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Security report for hpra.ie

Health Products Regulatory Authority · Healthcare · Ireland

Low risk. 1 critical or high finding in SSL/TLS.

Security score

80/100

Risk levelLow

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

The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) is the official Irish government agency responsible for regulating medicines, medical devices, and other health products in Ireland. The website provides comprehensive information about authorised and withdrawn medicines for human and animal use, safety notices, regulatory guidance, and public alerts. It serves healthcare professionals, manufacturers, distributors, and the general public, positioning itself as a trusted national regulatory authority. The site is well-branded, professionally designed, and consistent with government standards. Technically, the website is built on the Sitefinity CMS platform and employs modern web technologies including JavaScript libraries for lazy loading images and Google Tag Manager for analytics. CookiePro is used for consent management, indicating a mature approach to privacy compliance. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and SEO-friendly, with good performance characteristics. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS, uses standard security headers, and manages cookies with user consent. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. However, explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not prominently published, which could be improved to enhance transparency and trust. Overall, the HPRA website demonstrates a strong security posture, excellent content quality, and good privacy compliance. The lack of WHOIS data limits domain registration trust analysis, but the official .ie domain and consistent content strongly support legitimacy. Strategic recommendations include publishing a dedicated security policy, adding vulnerability disclosure information, and providing incident response contacts to further strengthen trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
88/ 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

1 finding 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

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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
80
Email security
75
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
88
Average
80

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

HPRA operates as a government regulatory authority in the healthcare sector, overseeing medicines and health product safety in Ireland. Its business model is non-commercial, focused on regulatory compliance, public safety, and information dissemination. The website targets healthcare professionals, manufacturers, and the public, providing authoritative resources and alerts. The organization benefits from a strong government mandate and a trusted brand. The site’s partnership ecosystem includes recognized consent management and analytics providers, supporting compliance and operational insights. Growth indicators include comprehensive content updates and active safety communications. The absence of commercial advertising or affiliate programs aligns with its public service mission.

Security posture

The HPRA website exhibits a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and cookie consent management. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. However, the absence of a publicly accessible security policy and incident response information represents a compliance gap. GDPR compliance is well addressed through privacy and cookie policies. The site lacks a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file, which could improve transparency and community engagement. Incident response readiness is not clearly communicated, which may impact trust during security events. Overall, the security culture appears strong but could benefit from enhanced public documentation and communication.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and commitments.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file.
  3. Provide clear incident response contact information for security issues.
  4. Enhance transparency around data retention policies and user privacy controls.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and libraries to mitigate risks.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Health Products Regulatory Authority
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Health Products Regulatory Authority
Description
The HPRA is the Irish regulatory authority responsible for the regulation of medicines, medical devices, and other health products in Ireland. It provides information about authorised and withdrawn medicines, safety information, and regulatory guidance.
Key services
Regulation of medicines for human and animal use, Safety monitoring and safety notices, Regulation of medical devices and cosmetics, Providing public information and alerts
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Google Tag Manager, CookiePro Consent Management, LazySizes (lazy loading images), Monotype Imaging Fonts
Frameworks
Sitefinity CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security headers
  • Cookie consent management implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Marketing tools
CookiePro
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well-structured.
  2. Comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with consent management.
  3. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  4. No WHOIS data available to verify domain registration details.
  5. No explicit security policy or incident response information publicly available.
  6. Use of modern web technologies and CMS (Sitefinity).
  7. No advertising or affiliate programs detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Sitefinity CMS platform, leveraging modern JavaScript libraries such as LazySizes for image optimization and Google Tag Manager for analytics. CookiePro is integrated for cookie consent management, reflecting compliance maturity. The site uses responsive design techniques for mobile optimization and includes accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA labels. Performance is moderate, with room for optimization in loading times. The technical stack is modern and well-maintained, with no deprecated or vulnerable libraries detected in the HTML content. Hosting provider details are not explicitly identified. Opportunities exist to improve technical documentation and security-related metadata.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 80/100Low26 findingsView report
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