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Security report for blackapricot.com

Black Apricot Creative · Other · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

64/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Black Apricot Creative is a Midlands-based multi-platform design agency specializing in branding, marketing, print, digital, and photographic services for local and international clients. The company positions itself as a small but professional agency focused on maximizing brand impact and marketing budgets for its customers. The website reflects a consistent and professional brand image with clear service offerings and contact information. Technically, the site is built on WordPress, utilizing common plugins such as Yoast SEO and Contact Form 7, and integrates Google Analytics for user tracking. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization and SEO practices but lacks advanced accessibility features and some security best practices. Security posture is moderate; HTTPS is used, but no security headers were detected, and no explicit privacy or cookie policies are present, indicating compliance gaps. The WHOIS data is missing or unavailable, which raises concerns about domain legitimacy despite the professional website presence. Overall, the site is functional and professional but would benefit from enhanced security and compliance measures.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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

8 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. GDPR outside view

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

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

    • 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

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

Keep watching blackapricot.com

This scan found 22 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

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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
50
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
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

The company operates in the creative services sector, targeting businesses seeking branding and marketing solutions primarily in the UK Midlands region but also serving global clients. Its business model revolves around providing design and marketing services across multiple platforms, including print and digital media. The website's content and social media presence suggest an established local reputation with a focus on quality and client results. There is no evidence of parent companies or subsidiaries. The lack of WHOIS data is unusual and may warrant further investigation. The company leverages standard digital marketing tools and maintains active social media channels, which supports client engagement and brand visibility.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS, which is a fundamental security requirement. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options reduces its defense against common web attacks. No explicit privacy or cookie policies are found, which is a compliance risk under GDPR and other privacy regulations. The site uses WordPress and common plugins, which require regular updates to mitigate vulnerabilities. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided, limiting transparency and preparedness. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could be significantly improved by implementing security headers, privacy compliance documentation, and incident response contacts.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with clear GDPR compliance and user consent mechanisms.
  2. Add essential security headers (Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options) to enhance protection against web attacks.
  3. Investigate and resolve the missing WHOIS registration data to ensure domain legitimacy and trust.
  4. Establish and publish incident response and vulnerability disclosure policies to improve transparency and security readiness.
  5. Regularly update WordPress core and plugins to mitigate known vulnerabilities and maintain security hygiene.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Black Apricot Creative
Description
We’re a multi-platform design agency providing branding, marketing, print, digital and photographic services for firms both locally and around the world.
Key services
Branding, Digital, Print
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Google Analytics, Yoast SEO, Contact Form 7, WordPress
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS usage (implied by canonical and script URLs using https)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Marketing tools
Yoast SEO
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional design agency site with clear service offerings.
  2. No privacy or cookie policies found, which is a compliance gap.
  3. WHOIS data is missing, raising questions about domain registration status.
  4. No security headers detected; security posture can be improved.
  5. Social media presence is active and linked.
  6. No forms with personal data collection detected on homepage; contact form scripts present but no form fields visible in provided HTML.
  7. Website uses WordPress CMS with common plugins.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS version 4.9.29, using plugins such as Contact Form 7 and Yoast SEO. It employs jQuery and several JavaScript libraries for UI effects and functionality. Google Analytics is integrated for visitor tracking. The site uses HTTPS and has canonical and Open Graph meta tags for SEO optimization. Performance is moderate with some optimization via autoptimize CSS caching. Mobile optimization is good, with responsive design elements. Accessibility is basic, with no explicit ARIA roles or advanced accessibility features detected. The site lacks modern security headers and does not display explicit privacy or cookie consent mechanisms, indicating technical debt in compliance and security areas.
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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