Skip to main content

Security report for hermitageclinic.ie

Blackrock Health · Healthcare · Ireland

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

51/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Blackrock Health is a leading private healthcare provider in Ireland operating multiple modern hospitals and diagnostic clinics across key locations including Dublin, Galway, Hermitage, and Limerick. Their services encompass private hospital care, emergency departments, rapid cardiac care, and specialist consultant services, targeting private patients and healthcare professionals. The website reflects a mature digital presence with a professional design, clear navigation, and relevant content tailored to their audience. Technically, the site is built on Drupal CMS with modern front-end libraries such as Bootstrap and Swiper.js, and integrates marketing and analytics tools like Google Tag Manager and Facebook Pixel. Security posture is moderate with HTTPS usage implied and cookie consent mechanisms in place, though explicit security headers and policies are not visible. Overall, the site demonstrates good privacy compliance and business credibility, though improvements in security transparency and incident response documentation are recommended.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 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

5 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

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

    • Critical

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

  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.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

  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 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';…

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

Keep watching hermitageclinic.ie

This scan found 22 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. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

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
0
Security headers
20
Email security
60
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
51

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

Blackrock Health holds a strong market position as Ireland's leading private hospital group, offering a comprehensive range of healthcare services. Their business model focuses on private patient care with multiple revenue streams including hospital services, diagnostics, and specialist consultations. The company targets private patients, referring GPs, and healthcare professionals, supported by clear contact channels and appointment request mechanisms. The website's integration with social media and marketing tools indicates an active engagement strategy. No direct parent or subsidiary companies were identified from the content. The use of privacy protection in domain registration is justified given the healthcare sector's sensitivity. The business shows signs of stability and professionalism with consistent branding and quality content.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS and includes a cookie consent banner, indicating awareness of privacy and security best practices. However, no explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy or HSTS were detected in the HTML content, and no public security or incident response policies are available. The use of third-party scripts like Google Tag Manager and Facebook Pixel introduces potential tracking risks, though these are common in commercial websites. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found in the analyzed content. The absence of a vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file suggests room for improvement in transparency and incident handling readiness. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could benefit from enhanced header configurations and published security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and verify HTTP security headers including CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response plan accessible to users and partners.
  3. Conduct regular audits of third-party scripts to minimize tracking and security risks.
  4. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to improve transparency and trust.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and conduct periodic security training for staff to strengthen security culture.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Blackrock Health
Description
Blackrock Health operates three modern private hospitals and a diagnostic clinic located in Blackrock, Galway, Hermitage, and Limerick clinics in Ireland. They provide private healthcare services including emergency departments, rapid cardiac care, and various treatments and procedures.
Key services
Private hospital care, Diagnostic clinic services, Emergency departments, Rapid cardiac care, Consultant services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal CMS, Bootstrap, Swiper.js, AOS (Animate On Scroll), Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel
Frameworks
Drupal, Bootstrap
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS usage implied by canonical URLs
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel
Marketing tools
Facebook Pixel
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and content-rich.
  2. Clear navigation with multiple contact points and service descriptions.
  3. Cookie consent banner present and functional.
  4. No visible security headers detected in HTML content; server headers unknown.
  5. Use of modern JavaScript libraries and frameworks.
  6. Social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
  7. No explicit terms of service page found.
  8. No visible security or incident response policy pages.
  9. No exposed emails in HTML; contact likely via forms or phone.
  10. Multiple phone numbers and physical addresses for clinics in Ireland.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal CMS, leveraging Bootstrap for responsive design and modern JavaScript libraries such as Swiper.js for interactive elements. The presence of Google Tag Manager and Facebook Pixel indicates integration with marketing and analytics platforms. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization and SEO practices with proper meta tags and structured navigation. Performance is moderate, with asynchronous loading of scripts and optimized images. However, the hosting provider and server-level security configurations are not explicitly identifiable from the content. There is an opportunity to improve technical security by adding missing HTTP headers and enhancing accessibility compliance. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional and user-friendly healthcare website.
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 hermitageclinic.ie. 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 hermitageclinic.ie.

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.