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Security report for liverpoolcollege.org.uk

Liverpool College · Education · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS and Security headers.

Security score

66/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Liverpool College is a well-established educational institution in Liverpool, UK, providing comprehensive education for children aged 4 to 19, including primary, secondary, sixth form, and boarding services. The website reflects a mature digital presence with a clear focus on community engagement, curriculum information, and student support services. The institution holds recognized awards and partnerships that enhance its credibility and market position. Technically, the site is built on Joomla CMS with modern frontend frameworks such as Bootstrap and UIkit, delivering a responsive and user-friendly experience. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent mechanisms in place, though there is room for improvement in security headers and published security policies. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and compliant with GDPR requirements, supporting the institution's mission and community role effectively.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
95/ 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. 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

  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 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 liverpoolcollege.org.uk

This scan found 23 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
52
Security headers
20
Email security
70
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
95
Average
66

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

Liverpool College operates as an academy with a strong local presence and a history dating back to 1840. Its business model centers on providing quality education and boarding services, targeting families in Liverpool and surrounding areas. The institution leverages partnerships with local organizations and universities to enhance educational offerings. The website supports admissions, curriculum details, and community engagement, indicating a focus on transparency and service. The presence of awards and community groups suggests active stakeholder involvement and a positive reputation. The digital ecosystem includes portals for students and parents, reflecting a commitment to integrated educational management.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a good security baseline with HTTPS and GDPR-compliant cookie consent. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security reduces the overall security posture. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. The lack of a published security policy or incident response contact limits transparency and preparedness visibility. Overall, the security maturity is moderate, suitable for an educational institution but with opportunities for enhancement to align with best practices.

Recommendations

  1. Implement comprehensive HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  2. Publish a clear security policy and incident response information on the website to improve transparency and trust.
  3. Consider adding a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosures and improve security communication.
  4. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries to ensure no vulnerabilities are introduced.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to meet higher standards and improve user experience for all visitors.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Liverpool College
Description
Liverpool College is an academy providing inspired education for girls and boys ages 4-19, emphasizing a broad curriculum and personal development.
Key services
Primary education, Secondary education, Sixth form education, Boarding facilities, Curriculum and learning support, Careers guidance
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Joomla!, jQuery, Bootstrap, UIkit, GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, Widgetkit
Frameworks
Bootstrap, UIkit
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
80/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent banner implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Twitter widgets
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is well-structured and relevant to education sector.
  3. No security.txt or explicit security policy found.
  4. WHOIS data for subdomain is unavailable but expected due to domain naming conventions.
  5. Cookie consent and privacy policies are implemented and GDPR compliant.
  6. No signs of adult or inappropriate content.
  7. Multiple external links to trusted educational and community partner sites.
  8. Use of Joomla CMS with modern frontend frameworks.
  9. Contact information is clearly presented in footer.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses Joomla CMS combined with Bootstrap and UIkit frameworks, providing a modern and responsive design. JavaScript libraries include jQuery and GDPR cookie consent scripts, supporting compliance and interactivity. The site loads multiple images and uses AJAX for dynamic content updates, indicating moderate technical complexity. Performance is moderate with potential for optimization in image loading and script management. SEO is supported by meta tags and structured navigation. Accessibility is basic but could be improved. Hosting details are not explicitly available from the content. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but could benefit from modernization and security hardening.
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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