Skip to main content

Security report for cliftonhall.com

Beechwood Park School · Education · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in Email security, SSL/TLS and 2 other checks.

Security score

59/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Clifton Hall School is a private educational institution located in West Edinburgh, offering nursery, junior, and senior education for children aged 3 to 18 years. The school emphasizes academic excellence within a caring environment and provides various services including admissions, bursaries, and early years stay and play sessions. The website reflects a well-structured and professionally designed platform targeting parents and guardians seeking quality private education. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern web technologies such as jQuery, Google Tag Manager, and CookieYes for consent management. Hosting appears to be via DigitalOcean's CDN services. Security posture is generally good with HTTPS enforced and bot protection via Google reCAPTCHA cookies; however, the absence of security headers and explicit privacy policies are areas for improvement. The domain WHOIS data is missing, which raises concerns about domain registration transparency but does not detract from the professional presentation of the website. Overall, the site is trustworthy, user-friendly, and compliant with basic privacy standards, though enhanced transparency and security practices are recommended.

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

8 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • High

      No SPF record found

      SPF helps prevent email spoofing

      What to do: Add SPF record: "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourmailprovider.com ~all"

  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.

    • 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

  3. 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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

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

Keep watching cliftonhall.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

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
15
Email security
55
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
65
Average
59

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 school operates in the education sector, focusing on private schooling in the UK market. Its business model is centered on tuition-based education services for children from early years through senior school. The website indicates a medium-sized institution with a consistent brand presence and active social media engagement. The partnership with Fireflycloud for parent portal services suggests integration with third-party educational platforms. Revenue streams likely include tuition fees, bursaries, and donations. The school positions itself as a community-focused institution with a strong emphasis on character development and academic success. Growth indicators include active promotion of open days and early years programs. The lack of explicit company registration details online is a minor gap in business transparency.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security posture with HTTPS enabled and use of Google reCAPTCHA to mitigate spam and bot attacks. Cookie consent is actively managed with detailed categorization and user controls, indicating awareness of GDPR compliance. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options reduces defense-in-depth. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. The missing WHOIS data is a concern for domain legitimacy verification. Incident response and security policy information are not publicly available, which limits assessment of organizational security maturity. Overall, the site is secure for typical user interactions but could benefit from enhanced security controls and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service pages to improve transparency and compliance.
  2. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to strengthen security posture.
  3. Investigate and resolve the missing WHOIS registration data to improve domain trustworthiness and legitimacy.
  4. Provide clear contact information including company emails and phone numbers to enhance business credibility.
  5. Establish and publish an incident response policy or security contact channel to demonstrate security readiness.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Beechwood Park School
Description
Clifton Hall School provides outstanding education for nursery, junior and senior pupils (ages 3-18 years) in a kind and caring environment.
Key services
Nursery education, Junior school education, Senior school education, Admissions and bursaries, Early years stay and play sessions
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, jQuery, Yoast SEO, Google Tag Manager, CookieYes Consent, Lazy Load for Videos, Popup Maker
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent banner with customization
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA cookies for bot protection

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel
Marketing tools
Facebook Pixel
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is focused on education services for children aged 3-18 in West Edinburgh.
  3. Strong use of multimedia including background videos and embedded video content.
  4. Cookie consent mechanism is implemented with detailed cookie categorization.
  5. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found on the homepage HTML.
  6. Social media presence includes Facebook and Instagram links.
  7. No privacy policy or terms of service pages explicitly linked or detected in the homepage HTML.
  8. WHOIS data is missing or unavailable, which is unusual and reduces domain trust.
  9. Website uses modern web technologies and WordPress CMS.
  10. No security headers detected in the HTML source; potential area for improvement.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform using a modern tech stack including jQuery, Google Tag Manager, and CookieYes for cookie consent management. Hosting is likely via DigitalOcean, inferred from CDN video hosting URLs. The site uses lazy loading for videos and integrates social media links for Facebook and Instagram. Performance is moderate with multimedia content but optimized for mobile devices. SEO is supported by Yoast SEO plugin and proper meta tags including Open Graph and JSON-LD structured data. Accessibility features are basic but present. Technical risks include lack of security headers and potential outdated third-party scripts. Overall, the infrastructure is solid but could be improved with enhanced security configurations and more comprehensive privacy disclosures.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with cliftonhall.com. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review cliftonhall.com.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.