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Security report for edinburgh.gov.uk

The City of Edinburgh Council · Government · United Kingdom

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

Security score

76/100

Risk levelLow

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

The City of Edinburgh Council website serves as the official online presence for the local government authority of Edinburgh, UK. It provides a wide range of public services and information including council tax, housing, social care, planning, and community engagement. The site targets residents, businesses, and visitors of Edinburgh, offering accessible and comprehensive resources to support civic needs. The business model is that of a public sector entity focused on service delivery and community support. Technically, the website employs a modern technology stack including jQuery, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Cludo Analytics for search and user behavior tracking. It uses the Jadu CMS platform and implements cookie consent mechanisms compliant with GDPR. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices, contributing to a positive user experience. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses cookie consent to manage analytics tracking. However, it lacks explicit security headers and a published security or incident response policy. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the content. The absence of WHOIS data limits domain registration trust analysis, but the official .gov.uk domain and consistent branding support legitimacy. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and well-maintained, with moderate to good security and privacy compliance. Strategic improvements include enhancing security headers, publishing security policies, and providing clear security incident contacts to strengthen trust and resilience.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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. 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

  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. 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 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';…

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Keep watching edinburgh.gov.uk

This scan found 22 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

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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
69
Security headers
60
Email security
90
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
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 City of Edinburgh Council holds a strong market position as the primary local government authority for Edinburgh, serving a large population with essential public services. Its competitive advantage lies in its official status, comprehensive service offerings, and digital accessibility. Revenue streams are primarily public funding and council tax collection. The target customer segments include residents, businesses, and visitors. Growth indicators include active community engagement campaigns and digital service expansion. The council maintains partnerships with various government and community organizations, though no explicit partner domains were identified. Operationally, the council focuses on transparency, accessibility, and service efficiency.

Security posture

The website exhibits a moderate to advanced security maturity level with enforced HTTPS and cookie consent mechanisms. Key strengths include no visible vulnerabilities, no exposed sensitive data, and use of reputable analytics tools with opt-in consent. Compliance with GDPR is evident through privacy and cookie policies. However, gaps exist such as missing security headers (CSP, X-Frame-Options), absence of a public security policy or incident response page, and no vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file. Incident response readiness and security culture indicators are not publicly visible. Addressing these gaps would improve overall security posture and compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response procedure accessible from the website.
  3. Establish and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file.
  4. Provide explicit contact information for security incidents or abuse reporting.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and analytics tools to mitigate vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The City of Edinburgh Council
Description
The City of Edinburgh Council homepage providing information and services related to local government functions in Edinburgh, UK.
Key services
Archives, Benefits and grants, Bins and recycling, Births, marriages and deaths, Business and licensing, Council and Committees, Council Tax, Emergency, safety and crime, Events and venues, Housing
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Cludo Analytics, Civic Cookie Control
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent with opt-in/out
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google Tag Manager for analytics control

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Cludo Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Cludo Analytics
Marketing tools
Cludo Analytics
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Official City of Edinburgh Council website with comprehensive local government services.
  2. No WHOIS data available, possibly due to .uk WHOIS service changes or privacy.
  3. Uses modern analytics and cookie consent mechanisms.
  4. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly found in HTML content.
  5. No explicit security or incident response policies found on main site.
  6. Good accessibility and SEO practices observed.
  7. No adult or questionable content detected.
  8. Social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn.
Technical notes

Notes

The website infrastructure is built on the Jadu CMS platform with a technology stack that includes jQuery and multiple analytics tools such as Google Analytics and Cludo Analytics. Performance is moderate with good mobile responsiveness and accessibility features. The site uses modern meta tags and SEO best practices. Technical debt appears low, but opportunities exist to enhance security headers and streamline third-party script usage. Hosting provider details are not explicitly identified. Overall, the technical implementation supports a stable and user-friendly experience with room for security and performance optimizations.
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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