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Security report for medicines.org.uk

Datapharm · Healthcare · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in Security headers.

Security score

71/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The website www.medicines.org.uk/emc serves as the Electronic Medicines Compendium (emc), a trusted and regulated source of medicines information in the UK. Operated by Datapharm, a leading UK medicines information provider, the platform offers comprehensive, up-to-date prescribing and patient information targeted primarily at healthcare professionals and patients. The business model focuses on providing technology-enabled solutions to support life sciences and healthcare sectors, with a strong market position as a key information provider in the UK healthcare ecosystem. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including JavaScript frameworks, Google Tag Manager, Microsoft Clarity for analytics, and FingerprintJS for visitor identification. The site is hosted behind Cloudflare, ensuring good performance and security. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and SEO-friendly, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses cookie consent mechanisms, but lacks explicit security headers and published security policies or incident response contacts. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. The WHOIS data for the subdomain is unavailable due to UK domain naming rules, but the parent domain medicines.org.uk is reputable and consistent with the website's healthcare focus. Overall, the website presents a low-risk profile with strong business credibility and technical maturity. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, publishing a formal security policy and incident response contacts, and establishing a vulnerability disclosure program to further strengthen trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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';…

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Keep watching medicines.org.uk

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
  • 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
90
Security headers
15
Email security
75
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
71

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 medicines.org.uk, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
574
Employees
0
Customers
540
Third parties
34
Weak passwords
12%

6 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for medicines.org.uk.

Select it in the checkout above.

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

Datapharm operates as a specialized healthcare information provider with a focus on medicines data and regulatory compliance in the UK. Its competitive advantage lies in its authoritative, regulated content and integration with UK health authorities such as the MHRA. The business model revolves around providing digital platforms like the emc, med data, and publisher tools that serve pharmaceutical companies, healthcare professionals, and patients. Revenue streams likely include subscription or licensing fees for advanced platform features and regulatory submission services. The target customer segments include healthcare providers, pharmacists, pharmaceutical companies, and regulatory bodies. The partnership ecosystem includes official UK government health agencies, enhancing credibility and market reach. The company demonstrates growth potential through digital innovation and expanding product offerings within the healthcare information sector.

Security posture

The website exhibits a moderate to strong security posture with HTTPS enforced and modern analytics and tracking tools deployed responsibly with user consent. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options represents an area for improvement. No incident response or security policy information is published, which could hinder transparency and readiness in case of security events. There is no evidence of vulnerability disclosure mechanisms or dedicated security contacts. Compliance with GDPR is indicated through privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the security culture appears professional but could benefit from formalized policies and enhanced technical controls to mitigate emerging threats and improve stakeholder trust.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to strengthen defense against common web attacks.
  2. Publish a comprehensive security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and preparedness.
  3. Establish a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Enhance cookie consent mechanisms with detailed data retention and processing disclosures to align with evolving privacy regulations.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize privacy risks and ensure compliance with user consent.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Datapharm
Description
Datapharm is the leading medicines information provider in the UK. It provides technology-enabled solutions that support the Life Science and wider Healthcare sectors with improving patient outcomes.
Key services
Electronic Medicines Compendium (emc) information platform, Datapharm products such as emc med data and emc publisher, Regulatory information and safety updates
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, Google Tag Manager, Microsoft Clarity, FingerprintJS, CookieLaw.org Consent SDK
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of modern security and analytics scripts
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented

Analytics and tracking

Services
Microsoft Clarity, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Microsoft Clarity, Qualaroo, Perk0mean
Marketing tools
FingerprintJS
Transparency
basic

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 professionally presented and targeted at healthcare professionals and patients.
  3. Strong focus on regulated and approved medicines information.
  4. Use of modern tracking and analytics tools with cookie consent.
  5. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed on homepage; contact form available.
  6. No explicit security policy or incident response contact published.
  7. WHOIS data for subdomain not available due to UK domain naming rules; domain is a subdomain of medicines.org.uk.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using modern web standards with HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. It leverages third-party analytics and tracking services such as Microsoft Clarity, Google Tag Manager, and FingerprintJS for visitor identification and behavior analysis. The site is hosted behind Cloudflare, providing CDN and security benefits. Performance is optimized with font preloading and asynchronous script loading. Accessibility features such as skip links and ARIA roles are implemented, enhancing usability for assistive technologies. SEO is supported by meta tags and structured navigation. No CMS or backend platform was explicitly detected. The technical infrastructure is robust, supporting a fast, responsive, and user-friendly experience suitable for professional healthcare audiences.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 69/100Medium31 findingsView report
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