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Security report for ese-web.com

ESE · Technology · United States

High risk. 11 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 2 other checks.

Security score

29/100

Risk levelHigh

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

ESE is a specialized technology company focused on precision timing and signal distribution products, serving sectors such as broadcast, military, public safety, and utilities. The company has a long-standing market presence with over 50 years of operation, offering a range of hardware and software solutions including master clocks, time code devices, and distribution amplifiers. Their website reflects a niche business model targeting professional and industrial customers with technical product offerings. Technically, the website employs legacy JavaScript libraries like jQuery 1.8.3 and uses plugins such as Nivo Slider for UI elements. The site is moderately optimized for performance and accessibility but lacks modern security features such as HTTPS and security headers. The absence of structured data and limited SEO optimization suggests room for digital maturity improvement. From a security perspective, the site lacks HTTPS, uses outdated libraries with known vulnerabilities, and does not provide privacy or cookie policies, which are critical for compliance and user trust. Advertising and tracking scripts are present without visible consent mechanisms, indicating potential privacy compliance gaps. Contact information is clearly provided, supporting business credibility. Overall, the website is functional and professional but requires urgent security upgrades, privacy compliance enhancements, and modernization of technical infrastructure to reduce risk and improve user trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
10/ 100 · Critical
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

11 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. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: MySQL

      Port 3306 (MySQL) is publicly accessible - MySQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to MySQL using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

  4. 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 ese-web.com

This scan found 23 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

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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
0
Security headers
20
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
10
Average
29

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 · found on this site
  • 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

ESE operates in a specialized technology niche providing precision timing and signal distribution products primarily to broadcast, government, and public safety sectors. Their competitive advantage lies in their long history, recognized product awards, and comprehensive product families. Revenue streams likely derive from hardware sales, software downloads, and support services. The target customers are professional organizations requiring precise timing solutions. The company maintains a focused partnership ecosystem with no publicly disclosed subsidiaries. Growth indicators include recent product launches and industry awards. Strategic observations suggest the company could benefit from digital transformation and enhanced online presence to expand market reach.

Security posture

The current security posture is basic with significant gaps. The lack of HTTPS is a critical vulnerability exposing users to interception risks. Use of outdated JavaScript libraries increases the attack surface. Absence of security headers and vulnerability disclosure policies indicates low maturity in security governance. No incident response or data protection officer information is provided, limiting transparency and readiness. Privacy compliance is poor with no cookie consent or privacy policy. These issues collectively pose business risks including reputational damage and regulatory non-compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Implement HTTPS across the entire website with valid SSL/TLS certificates immediately.
  2. Upgrade all JavaScript libraries and plugins to current secure versions to mitigate known vulnerabilities.
  3. Develop and publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with GDPR compliance considerations.
  4. Add security headers such as Content Security Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection to harden the site.
  5. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program and incident response contact channels to improve security transparency.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
ESE
Description
ESE provides precision timing and signal distribution products including master clocks, remote clock displays, NTP products, frequency standards, SMPTE/EBU and IRIG time code devices, distribution amplifiers, and video/audio products.
Key services
Precision timing hardware, Signal distribution amplifiers, Time code converters and generators, Software downloads and product catalogs, Customer support and repair services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery 1.8.3, jQuery Tools 1.2.7, Nivo Slider plugin
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
40/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of asynchronous loading for scripts
  • No visible exposed credentials or sensitive data

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via DoubleClick)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Ad networks
DoubleClick, HitTail
Tracking pixels
DoubleClick, HitTail
Marketing tools
HitTail
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is accessible without WAF or blocking mechanisms.
  2. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found on homepage or linked pages.
  3. Contact information is clearly provided including email, phone, and physical address.
  4. Use of outdated JavaScript libraries may pose security risks.
  5. No HTTPS detected in provided data; site uses HTTP which is a critical security issue.
  6. Advertising and tracking scripts present but no cookie consent mechanism detected.
  7. Content is professionally presented with clear navigation and relevant product information.
  8. No structured data (JSON-LD or Open Graph) found in HTML head.
  9. No security or incident response policies visible.
  10. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a traditional HTML/CSS/JavaScript stack with jQuery 1.8.3 and Nivo Slider for interactive elements. The site lacks modern frameworks or CMS platforms, indicating a custom or legacy build. Performance is moderate but could be improved with updated libraries and optimization. Mobile optimization and accessibility are basic, suggesting limited responsive design. SEO is minimal with no structured data or Open Graph metadata. Hosting provider details are not evident from the content. Technical debt is present due to outdated dependencies and missing security best practices, posing risks to business continuity.
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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