Skip to main content

Security report for groundngardens.co.uk

Ground n Gardens Ltd · Other · United Kingdom

High risk. 9 critical or high findings in Network security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

39/100

Risk levelHigh

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

Ground n Gardens Ltd is a small, regionally focused commercial landscaping and ground maintenance contractor based in Inverness, Scotland. The company serves a diverse client base across multiple industries including petro-chemical, hospitality, retail, and telecommunications, offering a broad range of services such as soft landscaping, hard landscaping, fencing, and ground maintenance. Their website reflects a professional business with clear service descriptions and contact information, targeting commercial and private clients in the North of Scotland. Technically, the website is built on WordPress 5.2.21 using the Customizr theme and includes common plugins like Contact Form 7. The technology stack is somewhat dated, notably with an older jQuery version, which may pose security risks. The site is moderately optimized for performance and mobile use but lacks advanced SEO and accessibility features. No analytics or tracking services are detected, indicating minimal user tracking. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses standard WordPress security practices but lacks important security headers and uses outdated libraries. No privacy or cookie policies are present, which is a compliance gap. The WHOIS data is unavailable due to domain registration errors, raising concerns about domain legitimacy despite the professional website content. Overall, the website presents a credible business front but requires improvements in security posture, privacy compliance, and technical modernization. The domain registration issues should be investigated to ensure legitimacy and avoid potential trust issues.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 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

9 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

  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 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"

    • 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';…

  3. GDPR outside view

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

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

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

Keep watching groundngardens.co.uk

This scan found 28 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.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. See sample alerts.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
52
Security headers
15
Email security
70
DNS health
60
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
35
Average
39

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

Ground n Gardens operates as a specialized service provider in the landscaping and ground maintenance sector, focusing on commercial clients and private customers in Northern Scotland. Their market positioning as a leading regional contractor is supported by a professional website and a broad service offering. The business model is service-based with revenue likely generated from contracts across multiple industries. The absence of social media and analytics suggests a traditional marketing approach. The partnership with Inverness Online Ltd for website development indicates local business collaboration. Growth indicators are not explicit, but the comprehensive service list and industry diversity suggest stable operations. Strategic observations include the need for digital marketing enhancement and domain registration validation to strengthen market trust.

Security posture

The current security maturity level is moderate but with notable gaps. The use of HTTPS is a strong positive, ensuring encrypted communications. However, the absence of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and HSTS reduces protection against common web attacks. The outdated jQuery version introduces potential vulnerabilities. No explicit incident response or security policies are published, and no vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files are found. Data protection practices are minimal, with no privacy or cookie policies, indicating non-compliance with GDPR requirements. Incident response readiness appears low due to lack of contact channels for security issues. Overall, the security culture is basic and would benefit from formalization and enhancement.

Recommendations

  1. Update all JavaScript libraries, especially jQuery, to the latest secure versions to mitigate known vulnerabilities.
  2. Implement comprehensive privacy and cookie policies to comply with GDPR and improve user trust.
  3. Add essential security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and HSTS to harden the website against attacks.
  4. Establish and publish an incident response policy and provide dedicated security contact channels (e.g., security@ or abuse@ emails).
  5. Verify and correct domain registration details with Nominet UK to resolve WHOIS errors and improve domain legitimacy.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Ground n Gardens Ltd
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Ground n Gardens Ltd
Description
Ground n Gardens is a leading and highly reputable commercial Landscape and Ground Maintenance contractor based in Inverness, operating throughout the North of Scotland. They serve clients across various industries including Petro-chemical, Hospitality, Retail, House building, Telecommunications, and private clients. The company emphasizes high quality service, workmanship, value, and customer satisfaction.
Key services
Soft Landscaping, Ground Maintenance, Hard Landscaping, Fencing
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 1.12.4, WordPress 5.2.21, Contact Form 7 plugin, Customizr WordPress theme, Google Fonts
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
55/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced (implied by canonical and resource URLs)
  • Use of Contact Form 7 plugin for forms

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. WHOIS data is unavailable and indicates domain registration issues.
  3. Website uses WordPress CMS with an older version of jQuery.
  4. No privacy or cookie policies found on the site.
  5. Contact information is clearly presented including phone, email, and physical address.
  6. No social media links or security policies are present.
  7. No analytics or tracking scripts detected beyond WordPress core and Contact Form 7.
  8. Content is relevant and professional for a landscaping business.
  9. No adult or questionable content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS version 5.2.21 with the Customizr theme and uses Contact Form 7 for form handling. The technology stack includes jQuery 1.12.4, which is outdated and may pose security risks. The site loads external resources from Google Fonts and WordPress core domains. Performance is moderate with basic mobile optimization and accessibility features. SEO is basic with standard meta tags but no advanced structured data or Open Graph tags detected. The site lacks modern JavaScript frameworks or progressive web app features. Technical debt is indicated by the use of older libraries and lack of security headers. Opportunities exist to modernize the stack, improve performance, and enhance SEO and accessibility.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with groundngardens.co.uk. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review groundngardens.co.uk.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.