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Security report for hortoninternational.com

Horton International · Other · N/a

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

51/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Horton International is a well-established global executive search firm founded in 2002, with a broad international presence spanning more than 40 offices across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific regions. The company specializes in identifying top-level executives and providing leadership consulting services to businesses worldwide. Their website reflects a professional and consistent brand image, targeting businesses seeking expert executive search solutions. The business model is based on a global network approach, leveraging local expertise and international reach to serve diverse markets effectively. Technically, the website is built on WordPress using Elementor as the page builder, with integrations of Gravity Forms for data collection and various modern JavaScript libraries such as jQuery, Bootstrap, Owl Carousel, and FancyBox. The site demonstrates moderate performance and good mobile optimization, with basic accessibility features and solid SEO practices. Hosting details are limited, but the domain registrar is Network Solutions, LLC, and the site uses HTTPS with a good SSL configuration. From a security perspective, the site employs HTTPS and includes a cookie consent mechanism, along with Google reCAPTCHA on forms to mitigate spam. However, there is a lack of explicit security headers and no published security or incident response policies. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file is present, which could be improved to enhance transparency and trust. The WHOIS data indicates a consistent and legitimate domain registration history, supporting the company's credibility. Overall, Horton International's website is professional and trustworthy, with room for improvement in privacy compliance documentation and security best practices. Enhancing these areas would strengthen their security posture and regulatory compliance, further solidifying their market position.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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

7 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 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 hortoninternational.com

This scan found 27 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
62
Security headers
15
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
53
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

Horton International operates as a global executive search network, positioning itself as a trusted partner for businesses seeking senior leadership talent. Their competitive advantage lies in their extensive international footprint and expertise in executive recruitment. The business model focuses on leveraging a network of offices to provide localized yet globally informed search services. Revenue streams likely include retained search fees and consulting services. The target customer segments are mid to large enterprises requiring executive-level hires. The company demonstrates growth through digital presence and social media engagement, with strategic partnerships implied by their global network. Operationally, the website supports lead generation via contact forms and content marketing through insights and news sections.

Security posture

The current security maturity level is moderate, with fundamental protections such as HTTPS and form spam prevention via reCAPTCHA. However, the absence of security headers like Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options, and lack of published security policies or incident response plans indicate gaps in security governance. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analysis. Compliance with GDPR is partially indicated by cookie consent but lacks a formal privacy policy. Incident response readiness and security culture indicators are not publicly documented, suggesting an opportunity for improvement in transparency and preparedness.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection to enhance browser security.
  2. Publish a detailed privacy policy and terms of service to improve privacy compliance and user trust.
  3. Develop and disclose an incident response policy and contact channels for security issues to demonstrate preparedness.
  4. Add a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting and transparency.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to meet higher standards and improve user experience for all visitors.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Horton International
Description
Horton International is a trusted global executive search firm. helps businesses identify top-level executives through their expert executive search services.
Key services
Executive search, Talent acquisition, Leadership consulting
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Elementor, Gravity Forms, jQuery, Bootstrap, Owl Carousel, FancyBox, Google Tag Manager
Frameworks
Elementor
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Use of Google reCAPTCHA on forms
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Ad networks
HelloBar
Marketing tools
HelloBar
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 well-structured
  2. No explicit privacy policy or terms of service found on main page or metadata
  3. Cookie consent mechanism is implemented via plugin
  4. Multiple social media profiles linked and verified in structured data
  5. Use of modern web technologies and plugins
  6. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure found
  7. No explicit security or incident response policies published
  8. WHOIS data supports legitimacy and long-term operation
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern and widely adopted technology stack centered on WordPress with Elementor for page building and Gravity Forms for data collection. JavaScript libraries such as jQuery, Bootstrap, Owl Carousel, and FancyBox are used for UI components and interactivity. The site loads external resources from reputable CDNs like cdn.jsdelivr.net and cloudflare.com, contributing to performance. Google Tag Manager is implemented for analytics and marketing tracking. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design and uses Google Fonts for typography. Performance is moderate, with some deferred loading of scripts to improve initial load times. Technical risks include reliance on multiple third-party plugins which require regular updates to avoid vulnerabilities.
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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