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Security report for cityplumbing.co.uk

City Plumbing Supplies Holdings Limited · Retail · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

66/100

Risk levelMedium

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

City Plumbing Supplies Holdings Limited operates as the UK's largest builders' merchants, offering an extensive range of plumbing, heating, bathroom, and related trade products through both e-commerce and physical branches. The company targets trade professionals and builders across the UK, leveraging a strong market position supported by a comprehensive product catalog and multiple customer engagement channels. Technically, the website employs modern technologies including React, Google Tag Manager, and various marketing and analytics tools, ensuring a good user experience with mobile optimization and accessibility features. Security posture is robust with HTTPS enforcement, cookie consent mechanisms, and no visible vulnerabilities, though some security headers could be enhanced. Overall, the site demonstrates high professionalism, trustworthiness, and compliance with privacy regulations, supported by clear business information and active social media presence.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
63/ 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

2 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

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

    • Critical

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

  2. 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.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

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

Keep watching cityplumbing.co.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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  • 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
0
Security headers
75
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
63
Average
66

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

City Plumbing's market positioning as the largest UK builders' merchant is reinforced by its broad product offerings and strategic parent company relationship with Highbourne Group Ltd. The business model combines e-commerce with physical branch services, including click & collect and contact-free delivery, catering primarily to trade customers. The company benefits from loyalty programs and digital services, indicating a focus on customer retention and digital transformation. Partnerships with payment processors like PayPal and marketing integrations with Monetate and Increasingly suggest a mature marketing ecosystem. The presence of detailed legal and policy pages reflects a commitment to regulatory compliance and customer trust.

Security posture

The website maintains a strong security posture with mandatory HTTPS, cookie consent via OneTrust, and integration of security-focused cookies. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. However, explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options were not evident and could be implemented to enhance protection against common web attacks. The use of third-party scripts necessitates ongoing monitoring to mitigate supply chain risks. Incident response and security policy pages were not found, indicating potential areas for improvement in transparency and readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection.
  2. Establish and publish a clear security policy and incident response plan accessible to users and partners.
  3. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts to prevent vulnerabilities from external dependencies.
  4. Enhance contact information availability with direct company emails and phone numbers for support and security reporting.
  5. Develop a long-term security strategy focusing on continuous compliance, user data protection, and security culture.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
City Plumbing Supplies Holdings Limited
Registration number
2489546
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
City Plumbing Supplies Holdings Limited
Description
City Plumbing are the UK's largest builders' merchants, supplying tens of thousands of trade quality products that are available for contact free delivery or collection
Key services
Plumbing supplies, Bathroom stores, Trade quality products, Contact free delivery, Click & collect, Loyalty rewards
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, jQuery, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, PayPal SDK, Trustpilot widget, OneTrust cookie consent, SnapEngage chat, Medallia feedback, Monetate, Increasingly
Frameworks
React
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security cookies
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
DoubleClick, BannerCrowd
Tracking pixels
Monetate, Emarsys
Marketing tools
Monetate, Increasingly, Emarsys
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Comprehensive product catalog with detailed categories and subcategories
  2. Strong presence of privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms
  3. Multiple customer engagement tools including chat, feedback, and mailing list
  4. Use of modern web technologies and third-party integrations for analytics and marketing
  5. No signs of blocking or WAF challenges, indicating good accessibility
  6. Clear business information including company registration and VAT numbers
  7. Social media presence on major platforms with verified links
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern React framework with integration of multiple third-party services for analytics, marketing, and customer engagement. It uses Contentful as a CMS, ensuring flexible content management. Performance is moderate with room for optimization, especially in loading times due to multiple external scripts. Mobile optimization and accessibility are well addressed, contributing to a positive user experience. The technical infrastructure is robust but could benefit from enhanced security header implementation and performance tuning to reduce potential technical debt.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 66/100Medium23 findingsView report
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