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Security report for bigissue.com

The Big Issue · Non-profit · United Kingdom

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

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Big Issue is a prominent UK-based social enterprise and street paper dedicated to supporting people experiencing homelessness or vulnerable housing situations. It operates by providing a hand up rather than a handout, selling street papers and running social initiatives to empower its target audience. The organization holds a leading market position within the UK social enterprise sector, with a clear mission and strong brand presence. The website reflects this mission with professional content, clear navigation, and consistent branding. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern SEO and analytics integrations, including Yoast SEO, Google Tag Manager, and HubSpot, indicating a mature digital infrastructure. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement and appropriate security headers, though there is room for improvement in publishing explicit security policies and incident response information. Privacy compliance is well addressed with GDPR-aligned cookie consent mechanisms and a comprehensive privacy policy. Overall, the site is trustworthy and professional, though the lack of WHOIS data introduces a minor trust gap that is mitigated by the organization's public reputation and social media presence.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
100/ 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. 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';…
  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
    • 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

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

Keep watching bigissue.com

This scan found 22 issues across 5 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

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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
30
Email security
62
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
100
Average
69

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention bigissue.com, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
4
Employees
0
Customers
4
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
0%

1 subdomain affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for bigissue.com.

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Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

The Big Issue operates as a social enterprise focused on homelessness and vulnerable housing in the UK. Its business model centers on selling a street paper and providing support services, targeting socially conscious consumers and donors. The organization leverages partnerships and a strong social media ecosystem to enhance its reach and impact. Revenue streams likely include paper sales, donations, and social enterprise activities. The website's integration with job listings and social platforms indicates a well-rounded approach to community engagement and operational transparency. The absence of detailed company registration data online suggests either privacy protection or use of a different domain for registration, which is common in non-profit sectors. The organization's consistent branding and clear mission statement support its credibility and market position.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security posture with HTTPS enforced and multiple security headers implemented, including HSTS, CSP, and X-Frame-Options. Cookie consent is managed via Cookiebot, supporting GDPR compliance. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the analysis. However, the absence of a public security policy, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms indicates areas for improvement in transparency and readiness. The site uses several third-party scripts for analytics and advertising, which should be regularly audited to mitigate supply chain risks. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be enhanced by publishing formal security documentation and incident response procedures.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and controls.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact information, such as a security@ or abuse@ email.
  3. Implement a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Enhance website accessibility to meet higher standards for inclusivity.
  5. Regularly review and audit third-party scripts and integrations for security risks.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
The Big Issue
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Big Issue
Description
The UK's number one street paper and social enterprise, giving people who are experiencing homelessness or who are vulnerably housed a hand up, not a hand out.
Key services
Street paper publication, Social enterprise initiatives, Support for homeless and vulnerably housed individuals
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.3, Yoast SEO Premium, Google Tag Manager, HubSpot, Cookiebot, Prebid.js, Amazon Ads, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, TikTok Pixel, Bing Ads
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security headers
  • Cookie consent management
  • No exposed sensitive data detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, HubSpot Analytics, Parsely
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Amazon Ads, Google Ad Manager, Snack Media, Bing Ads, Facebook Ads
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, TikTok Pixel, Cookiebot
Marketing tools
HubSpot, Convertexperiments
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-established social enterprise focused on homelessness.
  2. Content is rich and professionally presented.
  3. Multiple third-party marketing and analytics tools are integrated.
  4. No WHOIS data available, possibly due to privacy or subdomain usage.
  5. No security.txt or explicit security policy found.
  6. Cookie consent and privacy policies are implemented and GDPR compliant.
  7. No signs of adult or explicit content.
  8. No WAF or blocking detected; site fully accessible.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress 6.8.3 with Yoast SEO Premium, indicating a modern CMS with strong SEO capabilities. It integrates multiple marketing and analytics tools including Google Tag Manager, HubSpot, Cookiebot, and various ad networks such as Amazon Ads and Google Ad Manager. The site uses asynchronous loading for scripts to improve performance, though the overall loading speed is moderate, possibly due to numerous third-party scripts. Mobile optimization is good, with responsive design and viewport settings. Accessibility is basic, with room for improvement in ARIA roles and keyboard navigation. SEO is well implemented with meta tags, Open Graph, Twitter cards, and JSON-LD structured data. Hosting provider details are not explicitly found but the presence of multiple CDN and ad network domains suggests a distributed hosting and delivery model. Technical risks include dependency on many third-party scripts which require ongoing security monitoring.
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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