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Security report for ivca.ie

Irish Venture Capital & Private Equity Association · Finance · Ireland

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

65/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Irish Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (IVCA) is a professional membership organization representing venture capital and private equity firms across Ireland. It serves as a key industry body advocating for policies that support entrepreneurial growth and funding availability. The website is well-structured, providing comprehensive information about membership benefits, industry research, events, and advocacy efforts. The target audience includes venture capitalists, private equity firms, institutional investors, entrepreneurs, and policy makers. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with modern plugins and themes, optimized for SEO and mobile responsiveness. Security posture is strong with HTTPS, security headers, and cookie consent mechanisms in place, though explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not publicly disclosed. Overall, the site reflects a mature digital presence consistent with a reputable industry association.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
10/ 100 · Critical
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

8 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

      EU business without adequate privacy measures

      EU businesses are subject to strict GDPR requirements

      What to do: Implement comprehensive GDPR compliance including privacy policy, cookie consent, and data protection measures

    • 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

  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 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';…

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Keep watching ivca.ie

This scan found 22 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
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  • 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
55
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
10
Average
65

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 ivca.ie, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

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

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Brand lookalikes

Add-on

Domains that imitate ivca.ie and could be used for phishing or spoofed email, tracked in OffSeq Breach.

Tracked
12
Registered
12
Resolving
12
High or critical
0

Last checked 2026-06-19

Masked preview

  • if•••.ieMediumbitsquatting
  • it•••.ieMediumbitsquatting
  • iv•••.ieMediumbitsquatting

See the full lookalike list

A one-off add-on that lists up to 20 of the highest-risk lookalikes of ivca.ie with registration, mail-server, certificate and DNS signals.

Select it in the checkout above.

Lookalike data refreshes continuously. Monitoring on Breach alerts you when a variant is registered, gains a mail server or starts serving HTTPS.

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)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

IVCA holds a leading position in Ireland's venture capital and private equity sector, providing advocacy, networking, and research services. Its business model revolves around membership fees and industry representation. The organization leverages events and publications to engage stakeholders and influence policy. The website's content and structure support its role as a trusted industry voice. The absence of detailed WHOIS data is typical for such entities and does not detract from credibility. The association maintains a professional brand image and clear communication channels, primarily via phone and LinkedIn.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a solid security foundation with enforced HTTPS, appropriate security headers, and a cookie consent framework compliant with GDPR. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the analyzed content. However, the lack of a publicly available security policy or incident response information suggests room for improvement in transparency and preparedness. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files were found, which could enhance trust and facilitate responsible reporting. Overall, the security posture is good but could benefit from additional published policies and contact points.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and commitments.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact information, such as a security@ or abuse@ email address.
  3. Implement and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Regularly review and update third-party plugins and themes to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to improve inclusivity and compliance with standards.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Irish Venture Capital & Private Equity Association
Description
The representative body for venture capital and private equity firms on the island of Ireland, supporting growth through equity funding and advisory services.
Key services
Advocacy for public policies, Facilitation of industry interaction, Policy collaboration, Industry representation, Working groups and communities of practice, Professional standards and training, Industry research, Networking events and forums
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 6.8.3, Breakdance theme/plugin, Yoast SEO plugin, jQuery 3.7.1, Cookie Law Info plugin
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent banner implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No vulnerable libraries detected

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
poor

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 challenges.
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and professionally presented.
  3. Strong compliance with GDPR and cookie consent requirements.
  4. No security policy or incident response information publicly available.
  5. WHOIS data is unavailable or privacy protected, which is common for such organizations.
  6. No suspicious or malicious indicators detected.
  7. Social media presence limited to LinkedIn.
  8. No advertising or tracking networks detected beyond essential cookies.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress 6.8.3 using the Breakdance theme and several plugins including Yoast SEO and Cookie Law Info. It uses jQuery 3.7.1 and Google Fonts for typography. The site is well-optimized for SEO with proper meta tags, Open Graph data, and JSON-LD structured data. Performance appears moderate with responsive design and mobile optimization. Hosting provider details are not explicitly found. The technical stack is modern and appropriate for the organization's needs, with no obvious technical debt or deprecated technologies detected.
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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