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Security report for centralbank.ie

Central Bank of Ireland · Finance · Ireland

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS.

Security score

78/100

Risk levelLow

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

The Central Bank of Ireland operates as the national central bank and financial regulatory authority for Ireland, responsible for monetary policy implementation, financial system oversight, and consumer protection. It holds a prominent market position as a government entity ensuring financial stability and regulatory compliance within the Irish financial sector. The website serves a diverse audience including financial institutions, regulated firms, consumers, and the general public, providing comprehensive information, regulatory updates, and access to various portals and services. Technically, the website is built on a mature ASP.NET WebForms platform with Telerik Sitefinity CMS, integrating modern tools such as Google Tag Manager and OneTrust for analytics and cookie consent management. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices, reflecting a well-maintained digital infrastructure suitable for a government institution. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS with strong SSL configuration and employs cookie consent mechanisms aligned with GDPR requirements. While explicit security headers like CSP and X-Frame-Options are not clearly visible in the HTML, the overall security posture is strong with no evident vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. The domain is an official .ie domain consistent with the organization's identity, although WHOIS data is not publicly available, likely due to privacy protections common for government domains. Overall, the Central Bank of Ireland's website is a trustworthy, professional, and secure platform that effectively supports its regulatory and informational mission. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, continuous monitoring of third-party scripts, and maintaining up-to-date software to sustain its strong security and compliance posture.

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. 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

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

Keep watching centralbank.ie

This scan found 18 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.

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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
47
Security headers
80
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
88
Average
78

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 Central Bank of Ireland holds a critical role in the Irish financial ecosystem as a government regulatory and central banking authority. Its competitive advantage lies in its official mandate and comprehensive regulatory framework. The business model is non-commercial, focused on public service, financial stability, and consumer protection. Revenue streams are government-funded, with no commercial sales. Target customers include financial institutions, regulated entities, and the public. Growth indicators are tied to regulatory scope and financial market developments. The partnership ecosystem includes various government and EU bodies, with dedicated portals for regulated firms. The organization's operations are transparent and well-documented, reinforcing its authoritative market presence.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, valid SSL certificates, and integration of cookie consent tools ensuring GDPR compliance. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive information were detected in the HTML content. The absence of explicit security headers like CSP and X-Frame-Options suggests room for improvement. Incident response and vulnerability disclosure information are not publicly detailed on the site, which is common for government entities. Overall, the security culture appears robust, supported by professional web infrastructure and compliance mechanisms.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish or provide clear information on incident response and vulnerability disclosure policies to improve transparency and trust.
  3. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and libraries to mitigate risks from external dependencies.
  4. Enhance monitoring and logging capabilities to detect and respond to security incidents promptly.
  5. Develop a long-term security strategy that includes continuous compliance checks, staff training, and penetration testing.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Central Bank of Ireland
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Central Bank of Ireland
Description
The Central Bank of Ireland is responsible for both central banking and financial regulation in Ireland.
Key services
Financial system oversight, Monetary policy implementation, Financial regulation and supervision, Consumer protection, Publications and research
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
ASP.NET, Telerik UI, Google Tag Manager, OneTrust Cookie Consent, Cludo Search
Frameworks
ASP.NET WebForms
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent with OneTrust
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure scripts and external libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Marketing tools
Cludo Search
Transparency
basic

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 maintained
  2. Strong focus on regulatory and financial information
  3. Comprehensive cookie and privacy compliance mechanisms implemented
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious content
  5. Use of reputable third-party services for analytics and consent management
  6. No exposed sensitive data or security misconfigurations detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on ASP.NET WebForms with Telerik Sitefinity CMS, indicating a legacy yet stable platform. It uses Google Tag Manager for analytics and OneTrust for cookie consent, reflecting compliance with privacy regulations. The site loads external resources from reputable domains and employs modern fonts and CSS. Performance is moderate, with good mobile responsiveness and accessibility features. Technical debt may exist due to the older framework, suggesting opportunities for modernization. No critical technical risks were identified, but ongoing maintenance is essential to ensure security and performance.
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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