Metropolis Group Holdings Limited is a UK-based media publishing company established in 1994, specializing in business and consumer media as well as reward and loyalty programs. The company operates multiple well-known brands across various industry sectors including electronics, property, travel retail, packaging, automotive, medical, and more. Their market position is strong with several long-established publications and a leadership role in loyalty programs such as Smartsave and For Less Guides. The website reflects a professional media group targeting business and consumer audiences with a comprehensive portfolio of services and publications.
Technically, the website is built on WordPress 6.8.1 with a modern tech stack including popular plugins like WPBakery Page Builder, Slider Revolution, and WP Job Manager. It uses Cloudfront CDN for hosting and integrates Google Analytics and Tag Manager for tracking. The site is mobile optimized and has good SEO practices, though accessibility is basic. Performance is moderate, with room for improvement in speed and security headers.
Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enforced and patched WordPress core, but lacks important security headers such as CSP and HSTS. Google reCAPTCHA is present but disabled, reducing bot protection effectiveness. No sensitive data exposure was detected. Privacy compliance is basic with a clear privacy policy and GDPR adherence, but no visible cookie consent mechanism. Contact information is clearly provided, enhancing business credibility.
Overall, the website is trustworthy and professional with a solid business foundation. Security improvements and enhanced privacy controls are recommended to strengthen the site’s resilience and compliance. The risk level is moderate with no critical vulnerabilities detected, but proactive security enhancements would benefit the company’s digital presence.
Scanned ·
NIS2 and GDPR posture
GDPR outside view
65/ 100 · Medium
Checks completed
7of 7
NIS2 Art. 21(2)
a(a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
b(b) Incident handling: One indicator
c(c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
d(d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
e(e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
f(f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
g(g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
h(h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
i(i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
j(j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside
Partly checked
One indicator
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.
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 Content-Security-Policy header
Controls resources the browser is allowed to load
What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application
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.
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.
Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.
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
69
Security headers
65
Email security
75
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
65
Average
73
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 metropolis.co.uk, from OffSeq Breach.
No leaked records found
Breach holds no records for metropolis.co.uk right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.
Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.
Business context
Business profile
Metropolis Group holds a significant position in the UK media publishing sector, operating a diverse portfolio of niche publications and loyalty programs. Their business model combines traditional print and digital publishing with consumer engagement through reward schemes. The company targets both business professionals and consumers across multiple industries, leveraging long-standing brand recognition and audited circulation figures. Growth indicators include a broad brand portfolio and active corporate programs. Partnerships appear focused on industry-specific publications and events. The company’s operations reflect a mature media group with a stable market presence and diversified revenue streams.
Security posture
The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with HTTPS enabled and patched WordPress core. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security reduces protection against common web attacks. The disabled Google reCAPTCHA implementation weakens bot mitigation. No incident response or security policy information is publicly available, indicating potential gaps in transparency and readiness. GDPR compliance is evident through the privacy policy, but cookie consent mechanisms are lacking. Overall, the security posture is functional but could be significantly improved by implementing recommended best practices and enhancing user data protection.
Recommendations
Implement comprehensive security headers including CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
Enable and properly configure Google reCAPTCHA or alternative anti-bot solutions to protect forms and reduce spam.
Introduce a visible cookie consent banner to comply with GDPR and enhance user privacy transparency.
Publish a clear security policy and incident response plan to improve trust and preparedness.
Regularly audit and update all WordPress plugins and themes to minimize vulnerability exposure.
Site observations
Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.
Business
Company
Metropolis Group Holdings Limited
Description
Metropolis Group is a fast growing group, established in 1994, that specialises in business & consumer media and reward & loyalty programmes.
Key services
Publishing of multiple industry magazines and guides, Reward and loyalty programmes (Smartsave, For Less Guides), Corporate programmes for public sector clients
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent
Technology
Stack
WordPress 6.8.1, PHP, jQuery, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google reCAPTCHA v2, Owl Carousel, RevSlider, Contact Form 7, WP Job Manager, Simple Social Buttons, Material Icons, Font Awesome 4.5.0
Patched WordPress against known scheduling vulnerability
No exposed sensitive data in HTML
Analytics and tracking
Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic
Advertising
Transparency
basic
Site quality
Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
high
Key observations
Website is a professional media publishing group with multiple established brands.
Content is rich and relevant to business and consumer publishing sectors.
Uses modern WordPress CMS with common plugins and frameworks.
Security posture is adequate but could be improved with additional headers and active bot protection.
Privacy policy is present and GDPR compliant; cookie consent mechanism is not evident.
Contact information is clearly provided including phone and email.
No signs of adult or questionable content.
No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected.
Technical notes
Notes
The website is built on a modern WordPress platform with a well-integrated tech stack including popular plugins for content management, sliders, job management, and social sharing. Hosting via Cloudfront CDN supports global content delivery. The site is mobile responsive and SEO optimized with proper meta tags and structured navigation. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in load speed and accessibility features. The use of multiple JavaScript libraries and CSS frameworks indicates a complex but maintainable infrastructure. Technical risks include outdated or misconfigured plugins and lack of advanced security headers, which should be addressed to ensure operational stability and security.
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.
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