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Security report for iconplc.com

ICON plc · Healthcare · N/a

Medium risk. 2 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS.

Security score

74/100

Risk levelMedium

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

ICON plc is a globally recognized clinical research organization (CRO) specializing in outsourced clinical development and commercialization services for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device sectors. The company positions itself as a leader in the clinical research industry, offering a broad range of solutions including clinical operations, consulting, healthcare intelligence, and strategic services. Their website reflects a mature enterprise with a comprehensive service portfolio targeting industry professionals and stakeholders. Technically, the website is built on Drupal 10, leveraging modern web technologies and third-party integrations such as Google Tag Manager and performance monitoring tools. The site demonstrates good mobile optimization, accessibility, and SEO practices, indicating a high level of digital maturity. Hosting appears to be supported by Akamai CDN services, enhancing performance and reliability. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS with strong SSL configurations and includes multiple security headers. Privacy compliance is well addressed with visible cookie consent mechanisms and a comprehensive privacy policy aligned with GDPR requirements. However, explicit security policies, incident response information, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not publicly evident, representing areas for improvement. Overall, the website presents a professional and trustworthy digital presence consistent with an enterprise-level healthcare CRO. The absence of WHOIS data is a notable anomaly but does not detract significantly from the site's legitimacy given the strong branding and content quality. Strategic recommendations include enhancing transparency around security policies and incident response, and publishing vulnerability disclosure information 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

2 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

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

Keep watching iconplc.com

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.

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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
27
Security headers
65
Email security
85
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
88
Average
74

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

ICON plc operates as a leading CRO with a strong market position in healthcare, serving pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device industries. Their business model focuses on providing outsourced clinical development and commercialization services, supported by subsidiaries and regional offices. The company leverages thought leadership and industry awards to reinforce credibility. Their partnership ecosystem includes subsidiaries like Accellacare and ICON Studies, and regional domains for Asia Pacific and Latin America. The website content and structure indicate a focus on enterprise clients and regulatory compliance, with growth driven by innovation in clinical solutions and healthcare intelligence.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and cookie consent mechanisms supporting GDPR compliance. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. However, the absence of a dedicated security policy, incident response page, and vulnerability disclosure program limits transparency and may impact incident readiness. The use of third-party scripts is monitored but should be regularly audited to mitigate supply chain risks. Overall, the security posture is strong but could benefit from enhanced communication of security governance and incident management processes.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security governance and controls.
  2. Implement and publicize an incident response plan with clear contact channels for security issues.
  3. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and dependencies to minimize vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance visibility of data protection officer contact details and compliance certifications.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
ICON plc
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
ICON plc
Description
ICON is the world's leading clinical research organisation, providing outsourced clinical development and commercialisation services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries.
Key services
Clinical solutions, Consulting & Commercial services, Healthcare Intelligence, Laboratories, Medical Imaging, Site & Patient Solutions, Strategic Solutions
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 10, Google Tag Manager, AddToAny, Slick Carousel, Boomerang (performance monitoring)
Frameworks
Drupal CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Content Security Policy present
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager, Boomerang
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Boomerang
Marketing tools
Pardot
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenge.
  2. Content is rich, professionally presented, and relevant to clinical research industry.
  3. Strong privacy and cookie consent mechanisms are implemented.
  4. WHOIS data is missing, which is unusual for a .com domain and warrants further investigation.
  5. Multiple external domains linked, including subsidiaries and partner sites.
  6. No security policy or incident response page explicitly found.
  7. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  8. Website uses modern technologies and good SEO and accessibility practices.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 10 CMS, indicating a modern and supported platform. It uses several third-party libraries and services including Google Tag Manager for analytics, AddToAny for social sharing, Slick Carousel for UI components, and Boomerang for performance monitoring. Hosting and CDN services appear to be provided by Akamai, contributing to moderate to good performance. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design and accessibility features. SEO is well implemented with meta tags, canonical links, and structured navigation. No major technical debt or deprecated technologies were observed, though continuous monitoring and updates are recommended to maintain security and performance.
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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