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Security report for gloucestershire.gov.uk

Gloucestershire County Council · Government · United Kingdom

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS and Security headers.

Security score

78/100

Risk levelLow

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

Gloucestershire County Council operates as the official local government authority for Gloucestershire, UK, providing a broad range of public services including education, highways, social care, and environmental management. The website serves residents and businesses with comprehensive information and interactive tools, reflecting a strong community focus and public service mission. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies and analytics tools, ensuring good performance, accessibility, and user experience. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforcement and cookie consent mechanisms, though there is room for improvement in security headers and explicit incident response disclosures. Overall, the domain and website exhibit high legitimacy and trustworthiness consistent with a government entity.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 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

2 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. 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';…

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

Keep watching gloucestershire.gov.uk

This scan found 18 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.

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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
74
Security headers
45
Email security
98
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
78

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 council holds a strong market position as a government entity serving a large population with diverse services. Its business model is public sector service provision funded by government budgets. The website supports multiple sectors including transportation, energy, education, and social care. Partnerships with specialized service domains enhance service delivery. The site’s professional design, clear navigation, and comprehensive content support effective citizen engagement and service access. Growth indicators include active community consultation platforms and business support hubs.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS, cookie consent, and use of reputable analytics platforms. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, the absence of key security headers and a public security policy or vulnerability disclosure page indicates potential compliance gaps. Incident response readiness and data protection officer contact details are not explicitly published, which could be improved to enhance transparency and trust. Overall, the security posture is good but could benefit from formalized policies and disclosures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  3. Add a vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools for security and privacy compliance.
  5. Enhance transparency around data retention policies and GDPR compliance details.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Gloucestershire County Council
Description
Gloucestershire County Council aims to make Gloucestershire a county where everyone can live a healthy life, get a good education and job, and feel proud of their area. They provide a wide range of public services including education, highways, recycling, health and social care, planning, and community support.
Key services
Emergency Planning, Education and learning, Highways maintenance, Recycling services, Births, marriages, deaths and civil partnerships, Planning and environment, Libraries, Health and Social Care, Business support, Archives
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar, jQuery, Slick Slider, CookieControl by Civic UK, Google Translate
Frameworks
Bootstrap (implied by navbar classes), PCG CMS (custom or proprietary CMS)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security-focused cookies (e.g. __Host-GAPS)
  • Consent management for analytics and marketing cookies

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google DoubleClick
Tracking pixels
Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity
Marketing tools
CookieControl
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and interactive features.
  2. Strong focus on public services and community engagement.
  3. Comprehensive cookie consent and privacy mechanisms implemented.
  4. Multiple analytics and tracking tools used with user consent.
  5. No signs of phishing, malware, or suspicious content.
  6. WHOIS data unavailable but domain is a .gov.uk domain indicating official status.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a custom CMS platform (PCG CMS) with integration of modern JavaScript libraries and analytics tools including Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, and Hotjar. It uses responsive design techniques and accessibility features, providing a good user experience across devices. Performance is moderate with room for optimization. The site leverages Google Translate for multilingual support and employs cookie consent management via Civic UK's CookieControl. Hosting details are not explicit but the site uses HTTPS with a strong SSL configuration. Technical risks are minimal but ongoing maintenance of third-party dependencies is recommended.
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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