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Security report for creativeskillnet.ie

Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet · Other · Ireland

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

55/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet is a professional organization dedicated to providing high-quality, subsidised skills development and training programs tailored for the cultural and creative sectors in Ireland. The website reflects a well-established entity with a clear focus on delivering responsive and relevant training courses, events, and resources to industry professionals. The presence of co-funding logos from Skillnet Ireland and the Government of Ireland further supports its credibility and market position. Technically, the website is built on a modern WordPress platform utilizing a variety of plugins such as LifterLMS for course management, Complianz for GDPR compliance, and Google Analytics for visitor tracking. The site is well-optimized for SEO and mobile responsiveness, with a clean design and clear navigation enhancing user experience. Security measures include HTTPS enforcement and Google reCAPTCHA on forms, although additional security headers could improve the security posture. From a security perspective, the site demonstrates good practices with no visible vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. Privacy compliance is strong, with comprehensive privacy and cookie policies and a consent mechanism in place. However, there is no explicit incident response or vulnerability disclosure information, which could be areas for improvement. Overall, the website presents a low-risk profile with a strong business credibility and technical foundation. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, adding a security.txt file, and improving accessibility features to further strengthen compliance and trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
80/ 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

5 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. GDPR outside view

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

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

  3. 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 creativeskillnet.ie

This scan found 27 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

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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
62
Security headers
15
Email security
70
DNS health
65
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
80
Average
55

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 organization operates in a niche market focused on cultural and creative industries, providing subsidised training and skills development programs. Its business model revolves around partnerships and co-funding with government and industry bodies, targeting professionals and companies within Ireland's creative sectors. The website content and structure indicate a medium-sized entity with a professional approach to market positioning. The presence of social media channels and regular updates suggests active engagement with its audience. The lack of phone contact but availability of email and web forms aligns with modern digital communication preferences. The organization appears to maintain a solid partnership ecosystem, including Skillnet Ireland and government agencies, which supports its growth and credibility.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate, uses Google reCAPTCHA to protect forms from automated abuse, and manages cookie consent through a GDPR-compliant plugin. These measures indicate a mature security posture. However, the absence of certain security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security suggests room for improvement. No signs of exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. The site lacks explicit security policies or incident response contacts, which are recommended for enhanced transparency and preparedness. Overall, the security posture is good but could benefit from additional hardening and formalized security documentation.

Recommendations

  1. Implement security headers like Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Add a security.txt file to provide clear vulnerability disclosure and incident response information.
  3. Regularly update WordPress core, themes, and plugins to mitigate risks from known vulnerabilities.
  4. Improve accessibility features to meet WCAG standards and enhance user inclusivity.
  5. Consider publishing a formal security policy and incident response plan to increase user trust and compliance.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet
Description
Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet designs, develops and delivers skills development programmes to address the needs of the cultural & creative sectors.
Key services
Skills development programmes, Training courses and events, Resources and schemes, Industry insights
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, PHP, jQuery, Google reCAPTCHA, Select2, LifterLMS plugin, Breeze caching plugin, All in One SEO plugin, Blog Designer Pack plugin, Complianz GDPR plugin, WPForms
Frameworks
WordPress CMS
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Google reCAPTCHA on forms
  • Cookie consent management via Complianz plugin

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google Analytics (MonsterInsights)
Marketing tools
Complianz GDPR Cookie Consent
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website uses HTTPS with valid SSL
  2. Comprehensive cookie and privacy policies present
  3. Multiple training courses and resources offered
  4. Social media integration with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter
  5. Use of modern WordPress plugins and SEO tools
  6. No visible security vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data
  7. No phone numbers explicitly listed
  8. Contact via email and web form only
  9. No terms of service or security policy pages found
  10. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information available
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS version 6.4.7, using a modern theme (Total) and multiple plugins for SEO, LMS, GDPR compliance, and form management. It leverages jQuery and Select2 for enhanced UI components and Google reCAPTCHA for bot protection. The site loads resources from trusted CDNs such as Google Fonts and Google APIs. Performance is moderate with caching enabled via Breeze plugin. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design and uses structured data (JSON-LD) for SEO enhancement. No hosting provider details were identified from the content. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid with opportunities to improve security headers and accessibility compliance.
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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