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Security report for hla.net

HLA · Media · N/a

Medium risk. 9 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

59/100

Risk levelMedium

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

HLA is a London-based commercial production company specializing in TV advertising, content creation, music videos, installations, and factual programming. The company positions itself as a creative yet business-savvy entity with a focus on high-quality media production services. The website reflects a professional brand image with consistent design and clear navigation, targeting a general audience interested in media production services. Technically, the website is built on WordPress CMS (version 4.7.23), hosted with Cloudflare as the registrar and DNS provider. It integrates common marketing and analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and LinkedIn Insight Tag. The site is mobile optimized and moderately performant but uses an outdated WordPress version which could pose security risks. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses domain transfer protection but lacks DNSSEC and important security headers. No privacy or cookie policies are present, indicating compliance gaps with GDPR and other privacy regulations. No contact emails or phone numbers are explicitly provided, limiting direct communication channels. No vulnerability disclosure or incident response information is available. Overall, the website is professionally presented and trustworthy but would benefit from enhanced security measures, updated software, and improved privacy compliance to reduce risk and increase user trust.

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

9 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

  2. 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 hla.net

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.

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

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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
37
Security headers
15
Email security
85
DNS health
80
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

HLA operates in the media production sector, focusing on commercial and creative video content. Its market positioning as a London-based award-winning production company suggests a niche targeting advertising agencies, brands, and content creators seeking high-quality production services. The business model revolves around service delivery in media production with revenue likely generated from client contracts. The absence of direct contact details on the homepage may indicate a controlled client engagement process. The company leverages social media channels on Facebook and Instagram to enhance brand presence. The long domain age (since 1998) supports a mature business with established market presence. No parent or subsidiary companies are identified, indicating an independent operation.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security posture with HTTPS enabled and domain transfer protection active. However, the lack of DNSSEC and missing security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options reduce its defense against DNS spoofing and clickjacking attacks. The outdated WordPress version increases vulnerability exposure. Absence of privacy and cookie policies indicates non-compliance with GDPR and related regulations, which could lead to legal risks. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are in place, limiting transparency and preparedness. The use of third-party analytics and tracking scripts introduces privacy considerations that are not addressed by visible consent mechanisms.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement standard security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Update WordPress CMS to the latest stable version to mitigate known vulnerabilities.
  4. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with clear GDPR compliance statements and implement a cookie consent mechanism.
  5. Add visible and verified contact information including emails and phone numbers to improve trust and communication.
  6. Consider adding a security.txt file and vulnerability disclosure policy to improve security transparency and incident response readiness.
  7. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to ensure privacy compliance and minimize user tracking.
  8. Improve accessibility features to enhance usability for all users.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
HLA
Description
HLA produces award winning tv advertising, content, music video, installations and factual programming. We combine creativity with business.
Key services
tv advertising, content production, music video production, installations, factual programming
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 4.7.23, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Vimeo Player API
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
65/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, LinkedIn Insight
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
LinkedIn Insight
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional commercial production company site based in London.
  2. No privacy or cookie policies found, which is a compliance gap.
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed on the homepage or header/footer.
  4. Uses WordPress CMS with some outdated version (4.7.23).
  5. Includes Google Analytics and LinkedIn Insight tracking scripts.
  6. No visible forms collecting user data on the homepage.
  7. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information found.
  8. No explicit security headers detected in the HTML content.
  9. DNSSEC not enabled for the domain.
  10. Good branding consistency and professional design.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress 4.7.23, indicating some technical debt as this version is outdated and may lack recent security patches. Hosting and DNS are managed via Cloudflare, providing robust infrastructure and DNS management but DNSSEC is not enabled, which is a missed security opportunity. The site uses modern marketing and analytics tools such as Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, and LinkedIn Insight Tag, integrated via asynchronous JavaScript for performance. The presence of Vimeo Player API indicates embedded video content. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design and uses a bundled CSS and JS approach for resource loading. SEO is enhanced by Yoast SEO plugin metadata and structured data in JSON-LD format. Performance is moderate but could be improved by updating CMS and optimizing scripts. Accessibility is basic but could be enhanced with ARIA roles and better semantic markup.
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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