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Security report for birchgold.com

Birch Gold Group · Finance · United States

High risk. 9 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Network security and 2 other checks.

Security score

43/100

Risk levelHigh

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

Birch Gold Group is a well-established precious metals investment company specializing in Precious Metals IRAs and bullion sales, serving over 30,000 customers since 2003. The company targets American investors seeking to diversify retirement portfolios with gold and silver. Their business model focuses on IRA rollovers, precious metals sales, and secure storage solutions. The website reflects a mature market position with strong trust indicators including endorsements and BBB accreditation. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern optimization tools such as NitroPack and integrates analytics and marketing tools like Google Tag Manager, Visual Website Optimizer, and Tidio Chat. The site is mobile-optimized, fast-loading, and accessible, demonstrating a high level of digital maturity. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced, appropriate security headers, and no visible vulnerabilities. Privacy compliance is well addressed with comprehensive privacy and cookie policies, including consent mechanisms. However, incident response and vulnerability disclosure information are not publicly available, representing an area for improvement. Overall, the website presents a low-risk profile with strong business credibility and technical robustness. The main risk factor is the lack of publicly available WHOIS data, which slightly reduces transparency but does not undermine the evident legitimacy and professionalism of the business.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

9 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.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  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.

    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: MySQL

      Port 3306 (MySQL) is publicly accessible - MySQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to MySQL using firewall or VPN

      • 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
    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: PostgreSQL

      Port 5432 (PostgreSQL) is publicly accessible - PostgreSQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to PostgreSQL using firewall or VPN

      • 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
    • High

      Missing X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

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

Keep watching birchgold.com

This scan found 19 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
0
Security headers
35
Email security
80
DNS health
90
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
53
Average
43

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 · found on this site
  • 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 birchgold.com, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
6
Employees
0
Customers
6
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
0%

4 subdomains 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 birchgold.com.

Select it in the checkout above.

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

Birch Gold Group operates in the finance sector, focusing on precious metals investment and retirement planning. Their competitive advantage lies in their long-standing market presence, extensive customer base, and endorsements by notable public figures. Revenue streams likely include precious metals sales, IRA management fees, and storage services. The company targets individual investors, particularly those interested in retirement diversification. The partnership ecosystem includes storage providers and financial service platforms. Strategic observations indicate a focus on trust-building through transparency, endorsements, and customer education. The company maintains a consistent brand image and leverages digital marketing and analytics effectively to optimize customer engagement and conversion.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and secure form handling. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. Privacy policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, with cookie consent mechanisms in place. However, the absence of a public security policy, incident response plan, and vulnerability disclosure program limits transparency and preparedness visibility. There is no security.txt file detected. The site would benefit from publishing these documents to enhance trust and readiness. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be improved by formalizing incident response and vulnerability disclosure processes.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and frameworks.
  2. Implement and publicize an incident response plan and contact channels for security issues.
  3. Add a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and plugins to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance transparency by providing data retention policies and DPO contact information.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Birch Gold Group
Description
Diversify your retirement savings with Birch Gold Group's gold and silver offerings. Call (800) 355-2116 today to learn more.
Key services
Precious Metals IRA, Gold and Silver Bullion Sales, IRA Rollover and Conversion Services, Storage Solutions
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Gravity Forms, NitroPack, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, EqualWeb Accessibility, Visual Website Optimizer, Tidio Chat
Frameworks
WordPress Theme Framework
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Security headers present
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with validation

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ads
Tracking pixels
Visual Website Optimizer
Marketing tools
Gravity Forms, Tidio Chat
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured
  2. Strong focus on precious metals IRA investment services
  3. Multiple endorsements and trust signals present
  4. Comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms
  5. Use of modern web technologies and performance optimization
  6. No signs of adult or inappropriate content
  7. WHOIS data unavailable, which reduces transparency but does not negate legitimacy
  8. No visible security vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by WordPress CMS with a custom theme and uses Gravity Forms for data collection. Performance is optimized using NitroPack CDN and caching. Accessibility is enhanced via EqualWeb integration. Analytics and marketing tools include Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Visual Website Optimizer, and Tidio Chat for live support. The site is mobile responsive and SEO optimized with proper meta tags and structured data (JSON-LD). No hosting provider details were found. The technical stack is modern and well-maintained, supporting a fast and user-friendly experience. Opportunities exist to improve technical documentation and security transparency.
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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