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Security report for mercspec.co.uk

Independent Mercedes, BMW & Mini Specialists Skipton · Transportation · United Kingdom

High risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

49/100

Risk levelHigh

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

Independent Mercedes, BMW & Mini Specialists Skipton operates as a local automotive servicing and repair business focused on these premium car brands. The company offers a range of services including manufacturer-standard servicing, computer diagnostics, MOT testing, and tyre services. Their market position is that of a trusted independent alternative to main dealers, providing quality service at competitive prices. The website reflects a small business with a well-structured online presence targeting car owners in Skipton and nearby areas. Technically, the website is built on WordPress using popular plugins such as WPBakery Page Builder and Yoast SEO, hosted by Krystal Hosting Ltd. The site uses jQuery and Revolution Slider for interactive elements. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and basic accessibility features. SEO is well addressed with proper meta tags and structured data. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS with a good SSL configuration but lacks important security headers and incident response information. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy compliance is partial; a privacy and cookie policy page exists but lacks a consent mechanism. Contact information is clearly provided, enhancing business credibility. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and suitable for its business purpose. Strategic improvements in security headers, cookie consent implementation, and adding terms of service would enhance compliance and security posture.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 100 · Medium
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

6 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';…

  2. GDPR outside view

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

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

  3. 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

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

Keep watching mercspec.co.uk

This scan found 27 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.

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Full report

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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
57
Security headers
15
Email security
70
DNS health
65
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
68
Average
49

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

The business is positioned as a specialist independent automotive service provider for Mercedes, BMW, and Mini vehicles in the Skipton area. It leverages competitive pricing against main dealers and emphasizes manufacturer-standard servicing using dealer-level diagnostic equipment. The business model is service-oriented with direct customer engagement via phone and email. The presence of customer testimonials and social media links indicates active customer relationship management. The company appears stable with a domain age of nearly two decades, suggesting established operations. Partnerships with local web design agencies indicate a focus on maintaining a professional digital presence. Growth opportunities may include expanding digital marketing and enhancing compliance to build further trust.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level. HTTPS is properly implemented, ensuring encrypted communications. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options reduces protection against common web attacks. No incident response or security policy information is provided, which could hinder timely handling of security events. The lack of a cookie consent mechanism despite a cookie policy page indicates partial GDPR compliance. No vulnerable libraries or exposed sensitive data were found, which is positive. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a small business but could be significantly improved with standard best practices and compliance measures.

Recommendations

  1. Implement essential security headers (Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options) to enhance protection against web vulnerabilities.
  2. Add a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with GDPR and improve user privacy transparency.
  3. Create and publish a terms of service page to clarify user and business obligations.
  4. Include a security policy and incident response contact information to improve readiness and trust.
  5. Regularly update WordPress core, themes, and plugins to mitigate risks from known vulnerabilities.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Independent Mercedes, BMW & Mini Specialists Skipton
Description
Independent Mercedes, BMW and Mini Servicing & repair Skipton. BMW, Mini & Mercedes diagnostics servicing & repair Skipton
Key services
Mercedes Benz Servicing, Mini & BMW Servicing, Computer diagnostics, MOT tests, Tyres
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Revolution Slider, Google Fonts (Lato, Raleway)
Frameworks
WordPress, WPBakery Page Builder (Visual Composer), Yoast SEO
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a WordPress-based local automotive service provider site.
  2. Content is well structured with clear service offerings.
  3. No visible security policy or incident response information.
  4. No cookie consent banner despite cookie policy presence.
  5. No terms of service page found.
  6. Contact information is prominently displayed and consistent.
  7. No advertising or tracking scripts detected beyond standard plugins.
  8. SEO optimized with Yoast plugin and proper meta tags.
  9. Mobile responsive design with accessible navigation.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform using the Total WordPress theme and WPBakery Page Builder for layout management. It employs the Yoast SEO plugin for search engine optimization and the Revolution Slider plugin for dynamic visual content. The site loads jQuery libraries and Google Fonts for styling. Hosting is provided by Krystal Hosting Ltd, a reputable UK hosting provider. Performance is moderate with some optimization opportunities. The site is mobile responsive and uses semantic HTML with structured data (JSON-LD) for enhanced SEO. Accessibility is basic but could be improved with ARIA roles and better keyboard navigation support. No critical technical debt or outdated technologies were 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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