Skip to main content

Security report for acecomics.co.uk

Ace Comics / Planet Ace Ltd · Retail · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Ace Comics is a well-established UK-based retailer specializing in comic books, graphic novels, and cult merchandise. Operating since 1981 under Planet Ace Ltd, the company offers a broad range of products including subscriptions, back issues, and collectibles through multiple channels such as physical stores, an e-commerce website, and an Ebay store. Their market position is that of a trusted and reliable supplier within the UK comic retail sector, targeting enthusiasts and collectors of popular franchises like Marvel, DC, Star Wars, and Doctor Who. Technically, the website is built on a mature WordPress and WooCommerce platform, enhanced with Yoast SEO, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and reCAPTCHA for security. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, SEO practices, and moderate performance. However, some security headers are not explicitly detected, and there is no published security policy or incident response information. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS, uses reCAPTCHA to protect forms, and implements a cookie consent banner with an opt-out mechanism, indicating good privacy compliance and user protection. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. The WHOIS data confirms a long-standing domain registration consistent with the business claims, enhancing trustworthiness. Overall, Ace Comics presents a professional and trustworthy online presence with solid privacy and security practices. Strategic improvements could include publishing a formal security policy, enhancing security headers, and providing incident response contacts to further strengthen their security posture and customer trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
88/ 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

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. 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
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching acecomics.co.uk

This scan found 25 issues across 6 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
42
Security headers
15
Email security
70
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
88
Average
63

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

Ace Comics holds a strong position in the UK retail comic book market, leveraging a multi-channel sales approach including physical stores, online subscriptions, and Ebay sales. Their business model focuses on retail and subscription services targeting comic enthusiasts and collectors. The company benefits from a long operational history and a reputable parent company, Planet Ace Ltd. Their partnership ecosystem includes Ebay and Bookshop.org for extended product offerings. The website content and structure support customer engagement and sales, with clear navigation and relevant content updates such as best-selling charts and solicitations. Growth indicators include active social media presence and ongoing subscription services. The company could enhance competitive advantage by expanding digital marketing and security transparency.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and Google reCAPTCHA protecting user input forms. Privacy compliance is strong with comprehensive privacy and cookie policies and GDPR adherence. However, the absence of explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy and lack of published security or incident response policies represent gaps. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. The site lacks a vulnerability disclosure mechanism or security.txt file, which could improve incident handling and transparency. Overall, the security posture is adequate for the business type but could be improved with formalized policies and enhanced HTTP security headers.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, and Referrer-Policy to mitigate common web attacks.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and incident response procedures to increase transparency and customer trust.
  3. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Regularly audit and update all plugins, themes, and WordPress core to minimize risk from known vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and conduct periodic performance optimizations to improve user experience and SEO.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Ace Comics / Planet Ace Ltd
Description
ACE Comics is one of the oldest and most reliable suppliers of comic books and cult merchandise in the UK today, specialising in American comics from DC Comics, Marvel, Image Comics, Dark Horse and IDW Publishing, including Batman, X-Men, Wonder Woman, Deadpool and The Walking Dead. They supply comic books, graphic novels and cult merchandise including action figures, statues, t-shirts, plushes, mugs and more to thousands of customers every month through comic shops, website, subscription services, standing order system, and Ebay store.
Key services
Comic book sales, Graphic novel sales, Comic subscriptions, Back issue comics, Comic supplies, Cult merchandise sales, Ebay store sales
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, WooCommerce, Yoast SEO, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, reCAPTCHA, MailChimp, jQuery, FontAwesome, Google Fonts
Frameworks
Genesis Framework (WordPress theme)
Platforms
WordPress CMS, WooCommerce e-commerce
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Google reCAPTCHA implemented on forms
  • Cookie consent banner with opt-out mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of latest WooCommerce and WordPress versions

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
MailChimp
Marketing tools
MailChimp
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-established UK comic book retailer with a strong online presence.
  2. Uses modern WordPress and WooCommerce infrastructure with SEO and analytics tools.
  3. Has comprehensive privacy, cookie, and terms policies with GDPR compliance.
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity detected.
  5. No direct company emails or phone numbers found in the HTML content; contact primarily via contact form.
  6. Social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google Maps.
  7. No explicit security policy or incident response information published.
  8. Cookie consent implemented with opt-out mechanism.
  9. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS with WooCommerce for e-commerce functionality, using the Genesis Framework theme. It integrates modern web technologies including Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, reCAPTCHA, MailChimp for marketing, and FontAwesome for icons. The site loads moderate resources and is mobile optimized with responsive design. SEO is enhanced via Yoast SEO plugin with proper meta tags and structured data (JSON-LD). The technical infrastructure is stable and mature but could benefit from improved security headers and performance tuning. Hosting provider details are not explicitly disclosed. Overall, the technical stack supports the business needs effectively with room for modernization in security and accessibility.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with acecomics.co.uk. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review acecomics.co.uk.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.