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Security report for iocsave.com

IOC Save · Finance · Ireland

High risk. 7 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 2 other checks.

Security score

42/100

Risk levelHigh

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

IOC Save is an Irish payment processing company specializing in merchant services including card machines, eCommerce payments, and virtual terminals. Positioned as Ireland's largest Irish owned payment processor, it targets SMEs seeking cost-effective and reliable payment solutions. The website presents a professional image with clear service offerings and customer testimonials, supporting its market position. Technically, the site is built on Joomla CMS with Helix3 template and integrates multiple marketing and analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and Hotjar. While the site is mobile optimized and SEO friendly, security posture is moderate with HTTPS enabled but lacking advanced security headers. Privacy compliance is basic with a privacy policy and cookie consent but no explicit GDPR statements or data protection officer contact. WHOIS data is privacy protected, which is common but reduces transparency. Overall, the site is functional and credible but could improve security and compliance documentation.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
43/ 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. GDPR outside view

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

    • Critical

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

  2. 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

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

  3. 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';…

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

Keep watching iocsave.com

This scan found 18 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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Recommended

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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
0
Security headers
20
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
43
Average
42

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

IOC Save operates in the finance sector, providing merchant payment processing services primarily to Irish SMEs. Its competitive advantage lies in offering up to 40% savings on card processing fees and personalized Irish customer support. The business model focuses on intermediary payment services with a portfolio of hardware and software payment solutions. The company leverages partnerships for website design and uses multiple digital marketing tools to engage customers. Growth indicators include active social media presence and content marketing via blogs and news articles. The use of privacy protection in WHOIS is typical for small businesses but limits full transparency. No parent or subsidiary companies are identified.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS ensuring encrypted communications, which is mandatory. However, it lacks important security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options, which are critical for mitigating common web attacks. No explicit security or incident response policies are published, and no dedicated security contact channels are visible. The presence of multiple third-party tracking scripts increases the attack surface and privacy risks. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could be significantly improved by implementing recommended headers, publishing security policies, and enhancing privacy compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive security headers including CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Publish detailed security and incident response policies with clear contact channels.
  3. Enhance GDPR compliance by providing explicit statements and appointing a Data Protection Officer contact.
  4. Audit and minimize third-party tracking scripts to reduce privacy risks.
  5. Improve WHOIS transparency if possible to increase trustworthiness.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
IOC Save
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
IOC Save
Description
Save up to 40% on merchant services fees. Ireland's cheapest credit and debit card readers. Reliable and secure. We offer the most competitive rates in Ireland, with customer service and payment processing solutions.
Key services
Card Machines, eCommerce Payments, Virtual Terminals, Tally Rolls, Over Phone Payments, Counter Top Machines, IOC Pay
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Joomla, Helix3 Template, Bootstrap, Font Awesome, jQuery, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, LinkedIn Insight Tag, ManyChat
Frameworks
Helix3, Joomla CMS
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
60/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Cookie consent banner implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Hotjar, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag
Tracking level
extensive
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Hotjar
Marketing tools
ManyChat
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Uses Joomla CMS with Helix3 template and common web technologies.
  3. Includes cookie consent banner and privacy policy page.
  4. Contact info is clearly presented with phone and email.
  5. No explicit terms of service or security policy pages found.
  6. Multiple third-party tracking and marketing scripts present.
  7. No advanced security headers detected; security posture can be improved.
  8. WHOIS data is privacy protected, limiting registrant transparency.
  9. Testimonials and Irish office support add trust signals.
  10. External domain www.nhyund4.com appears suspicious and unrelated.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Joomla CMS with Helix3 template, using Bootstrap and Font Awesome for responsive design and icons. It integrates jQuery and several marketing and analytics scripts including Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, LinkedIn Insight Tag, and ManyChat. The site loads moderately fast and is mobile optimized with a clear navigation structure. SEO is supported by meta tags and structured content. However, no advanced hosting or CDN information is available. The presence of an unrelated external script from www.nhyund4.com is suspicious and should be reviewed. Overall, the technical infrastructure is standard for a small business website but could benefit from performance and security enhancements.
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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