Skip to main content

Security report for cpaireland.ie

Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland · Finance · Ireland

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

56/100

Risk levelMedium

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

CPA Ireland is a leading professional accountancy body in Ireland, providing qualifications, continuing professional development, and member services to accountants and students. The website clearly communicates the recent amalgamation with Chartered Accountants Ireland, positioning the organization as a unified professional body serving the Irish accountancy sector. The target audience includes current and prospective students, members in practice, employers, and other stakeholders in the finance and education sectors. The business model focuses on education, certification, member support, and professional development services. The website content is relevant, professionally presented, and consistent with the organization's mission and market position. Technically, the website uses a mature technology stack based on ASP.NET WebForms and Kentico CMS, supplemented by modern JavaScript libraries and multiple analytics and marketing tools such as Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, and HubSpot. The site is mobile-optimized with good navigation and SEO practices. Performance is moderate, with asynchronous loading of scripts to improve user experience. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and includes CSRF tokens in forms, indicating attention to basic security practices. However, there is a lack of explicit security policies or incident response information publicly available. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. Privacy compliance is supported by clear privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms, though data retention policies are not explicitly stated. Overall, the website demonstrates a solid business credibility and technical foundation with room for improvement in security transparency and accessibility. The domain registration data aligns well with the organization's claims, supporting legitimacy and trustworthiness.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
70/ 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

3 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

  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

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

Keep watching cpaireland.ie

This scan found 21 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
0
Security headers
45
Email security
55
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
70
Average
56

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

CPA Ireland holds a strong market position as a key professional accountancy body in Ireland, recently amalgamated with Chartered Accountants Ireland to form a unified institute. This strategic move likely expands their market reach and consolidates resources. Their business model revolves around education, certification, and member services, generating revenue through membership fees, CPD courses, and examination fees. The target customers include students pursuing accountancy qualifications, practicing members, and employers seeking qualified accountants. The website reflects a mature partnership ecosystem, including integration with Chartered Accountants Ireland and use of multiple third-party marketing and analytics platforms. Growth indicators include active communication about the amalgamation and ongoing CPD offerings. The organization's operations appear well-structured with a focus on professional development and member engagement.

Security posture

The website exhibits a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enforced and CSRF protection implemented in forms. The absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security suggests opportunities for enhancement. The use of multiple third-party analytics and marketing scripts introduces a moderate privacy risk, though cookie consent mechanisms are in place. No exposed credentials or sensitive data were found in the HTML content. The lack of publicly available security or incident response policies indicates a gap in transparency and preparedness communication. Compliance with GDPR is implied through privacy policies but could be strengthened with explicit data retention and incident response disclosures. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a professional body website but would benefit from improved header configurations and policy transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Publish explicit security and incident response policies to improve transparency and preparedness communication with users.
  3. Conduct regular audits of third-party scripts and tracking tools to ensure privacy compliance and minimize data leakage risks.
  4. Enhance website accessibility to meet higher standards, improving usability for all users including those with disabilities.
  5. Develop and communicate clear data retention policies aligned with GDPR requirements to strengthen privacy compliance.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland
Description
CPA Ireland is one of Ireland’s leading Accountancy Bodies and provides qualifications for those wishing to pursue an accountancy career.
Key services
Accountancy qualifications, Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses, Member resources and support, Examinations and training, Career and student support
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 3.7.1, Tiny Slider 2.5.2, jQuery UI 1.12.1, Parsley.js (form validation), Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Bing Ads, HubSpot Analytics
Frameworks
ASP.NET WebForms
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • CSRF token present in forms
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of async loading for scripts

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar, HubSpot Analytics, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Bing Ads, Facebook Pixel
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
Bing Ads, Facebook Ads
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, HubSpot Analytics
Marketing tools
HubSpot
Transparency
basic

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 professionally presented and relevant to accountancy professionals and students.
  3. Strong integration with multiple analytics and marketing platforms.
  4. No explicit security or incident response policies found on the site.
  5. Good privacy and cookie policy presence with consent mechanism.
  6. Amalgamation with Chartered Accountants Ireland is prominently communicated.
  7. Use of ASP.NET WebForms and Kentico CMS indicates a mature but somewhat legacy technology stack.
  8. No exposed sensitive data or obvious vulnerabilities detected in HTML content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on ASP.NET WebForms with Kentico CMS, indicating a stable but somewhat legacy platform. It uses modern JavaScript libraries such as jQuery 3.7.1, Tiny Slider, and Parsley.js for UI and form validation. Multiple analytics and marketing tools are integrated asynchronously to optimize performance. The site is mobile responsive with good navigation and SEO meta tags. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in load times by optimizing third-party scripts. The technical stack supports the business needs effectively but could benefit from modernization efforts to reduce technical debt and improve scalability. Security header implementation and accessibility compliance are areas for technical enhancement.
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 cpaireland.ie. 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 cpaireland.ie.

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.