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Security report for hopsandbarley.org

Hops & Barley · Retail · United Kingdom

High risk. 6 critical or high findings in Network security, SSL/TLS and 2 other checks.

Security score

49/100

Risk levelHigh

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

Hops & Barley is a UK-based small retail business specializing in online sales and delivery of alcoholic beverages including beer, cider, spirits, wine, and related products. The company emphasizes convenience with free delivery offers in select postcodes and wholesale services. The website is built on WordPress with WooCommerce, leveraging modern JavaScript libraries and marketing tools such as Google Analytics and Mailchimp. The presence of an age verification gate demonstrates compliance with legal requirements for alcohol sales. Security posture is moderate with HTTPS enforced but lacks some advanced security headers and DNSSEC. Privacy compliance is weak due to missing privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the domain registration data is consistent with the business claims, supporting legitimacy.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
70/ 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

6 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: MySQL

      Port 3306 (MySQL) is publicly accessible - MySQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to MySQL using firewall or VPN

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection
    • High

      High-Risk Service Exposed: FTP

      Port 21 (FTP) is publicly accessible - FTP - Often unencrypted file transfer

      What to do: Consider restricting access to FTP or implementing strong authentication

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

  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

  3. 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 hopsandbarley.org

This scan found 21 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
72
Security headers
65
Email security
75
DNS health
75
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
70
Average
60
After the cap
49

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 · found on this site
  • 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 targets adult consumers in the UK seeking convenient online alcohol delivery. Its market position is that of a niche e-commerce retailer with a focus on quality and variety in alcoholic beverages. The business model relies on direct-to-consumer sales and wholesale partnerships. The website's structured product categories and curated selections indicate a customer-centric approach. Social media presence and marketing integrations suggest active customer engagement and growth orientation.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS and includes an age verification mechanism, which are positive security practices. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as CSP and HSTS reduces the overall security maturity. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is provided, indicating potential gaps in security governance. The use of multiple third-party scripts requires ongoing monitoring to mitigate supply chain risks. Privacy compliance gaps, especially missing policies and consent mechanisms, expose the business to regulatory risks under GDPR.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with clear GDPR compliance statements.
  2. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security.
  3. Add security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  4. Establish a vulnerability disclosure policy and security contact information to improve incident response readiness.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and plugins for vulnerabilities and update them promptly.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Hops & Barley
Description
We'll deliver our products straight to your home. Hops and Barley online alcohol delivery! Beers, Wines, Spirits. Free delivery on orders over £100 in L, LL, CW, WA postcodes! Free keg delivery to these areas.
Key services
Free delivery on qualifying orders, Wholesale services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, WooCommerce, jQuery, GSAP, Swiper, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Mailchimp, Jetpack, Max Mega Menu, WooCommerce Product Filters, Ajax Instant Search for WooCommerce
Frameworks
WooCommerce
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Age verification gate for alcohol sales
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of nonce tokens in forms

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Jetpack Stats
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ads
Tracking pixels
Mailchimp
Marketing tools
Mailchimp
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website uses HTTPS with valid SSL
  2. Age verification gate implemented for legal compliance
  3. No visible privacy or cookie policy pages found
  4. Comprehensive product categories and navigation menus
  5. Use of multiple third-party scripts for analytics and marketing
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure page found
  7. No explicit security headers detected in HTML content
  8. Domain registration is transparent and consistent with business claims
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a mature WordPress and WooCommerce stack with multiple plugins for enhanced functionality such as product filtering, instant search, and marketing integrations. Hosting is via Azure DNS, indicating a reliable infrastructure. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and SEO practices. Some inline CSS and JavaScript are used, and lazy loading is implemented for images. Accessibility is basic and could be improved. The site uses Google Tag Manager and Analytics for tracking, but lacks advanced privacy controls. Overall, the technical implementation supports the business needs but has room for security and privacy enhancements.
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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