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Security report for gowgates.com.au

Gow Gates Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd · Finance · Australia

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

81/100

Risk levelLow

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

Gow Gates Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd is a well-established Australian business insurance broker with over 60 years of experience. The company offers a broad range of insurance and risk management services tailored to businesses across various industries. Their market position is strong, supported by long-term client relationships and a reputation for personalized, expert service. The website reflects a professional and trustworthy brand with clear communication of services and contact channels. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including Cloudflare DNS, HubSpot marketing and analytics tools, Google Tag Manager, and Bootstrap for responsive design. Hosting appears to be via Azure Front Door, ensuring good performance and availability. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with SEO best practices implemented. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS with strong SSL configuration, CSRF protection on forms, and domain locks to prevent unauthorized changes. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, and no explicit incident response or vulnerability disclosure pages were found. Privacy and cookie policies are present and integrated with consent mechanisms, indicating good privacy compliance. Overall, the website presents a low-risk profile with strong business credibility and technical maturity. Strategic recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, publishing incident response contacts, and enhancing security headers to further improve security posture.

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

2 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 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 Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

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

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

Keep watching gowgates.com.au

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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
95
Security headers
65
Email security
80
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
81

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

Gow Gates operates in the Australian insurance broking and risk consulting sector, targeting businesses of all sizes including corporations, associations, and small enterprises. Their competitive advantage lies in their long history, deep industry knowledge, and personalized service model with dedicated brokers. Revenue streams likely include brokerage commissions and consulting fees. The company maintains partnerships with over 150 insurers and leverages industry networks such as NIBA and Steadfast. The website content and structured data indicate a focus on trust, client relationships, and comprehensive service offerings. Growth indicators include multiple office locations across major Australian cities and a broad service portfolio.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced, domain locks in place, and CSRF tokens on forms. Use of reputable third-party services like Cloudflare and HubSpot adds layers of security and monitoring. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. Privacy policies and cookie consent mechanisms are implemented, supporting regulatory compliance. However, the absence of DNSSEC and a public incident response or vulnerability disclosure policy are gaps. The site would benefit from enhanced security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options to mitigate common web attacks. Overall, the security posture is strong but can be improved with these additional measures.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to protect against DNS spoofing and improve DNS security.
  2. Publish an incident response or abuse contact page to facilitate vulnerability reporting and improve transparency.
  3. Implement and publish a security.txt file to formalize vulnerability disclosure processes.
  4. Enhance HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  5. Regularly review and update privacy and cookie policies to maintain compliance with evolving regulations.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Gow Gates Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd
Registration number
ABN 12 000 837 785
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Gow Gates Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd
Description
Cost-effective cover for your business. Experienced insurance broking, tailored policies & creative thinking from Australia's leading business insurance broker.
Key services
Insurance Broking, Risk Consulting, Self Insurance, Workers Compensation, Work Health and Safety, Claims Management, Risk Technology, Private Insurance
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Cloudflare DNS, HubSpot (marketing, forms, analytics), Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, Vite (JS bundler), Bootstrap (CSS framework)
Frameworks
Bootstrap, Turbo (Rails Turbo Frames)
Platforms
HubSpot, Cloudflare
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • CSRF tokens in forms
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security status domain flags in WHOIS

Analytics and tracking

Services
HubSpot Analytics, Google Analytics (via GTM), Facebook Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel
Marketing tools
HubSpot
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured.
  2. Comprehensive insurance and risk management services offered.
  3. Strong presence of trust signals including testimonials and long-term client relationships.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and marketing tools.
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  6. Contact information is clear and accessible.
  7. Privacy and cookie policies are present and integrated with consent mechanisms.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using modern web technologies including a Ruby on Rails backend (inferred from turbo frames), Bootstrap for responsive design, and Vite for JavaScript bundling. Hosting is via Azure Front Door with Cloudflare DNS, providing robust performance and availability. Integration with HubSpot and Google Tag Manager supports marketing automation and analytics. The site is well-optimized for mobile devices and accessibility. Technical debt appears low with clean, valid HTML and CSS. Opportunities exist to further modernize security headers and enable DNSSEC. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a fast, secure, and user-friendly experience aligned with business goals.
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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