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Security report for arnold-plant.co.uk

Arnold Plant Hire Ltd · Transportation · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Network security and 2 other checks.

Security score

55/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Arnold Plant Hire Ltd is a well-established UK-based company specializing in nationwide hire of waste and recycling plant machinery, including loading shovels, telescopic handlers, and JCB Teletruks. With over 25 years of experience and a large fleet exceeding 500 machines, the company targets businesses in waste management, construction, and related sectors. Their business model focuses on flexible hire agreements ranging from short-term to long-term contracts, supported by a parent company, Westgate Group, and several partner sites. The website reflects a professional and consistent brand presence with clear service offerings and trust indicators such as certifications and client statistics. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern frameworks like Bootstrap and uses Google Analytics for tracking. It is hosted by Zen Internet Limited and employs HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate, ensuring secure communications. However, the site lacks some security best practices such as security headers and published security policies. Privacy compliance is partially addressed with a cookie consent banner but no visible privacy policy or terms of service pages. Overall, the site demonstrates a solid business and technical foundation with room for improvement in security and privacy transparency.

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

6 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. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • High

      High-Risk Service Exposed: FTP

      Port 21 (FTP) is publicly accessible - FTP - Often unencrypted file transfer

      What to do: Consider restricting access to FTP or implementing strong authentication

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

  3. 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

  4. 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

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

Keep watching arnold-plant.co.uk

This scan found 21 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

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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
47
Security headers
60
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
50
Average
55

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 holds a strong market position in the UK plant hire sector, leveraging a large and diverse fleet and long-term client relationships. Its affiliation with the Westgate Group and multiple partner domains suggests a broad operational ecosystem. The business model is rental-centric with flexible terms, appealing to a wide range of commercial clients. The presence of certifications like SafeContractor and FTA enhances credibility. The website's content and structure support effective customer engagement, though direct email contacts are not publicly listed, possibly to reduce spam. The company appears to focus on quality service delivery and operational flexibility as competitive advantages.

Security posture

The website benefits from HTTPS and a valid SSL certificate, which is fundamental for secure data transmission. The presence of a cookie consent banner indicates awareness of privacy regulations. However, the absence of key security headers (e.g., Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options) and lack of a published security policy or incident response contacts represent gaps in security maturity. No vulnerability disclosures or security.txt files were found, limiting transparency for security researchers. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could be enhanced by adopting additional best practices and transparency measures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and configure security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  2. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service pages to improve GDPR compliance and user trust.
  3. Add a security policy and incident response contact information to facilitate vulnerability reporting and enhance security transparency.
  4. Consider deploying a security.txt file to standardize vulnerability disclosure processes.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to improve compliance and user experience for all visitors.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Arnold Plant Hire Ltd
Description
Arnold Plant Hire Ltd offers nationwide hire of waste machines with flexible hire terms ranging from week-to-week to long term agreements up to 7 years. They provide waste specification loading shovels, telescopic handlers, JCB Teletruks, and material handlers equipped for various applications.
Key services
Waste & Recycling Machine Hire, Loading Shovel Hire, Telescopic Handler Hire, Machines For Sale
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 7.0, Bootstrap 5, Glide.js, Google Fonts, FontAwesome, Yoast SEO, jQuery 3.7.1
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Cookie consent banner implemented

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager)
Marketing tools
Yoast SEO
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website uses HTTPS with valid SSL
  2. No privacy policy page found
  3. Cookie consent banner present and functional
  4. No visible email addresses on homepage or header
  5. Phone number prominently displayed and consistent
  6. Multiple external partner domains linked
  7. Use of modern web technologies and SEO plugin
  8. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure found
  9. Certifications displayed increase trust
  10. Content is business-focused and professional
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern WordPress 7.0 platform with Bootstrap 5 for responsive design and Glide.js for carousel functionality. It uses Google Fonts and FontAwesome for typography and icons. Google Tag Manager is implemented for analytics tracking. The site is hosted by Zen Internet Limited, a reputable UK hosting provider. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and SEO practices supported by Yoast SEO plugin. The site uses jQuery 3.7.1 and custom JavaScript for interactivity. There is no indication of outdated or vulnerable libraries in the provided HTML. The technical infrastructure supports a professional and functional user experience but could benefit from enhanced security configurations and accessibility improvements.
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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