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Security report for autoq.co.uk

Auto Q Ltd · Transportation · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS and Security headers.

Security score

64/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Auto Q Ltd is a small used car dealership based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, specializing in used car sales with competitive finance deals and part exchange options. The website targets consumers in the local region seeking affordable vehicles and financing solutions. The business operates primarily in the transportation sector with a retail model focused on direct sales and customer service. The website is professionally designed with good content quality and clear navigation, supporting a positive user experience. Technically, the site uses modern web technologies including Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for tracking, but lacks some advanced security headers and explicit privacy policies. Security posture is moderate with HTTPS enabled and consent defaults set to denied, but improvements are needed in privacy compliance and security best practices. The domain WHOIS data is unavailable due to a domain registration error, which impacts trustworthiness and should be addressed. Overall, the website is functional and professional but would benefit from enhanced privacy disclosures and domain registration clarity.

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

4 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
    • 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

  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 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 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';…

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

Keep watching autoq.co.uk

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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
42
Security headers
35
Email security
60
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
64

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

Auto Q Ltd holds a local market position as a used car dealer in Northern Ireland, leveraging competitive financing and part exchange services to attract customers. The business model is straightforward retail with a focus on vehicle sales and financing. The website indicates a focus on consumer trust through contact information and social media presence. There is no evidence of parent companies or subsidiaries. The company appears to operate independently with a small business scale. The use of Google Analytics and Tag Manager suggests some digital marketing efforts, but no advanced affiliate or advertising networks were detected. The absence of privacy and cookie policies may expose the business to compliance risks under GDPR. The company should consider formalizing privacy and security policies to strengthen market credibility and regulatory compliance.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS and uses Google Tag Manager with consent defaults set to denied, indicating a baseline privacy respect. However, no explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options were detected, which could expose the site to certain web attacks. No vulnerability disclosures or incident response contacts are provided, limiting transparency in security management. The lack of privacy and cookie policies is a compliance gap. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were identified in the provided content. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could be improved by implementing security headers, formal privacy documentation, and a vulnerability disclosure policy.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with clear GDPR compliance statements.
  2. Add security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection to enhance protection against common web vulnerabilities.
  3. Correct domain registration issues to ensure WHOIS data is available and consistent with the website branding to improve trustworthiness.
  4. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to improve transparency and incident response readiness.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and conduct regular security audits of third-party scripts and analytics implementations.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Auto Q Ltd
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Auto Q Ltd
Description
Used cars for sale in Belfast & Northern Ireland: Auto Q Ltd offers competitive finance deals and welcomes part exchanges.
Key services
Used car sales, Competitive finance deals, Part exchange services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics (GA4), Custom fonts (ClickIcons, UKNumberPlate), RoyalSlider (image slider), jQuery (implied by plugins), CSS Grid and Flexbox
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Consent management for Google Analytics with default denied settings

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (GA4)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is accessible with full content and no blocking detected
  2. No privacy or cookie policy pages found in the HTML content
  3. Contact information includes phone numbers and physical address in footer
  4. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure found
  5. Uses Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics with consent defaults set to denied
  6. No explicit security headers detected in provided data
  7. WHOIS data unavailable due to domain registration error
  8. Website content is relevant and professional for used car sales
  9. No suspicious or malicious content detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern front-end stack with CSS Grid and Flexbox for layout, custom icon fonts, and JavaScript libraries including Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for tracking. The site appears to be custom-built or uses a proprietary platform, with no clear CMS detected. Performance is moderate with some optimization for mobile devices. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and Open Graph tags. However, no advanced frameworks or hosting provider details were identified. The site lacks some accessibility features and security headers, which are areas for technical improvement. The domain registration inconsistency is a technical risk that should be resolved to avoid trust and operational issues.
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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