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Security report for citizensadvice.org.uk

Citizens Advice · Non-profit · United Kingdom

Low risk. 1 critical or high finding in SSL/TLS.

Security score

83/100

Risk levelLow

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

Citizens Advice is a prominent UK non-profit organization providing free advice and support services across a broad range of social and legal issues. The website serves as a comprehensive platform for public guidance, featuring extensive content on benefits, work, debt, consumer rights, housing, family, law, immigration, and health. It targets the general public in the UK, particularly England, with localized advice for other UK nations. The organization operates with a large volunteer base and is recognized as a registered charity with strong trust indicators. Technically, the website employs modern web standards including HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript with features like autocomplete search and content delivery via Contentful. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and SEO-friendly, providing a smooth user experience. Security-wise, the site enforces HTTPS and uses content security policies, but lacks some advanced security headers and explicit incident response information. The WHOIS data for the domain is unavailable due to a Nominet UK query error, likely caused by querying the subdomain rather than the root domain. Despite this, the website's legitimacy is supported by consistent branding, official registration details, and a professional online presence. Privacy compliance is strong with clear cookie consent mechanisms and comprehensive privacy policies. Overall, Citizens Advice presents a secure, trustworthy, and user-friendly platform aligned with its mission to provide free advice and support to the UK public. Strategic improvements could include enhanced security headers, publishing a security policy, and adding vulnerability disclosure information to further strengthen trust and security posture.

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

1 finding 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

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

Keep watching citizensadvice.org.uk

This scan found 15 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
82
Security headers
85
Email security
80
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
83

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

Citizens Advice holds a leading position in the UK non-profit sector for public advice services. Its competitive advantage lies in its extensive volunteer network and comprehensive coverage of social issues. The business model is donation and grant-funded, focusing on accessibility and public service rather than commercial revenue. The target customers are individuals seeking free advice on legal, financial, and social matters. Growth indicators include active campaigning and research to influence policy. The organization maintains a transparent partnership ecosystem and strong public trust through regulatory registrations and clear communication.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS, content security policies, and cookie consent mechanisms. However, it lacks explicit security headers such as HSTS and X-Frame-Options, and does not publish a dedicated security policy or incident response contact. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the provided content. Compliance with GDPR is evident through privacy and cookie policies. Incident response readiness and security culture indicators could be improved by publishing security contact channels and vulnerability disclosure processes.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce additional HTTP security headers like HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  3. Create and maintain a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Enhance transparency around data retention policies and analytics usage.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and dependencies to ensure no vulnerable libraries are included.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux
Registration number
01436945
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Citizens Advice
Description
Citizens Advice provides free online advice to help people find solutions to various problems. It also conducts research to campaign on issues affecting people's lives.
Key services
Advice on benefits, Work-related advice, Debt and money guidance, Consumer rights, Housing advice, Family support, Law and courts information, Immigration advice, Health-related advice
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Autocomplete UI, Contentful (image hosting), Turbolinks
Platforms
Content Platform
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Content Security Policy nonce present
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
basic

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. Strong focus on user privacy and cookie consent
  3. No direct contact emails or phone numbers visible on homepage; contact via forms and dedicated contact page
  4. No visible security.txt or explicit security policy
  5. WHOIS data unavailable due to domain query error but website legitimacy is high
  6. No advertising or tracking scripts detected in provided HTML
  7. Good accessibility and SEO practices observed
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern and clean technical infrastructure with HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. It integrates autocomplete search functionality and uses Contentful for image hosting. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices including meta tags and Open Graph data. Performance is moderate, with deferred loading of scripts. There is no explicit CMS detected, but the platform appears to be a custom content platform. Hosting provider details are not disclosed. Opportunities exist to improve technical security headers and to publish more detailed technical documentation for transparency.
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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