but has room for modernization and security enhancements.
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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