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Security report for bloomsbury.com

Bloomsbury Publishing · Education · United Kingdom

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in Security headers.

Security score

79/100

Risk levelLow

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

Bloomsbury Publishing is a well-established independent publishing house founded in 1986, with a strong market presence in the UK and internationally. The company specializes in academic and general book publishing, serving a broad audience including educational institutions and general readers. The website reflects a professional and comprehensive digital presence, featuring a well-structured catalog and multiple subsidiaries. Technically, the site employs modern frameworks such as Bootstrap and integrates advanced analytics and user tracking tools including Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, and Hotjar. Security measures include HTTPS enforcement, reCAPTCHA integration, and cookie consent mechanisms, although explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not evident. Overall, the site demonstrates a mature digital infrastructure with good privacy compliance but could improve transparency by publishing detailed privacy and security policies.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
88/ 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

2 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';…

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Keep watching bloomsbury.com

This scan found 16 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
90
Security headers
35
Email security
82
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
88
Average
79

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

Bloomsbury Publishing holds a leading position in the independent publishing sector, with a diversified portfolio of subsidiaries and a broad catalog spanning academic, fiction, and non-fiction genres. The business model focuses on both publishing and direct retail sales via its website, targeting educational institutions, professionals, and general consumers. The company leverages partnerships and subsidiaries to cover niche markets such as professional books and children’s literature. The website’s design and content quality support strong brand recognition and customer trust. Growth indicators include multi-territory presence and integration of advanced digital marketing and analytics tools. Strategic observations suggest opportunities to enhance customer engagement through clearer contact channels and expanded transparency in privacy and security practices.

Security posture

The website exhibits a solid security posture with HTTPS enforced and use of anti-bot measures like reCAPTCHA. Integration of cookie consent tools indicates awareness of GDPR compliance. However, the absence of explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms represents a gap in transparency and readiness. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analyzed content. The use of reputable analytics and tracking services is balanced by the presence of consent mechanisms, suggesting moderate user tracking. Recommendations include publishing a security policy, incident response information, and implementing security headers explicitly to strengthen defenses and user trust.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service pages accessible from the homepage.
  2. Add explicit security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Implement and publicly expose a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file.
  4. Verify and explicitly set security headers such as X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options.
  5. Enhance contact information visibility by including verified company emails and phone numbers.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Bloomsbury Publishing
Description
Bloomsbury Publishing is a leading independent publishing house established in 1986. It has companies in London, New York, Sydney and Delhi.
Key services
Publishing books, Academic publishing, Retail book sales
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Bootstrap 4.3.1, Font Awesome 4.7.0, jQuery Mousewheel, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar, OneTrust Cookie Consent, reCAPTCHA
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of reCAPTCHA for forms
  • Cookie consent banner implemented
  • Use of security and analytics tools (Hotjar, Clarity)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity
Marketing tools
ShareThis
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and navigation.
  2. No WHOIS data available, indicating privacy or registry limitations.
  3. Strong use of modern web technologies and analytics tools.
  4. Cookie consent and GDPR compliance mechanisms are implemented.
  5. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found in the HTML content.
  6. No explicit privacy policy or terms of service pages detected in the provided content.
  7. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure found.
  8. No explicit security or incident response contact information found.
  9. Website content is professional, relevant, and safe for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern technology stack including Bootstrap 4.3.1, Font Awesome, and jQuery plugins, with Umbraco CMS inferred from URL patterns. Hosting appears to be via Cloudflare, providing CDN and security benefits. Performance is moderate with asynchronous loading of analytics and tracking scripts. Mobile optimization and accessibility are good, with responsive design and skip links for screen readers. SEO is supported by meta keywords and descriptions, as well as structured navigation. Technical risks are minimal but could be reduced by ensuring all security headers are explicitly configured and by reducing reliance on multiple third-party tracking services where possible.
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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