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Security report for austinsmithlord.com

Austin Smith Lord · Other · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

51/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Austin Smith Lord is a UK-based creative collective specializing in architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, conservation, masterplanning, sustainability, consultation, and BIM services. The firm operates multiple UK studios and serves a diverse range of sectors including arts, culture, civic, commercial, education, healthcare, infrastructure, housing, transport, and urban regeneration. The website presents a professional and comprehensive portfolio and service offering, supported by a consistent brand identity and social media presence. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern plugins and SEO optimization, delivering good performance and mobile responsiveness. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and cookie consent mechanisms, though some security headers and explicit policies are absent. The lack of WHOIS registration data is a concern but the site content and certifications such as B Corporation status support legitimacy. Overall, the site is well-positioned in its market with room for security and compliance enhancements.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
65/ 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

7 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 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

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Google Analytics, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube

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

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

Keep watching austinsmithlord.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
47
Security headers
20
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
65
Average
51

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

Austin Smith Lord holds a strong market position as a medium-sized architectural and design firm with a broad portfolio across multiple sectors. Their business model focuses on delivering high-quality design services through a networked studio approach. The firm leverages certifications like B Corporation to emphasize social and environmental responsibility, appealing to clients valuing sustainability. The website's content and social media integration indicate active engagement with clients and stakeholders. Partnerships such as with e-blueprint digital suggest a collaborative ecosystem. Growth indicators include recent news posts and project showcases. The absence of direct contact emails or phone numbers on the site suggests a preference for controlled client engagement via contact forms.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security baseline with enforced HTTPS and a cookie consent mechanism compliant with GDPR. Use of security plugins like Wordfence is indicated by scripts. However, the absence of key HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security reduces the overall security posture. No explicit security policies or incident response information are published, which limits transparency and preparedness perception. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. The site would benefit from publishing a security.txt file and enhancing header configurations to improve defense-in-depth and compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Add a vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file to facilitate responsible security reporting.
  4. Regularly audit and update all third-party plugins and libraries to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  5. Provide clear contact information including company emails and phone numbers to enhance trust and compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Austin Smith Lord
Description
Austin-Smith:Lord is a creative collective specializing in architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, conservation, masterplanning/urban design, sustainability, consultation, and BIM services. They design inspiring buildings and environments that enrich lives and respect people, place, and the planet.
Key services
Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Interior Design, Conservation, Masterplanning / Urban Design, Sustainability, Consultation, BIM
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, WPBakery Page Builder, Slider Revolution, Essential Grid, Contact Form 7, jQuery, GSAP, Google Analytics, Ivory Search, Beautiful and Responsive Cookie Consent
Frameworks
Yoast SEO
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent banner with detailed options
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security plugins (Wordfence script detected)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Marketing tools
Ivory Search
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional architecture and design firm site with comprehensive service and portfolio information.
  2. Uses modern WordPress CMS with popular plugins and SEO optimization.
  3. Includes cookie consent mechanism compliant with GDPR.
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found in the HTML; contact is via form.
  5. WHOIS data is missing or unavailable, which reduces trust but site content is consistent with a legitimate business.
  6. No security.txt or explicit security policy pages found.
  7. Social media presence on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and X (Twitter).
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS using popular plugins such as WPBakery Page Builder, Slider Revolution, Essential Grid, Contact Form 7, and Ivory Search. It uses jQuery and GSAP for animations and interactivity. SEO is enhanced via Yoast SEO plugin. The site loads moderately fast with responsive design and good accessibility features. Cookie consent is managed by a dedicated plugin with detailed user controls. No hosting provider information was detected. The technical stack is modern and well-maintained but could improve by adding security headers and optimizing performance further.
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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