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Security report for cottages.com

Cottages.com · Hospitality · United Kingdom

Low risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers and Email security.

Security score

76/100

Risk levelLow

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

Cottages.com is a well-established UK-based online platform specializing in self-catering holiday cottage bookings. With over 45 years of experience and a portfolio exceeding 18,000 properties, it serves a broad audience including families, couples, and pet owners. The company emphasizes customer satisfaction, demonstrated by its adherence to ABTA's Code of Conduct and excellent Trustpilot ratings. Technically, the website leverages modern frameworks such as Next.js and integrates advanced analytics and consent management tools, ensuring a robust digital presence. Security measures include HTTPS enforcement, reCAPTCHA Enterprise, and comprehensive privacy controls, although a dedicated security policy page is absent. Overall, cottages.com presents a professional, trustworthy, and user-friendly platform with strong market positioning in the UK holiday accommodation sector.

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

4 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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

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

    • 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';…

  2. 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.

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

Keep watching cottages.com

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.

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.

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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
100
Security headers
15
Email security
70
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
88
Average
76

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 business operates in the hospitality sector, focusing on holiday cottage rentals across the UK. Its business model is primarily an online booking platform offering a wide range of cottages with flexible payment options and specialized collections. The company benefits from a strong brand, extensive property listings, and a loyal customer base. Partnerships with Awaze Group and related domains like owners.awaze.com enhance its operational capabilities. The presence of mobile apps and active social media channels indicates a mature digital marketing strategy. The company targets UK residents and tourists seeking diverse holiday experiences, from luxury to dog-friendly stays. Its market position is strong, supported by trust signals and a comprehensive service offering.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and multiple security headers implemented. Use of Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise and Usercentrics CMP indicates proactive bot mitigation and privacy compliance. However, the absence of a public security policy or vulnerability disclosure program limits transparency. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. Incident response contact details are not publicly available, which could be improved. Overall, the security measures are robust for a consumer-facing hospitality website, but additional transparency and formal policies would enhance trust and compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and compliance.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file.
  3. Provide clear incident response contact information for security issues.
  4. Regularly review and update privacy and cookie policies to maintain GDPR compliance.
  5. Enhance transparency around data retention and user data handling practices.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Cottages.com
VAT number
GB 598 22 99 77
Registration number
Registration Number 00965389
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Cottages.com
Description
cottages.com is your go-to destination for an extensive selection of memorable self-catering cottage holidays. With over 45 years of experience, they offer more than 18,000 holiday homes across the UK catering to every budget. They emphasize high customer service standards, adherence to ABTA's Code of Conduct, and have an excellent Trustpilot rating.
Key services
Holiday cottage bookings, Specialized collections (dog-friendly, hot tubs, luxury, last-minute deals), Flexible payment options including low deposit and monthly plans, Customer support
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React (Next.js), Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise, Usercentrics CMP, AppsFlyer, New Relic monitoring
Frameworks
Next.js
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • reCAPTCHA Enterprise for bot protection
  • Consent management via Usercentrics
  • Use of security headers
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, New Relic
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
AppsFlyer, Trustpilot widget
Marketing tools
Usercentrics Consent Management
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 no blocking detected
  2. Strong branding and consistent user experience
  3. Comprehensive holiday cottage offerings with clear navigation
  4. Use of modern web technologies and analytics
  5. Good privacy and cookie consent mechanisms
  6. No visible security or privacy red flags in content
  7. WHOIS data unavailable, likely privacy protected
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern React-based framework (Next.js) with server-side rendering for performance and SEO benefits. It uses Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, and New Relic for monitoring and analytics. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and preloading of critical assets. Consent management is handled via Usercentrics, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations. Hosting appears to be via Awaze's infrastructure or a CDN. The technical implementation is solid, with no visible technical debt or performance bottlenecks. Opportunities exist to improve accessibility features and provide more detailed technical documentation for security and privacy.
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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