Skip to main content

Security report for hsalearning.ie

Health and Safety Authority · Education · Ireland

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, Email security and 1 other check.

Security score

73/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) operates the hsalearning.ie platform, providing free, accessible online health and safety awareness courses targeted at workers, employers, educators, and students in Ireland. The platform leverages the Moodle LMS to deliver structured educational content, supporting workplace safety and compliance. The website is professionally designed with consistent branding and clear navigation, emphasizing accessibility and user experience. Privacy and cookie policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, supported by Cookiebot for consent management. Technically, the site uses modern web technologies including Moodle, YUI, jQuery, and FontAwesome, hosted by Hosting Ireland with a secure HTTPS configuration. Security posture is solid with room for improvement in DNSSEC and security headers. No critical vulnerabilities or suspicious content were detected, and the domain registration aligns well with the business history, indicating legitimacy and trustworthiness.

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

4 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 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. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • High

      No DMARC record found

      DMARC provides email authentication and reporting

      What to do: Add DMARC record: "v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com"

  3. 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

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

Keep watching hsalearning.ie

This scan found 20 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.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
45
Email security
50
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
73

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

HSA positions itself as a government-backed educational provider specializing in health and safety training. Its free course offerings and group management features cater to a broad audience including individual workers and organizational managers. The platform's use of Moodle and integration with Cookiebot reflects a mature digital infrastructure. The absence of direct contact details on the homepage suggests a focus on self-service and digital engagement. Social media presence on Facebook and Twitter supports community engagement and information dissemination. The business model is non-commercial, emphasizing public safety education. The domain age and registration data support a stable and established online presence.

Security posture

The website enforces HTTPS and employs Cookiebot for cookie consent, demonstrating compliance with privacy regulations. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, which could expose the domain to DNS spoofing risks. Security headers such as X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options are not explicitly detected, representing an area for enhancement to mitigate clickjacking and MIME sniffing attacks. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were found in the HTML content. The Moodle platform should be regularly audited for plugin vulnerabilities. Overall, the security posture is good but could be strengthened with additional domain and HTTP security measures.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to improve DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Implement additional HTTP security headers such as X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Conduct regular security audits and updates of Moodle plugins and core software.
  4. Consider publishing a security policy and vulnerability disclosure page to enhance transparency.
  5. Add clear contact information for security incidents and data protection inquiries to improve trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Health and Safety Authority
Description
The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) provides free online health and safety awareness-raising courses accessible 24/7. The platform targets workers, employers, managers, teachers, and lecturers to improve workplace safety through education.
Key services
Online health and safety courses, Group manager facility for employers, Educational resources for schools and workplaces
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Moodle LMS, YUI JavaScript Library, jQuery 3.6.1, Cookiebot Consent Management, FontAwesome, Google Fonts
Frameworks
Moodle
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Cookiebot 1.gif pixel tracker
Marketing tools
Cookiebot consent management
Transparency
excellent

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website uses Moodle LMS platform for course delivery.
  2. Cookiebot is used for cookie consent management with detailed cookie categorization.
  3. No explicit contact emails or phone numbers found on the homepage or visible content.
  4. Privacy and cookie policies are clearly linked and accessible.
  5. No terms of service or security policy pages detected.
  6. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt file found.
  7. Website content is professionally presented and targeted at education and workplace safety.
  8. No advertising or third-party ad networks detected beyond consent management.
  9. Social media presence includes Facebook and Twitter links for the Health and Safety Authority.
  10. No suspicious or malicious content detected.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Moodle LMS platform, utilizing YUI and jQuery libraries for frontend interactivity. Cookiebot is integrated for GDPR-compliant cookie consent management. Hosting is provided by Hosting Ireland, with domain registration dating back to 2013, indicating a mature infrastructure. The site loads multiple CSS and JS resources via combo URLs to optimize performance. Mobile optimization and accessibility features are implemented, including skip links and ARIA roles. SEO is basic but present with meta keywords and viewport settings. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in resource loading and caching. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid and appropriate for an educational government platform.
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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with hsalearning.ie. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review hsalearning.ie.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.