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Security report for harrycharles.co.uk

Harry Charles Estate Agents · Real Estate · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Network security, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

57/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Harry Charles Estate Agents is a well-established real estate business founded in 2002, specializing in residential and commercial sales and lettings in the Watford and Hemel Hempstead areas of Hertfordshire, UK. The company positions itself as a leading local estate agent with a strong focus on customer service and comprehensive property solutions including valuations and auction services. Their website reflects a professional and consistent brand image, supported by positive customer testimonials and recognized industry certifications. Technically, the website is built on Joomla CMS with modern frontend technologies such as Bootstrap and jQuery, providing a responsive and user-friendly experience. Security practices include HTTPS enforcement and cookie consent management, although some security headers could be improved. The WHOIS data for the domain is unavailable due to a domain registration error, which slightly impacts trust but does not detract from the overall legitimacy of the business presence online. Overall, the site demonstrates a mature digital infrastructure and a solid market position in the real estate sector.

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

4 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.

    • High

      High-Risk Service Exposed: FTP

      Port 21 (FTP) is publicly accessible - FTP - Often unencrypted file transfer

      What to do: Consider restricting access to FTP or implementing strong authentication

      • 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. 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

  3. 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 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';…

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Keep watching harrycharles.co.uk

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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
57
Security headers
50
Email security
70
DNS health
60
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
83
Average
57

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 company operates in the real estate sector, targeting property buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants primarily in Hertfordshire. Their business model revolves around providing tailored sales and lettings packages, property valuations, and auction services. The presence of multiple certifications and affiliations with recognized bodies like NAEA and ARLA enhances their credibility. The partnership with Pattinson for auction services indicates a strategic alliance to expand service offerings. The company leverages social media platforms for marketing and customer engagement. Growth indicators include a comprehensive property search tool and active customer testimonials. The business appears to be a small-sized, family-run operation with a strong local focus and a reputation for quality service.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security posture with HTTPS enabled and secure form handling including CSRF tokens. Cookie consent is managed via a recognized third-party tool, indicating GDPR compliance. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HSTS, and X-Frame-Options suggests room for improvement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analysis. The lack of a published security policy or incident response contact information is a gap in transparency. Overall, the security maturity is moderate to good, suitable for the business type but with recommendations for enhancement to align with best practices.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive HTTP security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Regularly update Joomla CMS and all third-party libraries to mitigate risks from known vulnerabilities.
  3. Publish a clear security policy and provide incident response contact details to improve transparency and customer trust.
  4. Enhance accessibility features to improve compliance and user experience for all visitors.
  5. Conduct periodic security audits and penetration testing to proactively identify and remediate potential vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Harry Charles Ltd
Registration number
05740370
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Harry Charles Estate Agents
Description
Established since 2002 Harry Charles is one of the leading Letting and Sales agents in both the Watford and Hemel Hempstead areas. With a wealth of knowledge in property sales and lettings, our estate agents aim to offer the highest quality properties
Key services
Residential Sales, Residential Lettings, Commercial Sales, Commercial Lettings, Property Valuations, Auction Services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Joomla CMS, Bootstrap 5.3.8, jQuery 3.7.1, Splide.js (carousel), Lozad.js (lazy loading), TermsFeed Cookie Consent
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent banner with express consent
  • Secure forms with CSRF tokens

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Marketing tools
TermsFeed Cookie Consent
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website uses Joomla CMS with modern frontend technologies
  2. Clear business focus on real estate sales and lettings in Hertfordshire
  3. Comprehensive cookie and privacy policies with consent management
  4. Multiple customer testimonials indicating positive reputation
  5. No signs of adult or malicious content
  6. WHOIS data unavailable due to domain registration error, unusual but site is active
  7. Social media presence on Facebook, Twitter (X), Instagram, and Bluesky
  8. Secure HTTPS with no visible security warnings
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Joomla CMS with Bootstrap 5 and jQuery, leveraging modern JavaScript libraries such as Splide.js for carousels and Lozad.js for lazy loading images, which improves performance. The site is mobile responsive and includes SEO-friendly meta tags and structured data in JSON-LD format for enhanced search engine visibility. Cookie consent is managed by TermsFeed scripts, indicating attention to privacy compliance. Performance is moderate with room for optimization, particularly in accessibility and loading speed. The technical stack is mature but could benefit from modernization in security headers and potential hosting provider transparency.
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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