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Security report for nice.org.uk

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Healthcare · United Kingdom

Low risk. 1 critical or high finding in SSL/TLS.

Security score

87/100

Risk levelLow

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

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is a UK government agency providing authoritative guidance and standards for the NHS and wider health and care system. The website serves healthcare practitioners, commissioners, policymakers, patients, and industry stakeholders by offering comprehensive health guidance, standards, formularies, and knowledge resources. The site is well-positioned as a trusted source in the healthcare sector with a large audience and a strong market presence. Technically, the website is built on modern frameworks such as Next.js and uses a headless CMS (Storyblok), integrating various analytics and marketing tools like Google Analytics, Hotjar, and Google Optimize. The site is mobile-optimized, accessible, and SEO-friendly, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS, uses cookie consent mechanisms, and shows good security practices, though explicit security policies and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not publicly documented. No critical vulnerabilities or suspicious indicators were found. Overall, the website demonstrates a high level of professionalism, trustworthiness, and compliance with privacy regulations, making it a reliable resource for its target audience.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
88/ 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

1 finding 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

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

Keep watching nice.org.uk

This scan found 13 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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Recommended

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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
77
Security headers
95
Email security
93
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
88
Average
87

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

NICE operates as an essential government entity in the healthcare sector, focusing on delivering evidence-based guidance and standards to improve health outcomes and resource use in the NHS. Its competitive advantage lies in its authoritative status and integration with UK health policy. The business model is non-commercial, funded by government, with services including guidance publication, standards setting, and knowledge dissemination. The organization maintains strong partnerships with NHS bodies and industry stakeholders. Growth indicators include active content updates, conferences, and engagement with emerging health technologies. Strategically, NICE leverages digital platforms to enhance accessibility and responsiveness to healthcare innovation, aligning with government health plans such as the NHS 10 Year Plan.

Security posture

NICE exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforcement, secure cookie management, and no visible exposure of sensitive data. However, the absence of publicly available security policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure programs suggests room for improvement in transparency and readiness. Compliance with GDPR is evident through comprehensive privacy notices and cookie consent. The site uses modern security best practices but could enhance its security culture by publishing explicit policies and contact channels for security incidents. No critical vulnerabilities or security misconfigurations were detected in the provided content.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and compliance.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file.
  3. Provide clear incident response contact channels such as security@ or abuse@ emails.
  4. Enhance security headers explicitly if not already set (CSP, X-Frame-Options, etc.).
  5. Continue regular audits of third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize privacy risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
Description
NICE helps practitioners and commissioners get the best care to patients, fast, while ensuring value for the taxpayer
Key services
Health and care guidance, Standards and indicators, Clinical knowledge summaries, British National Formulary (BNF and BNFC), Life sciences advice, Library and knowledge services
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React (Next.js), YouTube iframe API, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Hotjar, Google Optimize, Loop11, Cookie Banner Script
Frameworks
Next.js
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure cookie consent mechanism
  • No inline JavaScript vulnerabilities detected

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Hotjar, Google Optimize, Loop11
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, Stackadapt, Amazon DSP, Xandr, Microsoft Ads
Tracking pixels
Hotjar, Google Optimize, Loop11
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and no blocking detected.
  2. WHOIS data for 'www.nice.org.uk' is unavailable because it is a subdomain, not a registered domain.
  3. Strong privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms are implemented.
  4. Use of modern web technologies and CMS (Next.js, Storyblok).
  5. Multiple official social media channels linked.
  6. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly found in the HTML content.
  7. No explicit security or incident response policies published on the site.
  8. Advertising and tracking tools are used but with clear cookie consent.
  9. Content is professional, healthcare-focused, and safe for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern React-based framework (Next.js) with server-side rendering and static generation for performance. It integrates a headless CMS (Storyblok) for content management, enabling flexible and scalable content delivery. Analytics and marketing tools are well integrated with consent mechanisms. The site is mobile-optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices including meta tags and structured data (JSON-LD). No technical debt or legacy technology indicators were found. Performance is fast, and the architecture supports scalability and maintainability.
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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