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Security report for acquire.com

Acquire.com · Technology · N/a

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

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Acquire.com operates as a professional online marketplace facilitating the buying and selling of profitable online businesses. The platform boasts a large user base of over 500,000 qualified buyers and thousands of vetted listings, positioning itself as a leading player in the online business acquisition market. Key services include M&A advisory, legal assistance, and escrow services, enhancing the transaction security and trustworthiness for users. The website's content and branding are consistent and professionally presented, targeting entrepreneurs and business buyers/sellers.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
50/ 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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

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

  2. GDPR outside view

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

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google APIs

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

  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

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

Keep watching acquire.com

This scan found 23 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.

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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
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
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

The company leverages a business model centered on marketplace facilitation combined with value-added services such as legal and advisory support. Its market position is strengthened by a large qualified buyer pool and a focus on vetted listings, which likely contributes to higher transaction quality and trust. The platform's use of advanced marketing and analytics tools indicates a mature digital marketing strategy aimed at customer acquisition and retention. However, the absence of explicit privacy and cookie policies may represent a compliance gap. The company appears to be medium-sized with a technology sector focus and a founding date of 2000, indicating long-term market presence.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS and has domain registration protections such as clientDeleteProhibited and clientTransferProhibited statuses, which are positive security indicators. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, and no explicit security headers were detected in the provided data. The site uses multiple third-party analytics and marketing scripts, which increases the attack surface and necessitates robust security controls. The lack of published security policies or incident response contacts suggests room for improvement in transparency and readiness. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could be enhanced by implementing DNSSEC, security headers, and publishing security-related policies.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC to improve domain name system security and prevent DNS spoofing.
  2. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies including GDPR compliance details and consent mechanisms.
  3. Implement and verify HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  4. Provide clear contact information for security incidents and establish an incident response policy.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize security risks and ensure privacy compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Acquire.com
Description
Buy or sell a profitable online business in as little as 90 days. 500k+ qualified buyers, 1,000s of vetted listings. M&A advisory, legal help, escrow, & more.
Key services
Online business marketplace, M&A advisory, Legal assistance, Escrow services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HubSpot (analytics, forms, messaging), Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, Visual Website Optimizer (VWO), JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Domain status includes clientDeleteProhibited, clientRenewProhibited, clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, HubSpot Analytics, Visual Website Optimizer
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Facebook Ads
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, HubSpot tracking
Marketing tools
HubSpot, Visual Website Optimizer
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional online marketplace for buying and selling profitable online businesses.
  2. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found in the provided content.
  3. Extensive use of marketing and analytics tools including HubSpot, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and VWO.
  4. No contact emails, phone numbers, or physical addresses explicitly found in the provided HTML content.
  5. No security or incident response policies or contacts found.
  6. Domain is well-established and registered with reputable registrar.
  7. No adult or questionable content detected.
  8. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website utilizes a modern technology stack including HubSpot for marketing automation, Google Analytics for traffic analysis, Facebook Pixel for advertising, and Visual Website Optimizer for A/B testing and user behavior analysis. The site is hosted with a reputable registrar (GoDaddy.com, LLC) and uses HTTPS, indicating a secure transport layer. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and basic accessibility features. SEO is supported by appropriate meta tags and Open Graph data. However, the absence of CMS identification and some missing security headers suggest opportunities for technical improvements. The site demonstrates a solid digital infrastructure suitable for its business model but should address privacy and security policy gaps.
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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