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Security report for gambleaware.org

GambleAware · Non-profit · United Kingdom

Low risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

79/100

Risk levelLow

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

GambleAware is a UK-based non-profit organization dedicated to providing free, confidential advice, tools, and support to individuals affected by gambling harms, including their families and professionals. The website serves as a comprehensive resource offering self-help tools, assessments, research publications, and access to support networks such as the National Gambling Support Network. The organization positions itself as a leading authority in gambling harm prevention and support within Great Britain. Technically, the site leverages ASP.NET MVC, jQuery, Google Tag Manager, and third-party services like Gleap and GamCare for live chat support, hosted on AWS infrastructure with Cloudflare CDN. The site demonstrates strong digital maturity with excellent design, mobile optimization, and SEO practices. Security-wise, the site employs a valid SSL certificate and robust security headers including HSTS and CSP, though it lacks modern TLS protocol support and DNSSEC. Privacy and cookie policies are present with consent mechanisms, reflecting good compliance with GDPR. Overall, GambleAware maintains a high level of professionalism, trustworthiness, and user engagement through multiple contact channels and transparent policies.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
43/ 100 · High
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. 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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

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

  2. GDPR outside view

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

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

    • 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

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

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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
100
Security headers
45
Email security
100
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
43
Average
79

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

GambleAware operates in the non-profit sector focused on gambling harm reduction and support services in the UK. Its business model centers on providing free resources, funding research, and facilitating access to treatment and support networks. The organization benefits from partnerships with entities like GamCare, enhancing its service delivery capabilities. Its target audience includes individuals experiencing gambling harms, their families, and professionals seeking resources. The website's content strategy and service offerings indicate a mature organization with a strong market position in the UK gambling harm prevention ecosystem. The presence of live chat, phone support, and extensive research publications suggests a well-rounded approach to stakeholder engagement and service provision.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security posture with the implementation of key security headers such as HSTS with preload and a restrictive Content Security Policy. The SSL certificate is valid and issued by a reputable authority, though the absence of modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 or 1.3) is a notable gap that could expose the site to potential downgrade attacks or compatibility issues. DNSSEC is not enabled, which could improve domain integrity. No known vulnerabilities such as Heartbleed or POODLE are present. However, the lack of a published security policy, incident response contact, or security.txt file limits transparency and readiness for vulnerability disclosures. Overall, the site is secure but could improve in protocol support and formal security communication.

Recommendations

  1. Enable TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3 protocols to enhance encryption security and compatibility.
  2. Implement DNSSEC to protect against DNS spoofing and improve domain security.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy page and provide incident response contact information.
  4. Add a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure.
  5. Review and tighten the Content Security Policy to remove 'unsafe-inline' and 'unsafe-eval' directives where feasible.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on ASP.NET MVC framework, utilizing jQuery and validation libraries for client-side interactivity and form validation. It integrates Google Tag Manager and analytics tools for tracking and marketing purposes, alongside Gleap for user feedback and support. Hosting is on AWS infrastructure with Cloudflare CDN providing performance and security benefits. The site is optimized for mobile devices with responsive design and preconnect hints to improve resource loading. Performance metrics indicate fast load times, though explicit resource counts and page size data are not provided. The use of Umbraco CMS is implied, suggesting a modern content management approach. Overall, the technical infrastructure is robust, leveraging modern web standards and third-party services to deliver a secure and user-friendly experience.
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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