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Security report for blacklibrary.com

Games Workshop Ltd · Media · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Black Library is the official publishing division of Games Workshop Ltd, specializing in Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 fiction and audio content. The website serves as an e-commerce platform offering ebooks, audiobooks, and related media targeted at Warhammer enthusiasts globally. The company is well-established with clear UK-based corporate identity and a strong brand presence. Technically, the website uses legacy JavaScript libraries like jQuery 1.12.4 and bxSlider, with moderate performance and basic mobile optimization. Security measures include an anti-clickjacking script but lack visible security headers and use of outdated libraries pose potential risks. Privacy compliance is partial with a cookie consent mechanism but no explicit privacy policy page detected. Contact information and trust indicators are clearly presented, supporting business credibility. WHOIS data is unavailable, which slightly reduces trust but the overall legitimacy is supported by consistent branding and company data.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
65/ 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

6 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. 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

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Facebook, Google APIs

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

  3. 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 blacklibrary.com

This scan found 25 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
42
Security headers
30
Email security
70
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
65
Average
63

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 niche media sector focused on Warhammer intellectual property, leveraging the strong brand of Games Workshop Ltd. Its business model is direct-to-consumer digital and physical media sales, targeting hobbyists and fans of the Warhammer universe. The presence of multiple official partner domains and social media channels enhances its market positioning. Revenue streams likely include ebook and audiobook sales, with marketing supported by newsletters and social media engagement. The company benefits from a large, established parent company and a loyal customer base. Strategic partnerships with related Warhammer digital and community sites strengthen its ecosystem.

Security posture

The security posture is moderate but could be improved. The site uses HTTPS (implied by external Google Fonts and social links) and includes an anti-clickjacking script, but lacks important HTTP security headers such as Content Security Policy, HSTS, and X-Content-Type-Options. The use of an outdated jQuery version (1.12.4) introduces potential vulnerabilities. No incident response or security policy pages are found, and no vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files are present. Privacy compliance is partial with cookie consent but no clear privacy policy. Overall, the site is functional and trustworthy but would benefit from enhanced security controls and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive HTTP security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Upgrade JavaScript libraries, especially jQuery, to current secure versions to mitigate known vulnerabilities.
  3. Publish a clear and comprehensive privacy policy page to improve GDPR compliance and user trust.
  4. Establish and publicize an incident response policy and vulnerability disclosure program.
  5. Conduct regular security audits and penetration testing to identify and remediate potential risks.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Games Workshop Ltd
VAT number
GB 580853421
Registration number
01467092
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Games Workshop Ltd
Description
Bringing the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 to life...
Key services
Ebook sales, Audiobook sales, Warhammer fiction publishing
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 1.12.4, bxSlider, Google Fonts (Open Sans)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
60/100
Good practices seen
  • Anti-clickjacking script present

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

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 e-commerce functionality
  2. No privacy policy page explicitly found, but cookie notice and terms & conditions present
  3. Contact info is clearly provided with company email and phone
  4. No explicit security headers detected in HTML source
  5. Uses older jQuery version which may have vulnerabilities
  6. No signs of malware or phishing
  7. Strong brand presence linked to Games Workshop Ltd
  8. Multiple external trusted domains linked
  9. No adult or questionable content detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built with traditional web technologies including jQuery 1.12.4 and bxSlider for UI components, and uses Google Fonts for typography. The HTML is well-structured with meta tags for SEO and social media. The site includes multiple carousels and dynamic content loading with lazy loading images. However, the technology stack is somewhat dated, with no modern frameworks or CMS detected. Performance is moderate with room for improvement in mobile optimization and accessibility. Hosting provider and SSL configuration details are not discernible from the HTML. The site integrates with external domains for social media, e-commerce, and newsletter services, indicating a mature digital ecosystem.
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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