Skip to main content

Security report for bishopsstortfordtc.gov.uk

Bishop's Stortford Town Council and Tourist Information · Government · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

55/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Bishop's Stortford Town Council and Tourist Information operates as the official local government and community information portal for Bishop's Stortford, UK. The website provides comprehensive tourist information, council services, event listings, and community resources targeted at residents and visitors. The site is well-branded and consistent with local government standards, supported by active social media channels. Technically, the site is built on Drupal 10 with Bootstrap and includes modern consent management and analytics tools, reflecting a moderate to good level of digital maturity. Security posture is adequate with cookie consent and no visible vulnerabilities, though security headers and explicit policies could be improved. The absence of WHOIS data limits domain registration insights but does not detract from the site's legitimacy. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and serves its community effectively.

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. 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

  3. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • High

      High-Risk Service Exposed: FTP

      Port 21 (FTP) is publicly accessible - FTP - Often unencrypted file transfer

      What to do: Consider restricting access to FTP or implementing strong authentication

      • 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

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

Keep watching bishopsstortfordtc.gov.uk

This scan found 24 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.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
57
Security headers
40
Email security
70
DNS health
60
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
83
Average
55

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 positions Bishop's Stortford Town Council as a key local government entity providing essential services and information. Its business model is service-oriented, focusing on community engagement and tourism promotion. The target audience includes local residents and visitors seeking information about the town and council activities. The site leverages partnerships with social media platforms for outreach but does not show commercial revenue streams or affiliate programs. Growth indicators include active event promotion and community grants. The council maintains a clear digital presence with consistent branding and accessible content, supporting its role as a trusted local authority.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a baseline security maturity with HTTPS usage and a cookie consent mechanism compliant with GDPR. However, no explicit security headers were detected in the HTML content, and there is no public security or incident response policy. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found, indicating good operational hygiene. The lack of a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file suggests room for improvement in transparency and incident readiness. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a government informational site but could be enhanced with additional controls and published policies.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and verify HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response plan accessible to users and stakeholders.
  3. Add a vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and dependencies to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance contact information visibility with official emails and phone numbers for transparency and trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Bishop's Stortford Town Council and Tourist Information
Description
Official website sponsored by Bishop's Stortford Town Council providing tourist information, council services, events, news, and local information for visitors and residents.
Key services
Tourist information, Council services, Event listings, Community grants, Venue hire, Public transport info
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Bootstrap 3.4.8, jQuery, Google Analytics, Klaro Consent Manager
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and navigation
  2. No signs of malware or phishing
  3. Uses modern CMS and consent management
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers visible on homepage; contact via form and social media
  5. WHOIS data unavailable, limiting domain registration insights
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10 CMS with Bootstrap 3.4.8 for responsive design and jQuery for client-side scripting. It uses Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager for analytics and tracking, integrated with Klaro for cookie consent management. The site loads fonts from Google Fonts and Adobe Typekit, and uses CDN resources for performance. The HTML is well-structured with meta tags for SEO and accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA roles. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with clear navigation and consistent branding. Hosting provider details are not evident from the content. Overall, the technical infrastructure is modern and suitable for a local government website.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with bishopsstortfordtc.gov.uk. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review bishopsstortfordtc.gov.uk.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.