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Security report for hcdgroup.co.uk

HCD Group · Other · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

59/100

Risk levelMedium

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

HCD Group is a UK-based multi-disciplined consultancy specializing in the construction industry, offering services such as building control, fire safety engineering, CDM consultancy, structural/civil engineering, project management, and training. The company positions itself as a market leader with nine offices across the UK and is recognized as the leading independent provider of Building Control Approved Inspector services. The website reflects a professional and consistent brand image with good content quality and clear navigation targeting developers, designers, and contractors. Technically, the website is built on WordPress using common plugins like Contact Form 7 and jQuery. The site shows moderate performance and basic mobile optimization. SEO practices are good with proper meta tags and structured data, but accessibility features are basic. Security-wise, HTTPS is implied but no explicit security headers were detected, and no advanced security or privacy policies are visible. The WHOIS data is unavailable due to domain registration errors, which introduces some trust concerns. Overall, the security posture is moderate with room for improvement in security headers, privacy compliance, and incident response readiness. The lack of privacy and cookie policies and the WHOIS inconsistency are notable gaps. The website is accessible and professional but would benefit from enhanced security and compliance measures to improve trust and reduce risk.

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

8 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 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

    • 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 hcdgroup.co.uk

This scan found 25 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
75
Security headers
15
Email security
70
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
59

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

HCD Group operates in the construction consultancy sector with a focus on integrated multi-disciplinary services. Its competitive advantage lies in its national presence with nine offices and recognition as a leading independent building control provider. The business model revolves around consultancy services for high-profile construction projects, targeting developers, designers, and contractors. Revenue streams likely come from consultancy fees across various sectors including education, health, hospitality, and government. The acquisition by Bureau Veritas suggests strategic growth and enhanced market credibility. The company maintains a professional online presence but lacks visible certifications or compliance disclosures. Partnerships and subsidiary relationships are not explicitly detailed on the website.

Security posture

The current security maturity level is moderate. The website uses HTTPS and standard WordPress security plugins but lacks visible security headers such as CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies are published, and no security.txt file is found. Data protection practices are minimal with no visible privacy or cookie policies, indicating potential GDPR compliance gaps. Contact forms are present but no explicit anti-bot or anti-CSRF measures are visible. The WHOIS inconsistency raises questions about domain registration legitimacy. Overall, the security culture appears basic with opportunities for significant improvement in transparency and technical controls.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with user consent mechanisms to ensure GDPR compliance.
  2. Add and configure essential security headers including Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy and security.txt file to improve transparency and incident response readiness.
  4. Regularly update WordPress core and plugins to mitigate known vulnerabilities and enhance security posture.
  5. Clarify domain registration details and ensure WHOIS information is consistent and accurate to improve trustworthiness.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
HCD Group
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
HCD Group
Description
We offer integrated, multi-disciplined consultancy to the construction industry, advising high profile projects for developers, designers & contractors.
Key services
Building Control, Fire Safety Engineering, CDM Consultancy, Training & Seminars, Structural / Civil Engineering, Project Management / Cost Consultancy
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, WordPress, Contact Form 7, Google Fonts
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
60/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS usage implied by canonical and resource URLs
  • Use of Contact Form 7 plugin for forms

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Marketing tools
AddThis
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and navigation
  2. No privacy or cookie policies found, indicating compliance gaps
  3. No explicit security headers detected, potential security improvement area
  4. WHOIS data unavailable due to domain registration error, unusual for a professional business
  5. Website uses WordPress CMS with common plugins
  6. Contact information is clearly provided including email and physical address
  7. Social media presence includes Twitter and LinkedIn mentions but no direct URLs found
  8. No visible phone numbers found in the content
  9. No visible security or incident response policies
  10. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS with jQuery and Contact Form 7 plugin for forms. It uses Google Fonts and AddThis for social sharing. The site has a moderate performance profile with basic mobile optimization and accessibility. SEO is well addressed with meta tags, Open Graph, and JSON-LD structured data. However, there is no evidence of advanced frameworks or modern JavaScript libraries. Hosting provider details are not disclosed. The site lacks advanced security headers and privacy compliance features. Technical debt appears moderate with opportunities to modernize security and privacy implementations.
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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