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Security report for bdonline.co.uk

Building Design · Media · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

73/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Building Design (bdonline.co.uk) is a well-established UK-based architecture news and intelligence platform targeting architects and construction professionals. It provides comprehensive news, opinion, CPD content, event information, and job listings, positioning itself as a key media resource in the architecture sector. The website is professionally designed with excellent content quality and clear navigation, supported by modern web technologies including Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and AWS Cloudfront CDN. Security posture is good with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent mechanisms in place, though some security headers could be improved. Privacy compliance is strong with a comprehensive privacy and cookie policy linked to the parent company UBM. WHOIS data for the queried domain 'www.bdonline.co.uk' is unavailable due to invalid query format; however, the website's legitimacy is supported by its professional presentation and association with UBM. Overall, the site demonstrates a mature digital presence with moderate to high security and privacy standards.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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

2 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

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

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

  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

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

Keep watching bdonline.co.uk

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

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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
67
Security headers
80
Email security
55
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
73

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 website operates in the media sector, focusing on architecture and construction industry news and intelligence. Its business model revolves around content publication, sponsored content, event promotion, and subscription services. The presence of multiple subdomains for subscriptions, awards, and events indicates a diversified service offering. The target audience includes architects, designers, and construction professionals primarily in the UK. The site leverages partnerships with event organizers and job platforms to enhance its ecosystem. The association with UBM suggests backing by a larger media group, enhancing credibility and market reach.

Security posture

The site uses HTTPS with a good SSL configuration and employs Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for tracking. Cookie consent is implemented, indicating awareness of privacy regulations. However, explicit security headers like Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options are not evident in the HTML source, representing an area for improvement. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. The site does not publicly disclose incident response or security policies, which could be enhanced to improve transparency and trust.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce Content-Security-Policy header to mitigate XSS risks.
  2. Add X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options headers to improve security against clickjacking and MIME sniffing.
  3. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information to enhance trust.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies for vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance contact information visibility to improve business credibility and user trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Building Design
Description
Architecture news from the architects' favourite website - Building Design
Key services
Architecture news, Opinion articles, Industry briefings, CPD content, Event promotion, Job listings
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, jQuery 3.4.1, Google Publisher Tags (GPT) for ads, Swiper.js for carousels, Google Fonts (PT Sans, Open Sans, Tinos)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google Tag Manager for controlled script loading
  • Cookie consent mechanism present

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ad Manager (DoubleClick for Publishers)
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 news and intelligence platform.
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and updated.
  3. No signs of malicious or adult content.
  4. Uses standard advertising and analytics technologies.
  5. Privacy and cookie policies are present and compliant.
  6. WHOIS data query was invalid due to querying 'www' subdomain.
  7. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on main page.
  8. No explicit security or incident response policies found publicly.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern tech stack including jQuery 3.4.1, Swiper.js for carousels, Google Fonts, and Google Publisher Tags for advertising. Hosting is via AWS Cloudfront CDN, supporting good performance and scalability. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design and accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA attributes. SEO is supported by proper meta tags and Open Graph data. The site could benefit from CMS identification and further performance optimization. No major technical debt or risks were identified from the HTML content.
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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