Skip to main content

Security report for instruct.studio

Instruct Studio · Media · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

53/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Instruct Studio is a small, multi-disciplinary design studio based in Manchester, UK, specializing in design, print, and digital services primarily for the architectural, media, and cultural sectors. The company has an established market presence since 2015 and positions itself as a provider of honest and strategic design solutions. Their website reflects a professional and consistent brand image with clear contact information and social media presence. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern plugins such as Yoast SEO and integrates third-party services like Vimeo and Google Analytics, indicating a moderate level of digital maturity. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enforced and anti-bot measures in place, but lacks advanced security headers and DNSSEC, which are recommended for enhanced protection. Privacy compliance is a notable gap, as no privacy or cookie policies were found, which could expose the business to regulatory risks. Overall, the website is trustworthy and professional but would benefit from improved privacy and security practices.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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. 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.

    • Critical

      Unable to retrieve SSL certificate

      Could not establish secure connection to retrieve certificate information

      What to do: Check if the server is accessible and SSL/TLS is properly configured

  2. 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 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';…
  3. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • 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

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

Keep watching instruct.studio

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.

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. See sample alerts.

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
0
Security headers
40
Email security
70
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
35
Average
53

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention instruct.studio, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for instruct.studio right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

The business operates in the media and design sector, targeting clients in architecture, media, and culture. Its business model revolves around providing multi-disciplinary design services including print and digital solutions. The company leverages partnerships such as OH Digital for website development and maintains active social media channels to engage its audience. The domain age and WHOIS data support the legitimacy and stability of the business. Growth potential is supported by a clear portfolio and journal sections, although no explicit revenue or certification information is available. The company appears focused on regional market leadership with a strong emphasis on quality and strategic design.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a baseline security posture with HTTPS and clientTransferProhibited domain status. The use of ALTCHA anti-bot widget adds protection against automated abuse. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options reduces the overall security robustness. No incident response or security policy information is published, which limits transparency and preparedness visibility. The lack of privacy and cookie policies also indicates compliance gaps with GDPR and related regulations. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. Security improvements are recommended to align with best practices and regulatory requirements.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie policy with GDPR compliance details.
  2. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  3. Add security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to improve protection against common web attacks.
  4. Establish and publish a security incident response policy and contact channels to improve transparency and readiness.
  5. Regularly review and update third-party scripts and plugins to mitigate vulnerabilities and maintain performance.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Instruct
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Instruct Studio
Description
Good, honest design and strategic direction for brands and digital platforms. We co-founded and produce Design Manchester.
Key services
design, print, digital platforms, strategic direction
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, jQuery, Vimeo Player API, ALTCHA anti-bot widget
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • clientTransferProhibited domain status
  • ALTCHA anti-bot widget implemented

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional design studio site with clear branding and contact info
  2. No privacy or cookie policies found which is a compliance gap
  3. Uses modern web technologies and SEO best practices
  4. No visible security headers or advanced security policies
  5. WHOIS data is consistent and domain is well aged
  6. No signs of malicious or suspicious content
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS with Yoast SEO plugin for search optimization and uses jQuery and Vimeo Player API for interactive content. The hosting appears to be managed via Name.com based on nameservers. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and basic accessibility features. SEO is well addressed with meta tags and structured data in JSON-LD format. The site uses Google Analytics for user tracking and ALTCHA widget for bot protection. There is no evidence of outdated or vulnerable libraries in the provided HTML. The site could benefit from enhanced accessibility and performance optimizations to improve user experience further.
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 instruct.studio. 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 instruct.studio.

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.