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Security report for highams.com

Sanderson Plc · Finance · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Sanderson Plc is a specialist recruitment consultancy focused on the Insurance, Life & Pensions, and Wealth Management sectors, with a strong market presence in the UK financial services industry. The website highlights the strategic acquisition of Highams to expand their capabilities and service offerings. The company provides a range of recruitment services including permanent and contract placements, RPO, MSP, and executive search. The site is professionally designed, well-structured, and optimized for SEO and mobile devices, reflecting a mature digital presence. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern plugins and integrations such as HubSpot for analytics and messaging, Google Tag Manager, and CookieYes for consent management. Security measures include HTTPS, Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise, and cookie consent mechanisms, although explicit security headers could be more visible. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. The WHOIS data for the domain is missing or unavailable, which slightly reduces trustworthiness but is mitigated by the professional content and business legitimacy evident on the site. Overall, the website demonstrates a strong security posture, good privacy compliance, and a credible business presence in the financial recruitment 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

5 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. 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
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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

Keep watching highams.com

This scan found 23 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.

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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
15
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
68

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention highams.com, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for highams.com right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

Sanderson Plc operates in a niche market segment providing recruitment solutions to financial services, particularly insurance and pensions. Their acquisition of Highams and integration under the Sanderson brand indicates growth and market consolidation. The company leverages strong industry expertise and personal networks to deliver tailored recruitment services. Their business model includes multiple service lines such as RPO and MSP, catering to diverse client needs. The presence of regional partner sites suggests a global or multi-regional footprint. Testimonials and detailed team profiles enhance credibility and client trust. The company targets financial institutions and professionals, positioning itself as a strategic talent partner.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate, uses Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise to mitigate bot attacks, and implements a comprehensive cookie consent mechanism compliant with GDPR. The use of HubSpot analytics and messaging is well integrated with privacy controls. However, explicit security headers like X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options are not clearly visible in the HTML source, which could be improved. No signs of exposed credentials, malware, or phishing were found. The absence of a published security policy or incident response contact is a minor gap. Overall, the security posture is strong with room for enhancement in header policies and formal security disclosures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and verify security headers such as X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection against clickjacking and MIME sniffing.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and readiness.
  3. Regularly audit and update all third-party scripts and plugins to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  4. Ensure all forms have CSRF protection and robust input validation to prevent injection attacks.
  5. Consider obtaining and displaying relevant security certifications to boost trust.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Sanderson Plc
Description
Sanderson Plc is a specialist recruitment consultancy focused on the Insurance, Life & Pensions, and Wealth Management sectors. They provide permanent and contract recruitment services, including RPO, MSP, Executive Search, and project recruitment. The site highlights the acquisition and integration of Highams to expand capabilities and market reach.
Key services
Permanent & Contract Recruitment, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), Managed Service Programmes (MSP), Executive Search, Project Recruitment, Specialist Government & Defence Sector recruitment
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, jQuery, HubSpot analytics and messaging, Google Tag Manager, Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise, CookieYes consent management, Hotjar
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise for bot protection
  • Cookie consent banner with customization options
  • No exposed sensitive data found in HTML
  • Use of HubSpot and CookieYes for analytics and consent management

Analytics and tracking

Services
HubSpot Analytics, Google Analytics, Hotjar
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
HubSpot, Hotjar
Marketing tools
HubSpot, CookieYes
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and no blocking detected
  2. Strong focus on financial services recruitment with detailed team profiles and testimonials
  3. Comprehensive cookie consent and privacy compliance mechanisms implemented
  4. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools
  5. No exposed sensitive data or security issues detected in HTML content
  6. WHOIS data missing, which is a concern but not uncommon for privacy-protected domains
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress with a custom theme and uses modern web technologies including jQuery, Google Fonts, HubSpot integrations, and CookieYes for consent management. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. SEO is well implemented with Yoast SEO plugin and structured data (JSON-LD) for enhanced search engine understanding. The site uses Google Tag Manager for analytics and tracking, and Hotjar for user behavior insights. No major technical debt or outdated libraries were detected. Hosting provider details are not explicit from the HTML content. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional and scalable web presence.
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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