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Security report for hbsl.co.uk

HBSL Accountants · Finance · United Kingdom

High risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

48/100

Risk levelHigh

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

HBSL Accountants is a small UK-based accounting firm specializing in providing a comprehensive range of accountancy services including company formations, bookkeeping, VAT returns, and end of year accounts. The firm targets individuals and small businesses primarily in South Hampshire and surrounding areas, emphasizing personalized service and compliance support. The website reflects a professional and focused business model with clear contact details and relevant service descriptions. Technically, the site uses standard web technologies such as jQuery, Bootstrap, and Font Awesome, delivering a moderate performance with good mobile optimization and basic SEO. However, the absence of security headers and cookie consent mechanisms indicates room for improvement in security and privacy compliance. The WHOIS data is unavailable due to domain registration issues flagged by Nominet UK, which raises concerns about domain legitimacy or configuration but does not directly impact the professional presentation of the business online. Overall, the website is functional and trustworthy from a user perspective but requires enhancements in security posture and compliance documentation.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

7 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 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';…

  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

Keep watching hbsl.co.uk

This scan found 27 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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  • 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
20
Email security
70
DNS health
65
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
53
Average
48

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 finance sector, focusing on accounting and tax services for small businesses and individuals. Its market position is regional with a local focus on Hampshire and nearby cities. The business model is service-oriented, relying on compliance and advisory offerings. The presence of company registration and VAT numbers adds credibility. The website lacks advanced marketing or analytics tools, indicating a conservative digital strategy. No partnerships or subsidiaries are evident from the site. Growth potential may be limited by the small scale and local focus, but the firm maintains a clear niche. The absence of social media and limited external links suggest a low digital marketing footprint.

Security posture

The security posture is basic with no detected security headers or advanced protections. HTTPS status is unknown but assumed present due to base href using https. No forms or input fields were detected on the homepage, reducing attack surface. The lack of cookie consent and privacy compliance features indicates GDPR compliance gaps. No incident response or security policy information is published. The WHOIS data unavailability and domain registration error are notable concerns, potentially indicating misconfiguration or registration irregularities. Overall, the site is low risk but would benefit from implementing standard security best practices and compliance documentation.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce HTTPS with strong SSL/TLS configuration and verify certificate validity.
  2. Add essential security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Publish a cookie policy and implement a cookie consent mechanism to improve GDPR compliance.
  4. Provide clear terms of service and a vulnerability disclosure policy to enhance transparency and security posture.
  5. Investigate and resolve domain registration issues with Nominet UK to ensure domain legitimacy and WHOIS data availability.

Contact details published on the site

Legal name
HBSL Accountants
Registration number
03631265
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
HBSL Accountants
Description
HBSL provide a full range of accountancy services. From company formations to bookkeeping, VAT returns, and end of year accounts. They focus on individuals and small businesses in Hampshire and surrounding areas, offering compliance and advisory services.
Key services
company formations, bookkeeping, VAT returns, end of year accounts, tax compliance, business advice
Content quality
good
Branding
moderate

Technology

Stack
jQuery 3.5.1, Bootstrap, Font Awesome
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
40/100

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is accessible with full content and no blocking detected
  2. WHOIS data is unavailable and indicates domain registration issues
  3. Website provides clear contact information including phone and email
  4. No cookie consent or terms of service found
  5. No security headers detected in provided data
  6. No analytics or tracking scripts detected
  7. Content is professional and relevant to accounting services
  8. No social media links found
  9. No forms detected on the homepage content
  10. Basic SEO and meta tags present
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a traditional tech stack with jQuery 3.5.1, Bootstrap for responsive design, and Font Awesome for icons. The HTML structure is valid and includes meta tags for SEO and Open Graph for social sharing. No CMS or hosting provider information is detectable. Performance is moderate with no heavy scripts or analytics. Mobile optimization is good due to Bootstrap usage. Accessibility is basic with no advanced ARIA or accessibility features detected. SEO is basic with meta description and title tags but no structured data or rich snippets. The site lacks modern frameworks or progressive web app features, indicating a straightforward, possibly older site build.
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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